Noise and a speaker’s impaired voice quality disrupt spoken language processing in school-aged children: Evidence from performance and response time measures

Schiller, Isabel; Morsomme, Dominique; Kob, Malte; Remacle, Angélique

doi:10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00348

Article (Scientific journals)

Noise and a speaker’s impaired voice quality disrupt spoken language processing in school-aged children: Evidence from performance and response time measures

Schiller, Isabel; Morsomme, Dominique; Kob, Malte et al.

2020 • In Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/246875

DOI
10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00348

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32569506

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Keywords :

spoken language processing; speech in noise; voice quality; dysphonic speech; children; listening tasks; impaired voice; speech perception; listening comprehension

Abstract :

[en] Purpose: Our aim was to investigate isolated and combined effects of speech-shaped noise (SSN) and a speaker’s impaired voice quality on spoken language processing in first-grade children. Method: In individual examinations, 53 typically developing children aged 5 to 6 years performed a speech perception task (phoneme discrimination) and a listening comprehension task (sentence-picture matching). Speech stimuli were randomly presented in a 2x2 factorial design with the factors noise (no added noise vs. SSN at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio) and voice quality (normal voice vs. impaired voice). Outcome measures were task performance and response time (RT). Results: SSN and impaired voice quality significantly lowered children’s performance and increased RTs in the speech perception task, particularly when combined. Regarding listening comprehension, a significant interaction between noise and voice quality indicated that children’s performance was hindered by SSN when the speaker’s voice was impaired but not when it was normal. RTs in this task were unaffected by noise or voice quality. Conclusions: Results suggest that speech signal degradations caused by a speaker’s impaired voice and background noise generate more processing errors and increased listening effort in young school-aged children. This finding is vital for classroom listening and highlights the importance of ensuring teachers’ vocal health and adequate room acoustics.

Disciplines :

Otolaryngology
Languages & linguistics
Theoretical & cognitive psychology

Author, co-author :

Schiller, Isabel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Logopédie > Logopédie des troubles de la voix

Morsomme, Dominique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Logopédie > Logopédie des troubles de la voix

Kob, Malte

Remacle, Angélique ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Logopédie > Logopédie des troubles de la voix

Language :

English

Title :

Noise and a speaker’s impaired voice quality disrupt spoken language processing in school-aged children: Evidence from performance and response time measures

Publication date :

22 July 2020

Journal title :

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

ISSN :

1092-4388

eISSN :

1558-9102

Publisher :

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, United States - Maryland

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://pubs.asha.org/journal/jslhr

Funders :

F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique
ULiège - Université de Liège
FU - University Foundation

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since 24 April 2020

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