title: The development of language-specific and language-independent talker processing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In this study, the authors aimed to investigate how differences in language ability relate to differences in processing talker information in the native language and an unfamiliar language by comparing performance for different ages and for groups with impaired language.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three groups of native English listeners with typical language development (TLD; ages 7-9, ages 10-12, adults) and 2 groups with specific language impairment (SLI; ages 7-9, ages 10-12) participated in the study. Listeners heard pairs of words in both English and German (unfamiliar language) and were asked to determine whether the words were produced by the same or different talkers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In English, talker discrimination improved with age. In German, performance improved with age for the school-age children but was worse for adult listeners. No differences were found between TLD and SLI children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results show that as listeners' language skills develop, there is a trade-off between more general perceptual abilities useful for processing talker information in any language and those that are relevant to their everyday language experiences and, thus, tied to the phonology. The lack of differences between the children with and without language impairments suggests that general auditory processing may be intact in at least some children with SLI.
authors.affiliation: New York University, NY, USA. svlevi@nyu.edu
authors.forename: Susannah V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D007806:Language Disorders; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult