title: The relationship between auditory-visual speech perception and language-specific speech perception at the onset of reading instruction in English-speaking children.
abstract: Speech perception is auditory-visual, but relatively little is known about auditory-visual compared with auditory-only speech perception. One avenue for further understanding is via developmental studies. In a recent study, Sekiyama and Burnham (2008) found that English speakers significantly increase their use of visual speech information between 6 and 8 years of age but that this development does not appear to be universal across languages. Here, the possible bases for this language-specific increase among English speakers were investigated. Four groups of English-language children (5, 6, 7, and 8 years) and a group of adults were tested on auditory-visual, auditory-only, and visual-only speech perception; language-specific speech perception with native and non-native speech sounds; articulation; and reading. Results showed that language-specific speech perception and lip-reading ability reliably predicted auditory-visual speech perception in children but that adult auditory-visual speech perception was predicted by auditory-only speech perception. The implications are discussed in terms of both auditory-visual speech perception and language development.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Program, Middle East Technical University-Northern Cyprus Campus, Kalkanlı, Güzelyurt (Morphou), KKTC, Mersin 10, Turkey. d.erdener@gmail.com
authors.forename: Doğu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Erdener
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burnham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D013067:Speech Perception; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Auditory–visual speech perception; Children; Language-specific speech perception; McGurk effect; Speech development; Visual speech