title: Preschoolers benefit from visually salient speech cues.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study explored visual speech influence in preschoolers using 3 developmentally appropriate tasks that vary in perceptual difficulty and task demands. They also examined developmental differences in the ability to use visually salient speech cues and visual phonological knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve adults and 27 typically developing 3- and 4-year-old children completed 3 audiovisual (AV) speech integration tasks: matching, discrimination, and recognition. The authors compared AV benefit for visually salient and less visually salient speech discrimination contrasts and assessed the visual saliency of consonant confusions in auditory-only and AV word recognition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four-year-olds and adults demonstrated visual influence on all measures. Three-year-olds demonstrated visual influence on speech discrimination and recognition measures. All groups demonstrated greater AV benefit for the visually salient discrimination contrasts. AV recognition benefit in 4-year-olds and adults depended on the visual saliency of speech sounds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preschoolers can demonstrate AV speech integration. Their AV benefit results from efficient use of visually salient speech cues. Four-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, used visual phonological knowledge to take advantage of visually salient speech cues, suggesting possible developmental differences in the mechanisms of AV benefit.
authors.forename: Kaylah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.forename: Rachael Frush
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Holt
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013060:Speech; D013067:Speech Perception; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult