title: Development of Open-Set Word Recognition in Children: Speech-Shaped Noise and Two-Talker Speech Maskers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this study was to establish the developmental trajectories for children's open-set recognition of monosyllabic words in each of two maskers: two-talker speech and speech-shaped noise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Listeners were 56 children (5 to 16 years) and 16 adults, all with normal hearing. Thresholds for 50% correct recognition of monosyllabic words were measured in a two-talker speech or a speech-shaped noise masker in the sound field using an open-set task. Target words were presented at a fixed level of 65 dB SPL throughout testing, while the masker level was adapted. A repeated-measures design was used to compare the performance of three age groups of children (5 to 7 years, 8 to 12 years, and 13 to 16 years) and a group of adults. The pattern of age-related changes during childhood was also compared between the two masker conditions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Listeners in all four age groups performed more poorly in the two-talker speech than the speech-shaped noise masker, but the developmental trajectories differed for the two masker conditions. For the speech-shaped noise masker, children's performance improved with age until about 10 years of age, with little systematic child-adult differences thereafter. In contrast, for the two-talker speech masker, children's thresholds gradually improved between 5 and 13 years of age, followed by an abrupt improvement in performance to adult-like levels. Children's thresholds in the two masker conditions were uncorrelated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Younger children require a more advantageous signal-to-noise ratio than older children and adults to achieve 50% correct word recognition in both masker conditions. However, children's ability to recognize words appears to take longer to mature and follows a different developmental trajectory for the two-talker speech masker than the speech-shaped noise masker. These findings highlight the importance of considering both age and masker type when evaluating children's masked speech perception abilities.
authors.affiliation: 1Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; and 2Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Corbin
authors.forename: Angela Yarnell
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Bonino
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Buss
authors.forename: Lori J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Leibold
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009622:Noise; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult