title: Gap Detection in School-Age Children and Adults: Center Frequency and Ramp Duration.
abstract: The age at which gap detection becomes adultlike differs, depending on the stimulus characteristics. The present study evaluated whether the developmental trajectory differs as a function of stimulus frequency region or duration of the onset and offset ramps bounding the gap.
  
  
  
  Thresholds were obtained for wideband noise (500-4500 Hz) with 4- or 40-ms raised-cosine ramps and for a 25-Hz-wide low-fluctuation narrowband noise centered on either 500 or 5000 Hz with 40-ms ramps. Stimuli were played continuously at 70 dB SPL, and the task was to indicate which of 3 intervals contained a gap. Listeners were 5.2- to 15.1-year-old children (n = 40) and adults (n = 10) with normal hearing.
  
  
  
  Regardless of listener age, gap detection thresholds for the wideband noise tended to be lower when gaps were shaped using 4-ms rather than 40-ms ramps. Thresholds also tended to be lower for the low-fluctuation narrowband noise centered on 5000 Hz than 500 Hz. Performance reached adult levels after 11 years of age for all 4 stimuli. Maturation was not uniform across individuals, however; a subset of young children performed like adults, including some 5-year-olds.
  
  
  
  For these stimuli, the developmental trajectory was similar regardless of narrowband noise center frequency or wideband noise onset and offset ramp duration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Buss
authors.affiliation: Hearing and Speech Department, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA.
authors.forename: Heather L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Joseph W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Grose
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult