Listening difficulties occur in children diagnosed with auditory processing disorders (also known as central auditory processing disorders) and may co-occur in children who have developmental language disorder or attention/memory deficits. Persistent listening difficulties negatively affect children's learning and functioning. Studying factors that influence children’s listening performance using a unified multidisciplinary approach is crucial to better identify and manage deficits that contribute to listening difficulties in children.
A Clue Toward Understanding Difficulties With Speech Perception in Noise
While it is well known that hearing loss degrades speech perception, especially in noisy environments, less is understood as to why some individuals with typical hearing may also struggle with speech perception in noise (SPiN). Several factors appear to contribute to SPiN abilities in adults with typical hearing, including the top-down cognitive functions of attention, working memory, and inhibition.
Children’s Working Memory and Phonological Awareness Benefit From Hearing Earlier
In Frontiers in Psychology, Christina Reuterskiöld, Ph.D., and team detail their study of the relationship among rhyme awareness (the first phonological skill children develop), vocabulary size, working memory and linguistic characteristics of words in children with typical hearing and children with cochlear implants.