JSLHR Papers in Press
Published online January 23, 2012
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 2012; doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2011/11-0096)

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 2012;55:865.

This Article
Right arrow Full Text ([PDF])
Right arrow Supplemental Materials
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow My Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lovett, R. E. S.
Right arrow Articles by Summerfield, A. Q.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lovett, R. E. S.
Right arrow Articles by Summerfield, A. Q.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Delicious   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Article

The developmental trajectory of spatial listening skills in normally-hearing children

Rosemary Elizabeth Susan Lovett
Pádraig Thomas Kitterick
Shan Huang
Department of Psychology, University of York, UK

Arthur Quentin Summerfield
Department of Psychology, University of York, UK
Hull-York Medical School, University of York, UK

Purpose: To establish the age at which children can complete tests of spatial listening and to measure the normative relationship between age and performance.

Method: Fifty-six normally-hearing children aged 1.5–7.9 years attempted tests of the ability to discriminate a sound source on the left from one on the right, to localize a source, to track moving sources, and to perceive speech in noise.

Results: Tests of left-right discrimination, movement tracking, and speech perception were completed by ≥75% of children over 3 years old. Children showed adult levels of performance from the age of 1.5 years (movement tracking), 3 years (left-right discrimination), and 6 years (localization and speech in noise). Spatial release from masking, calculated as the difference in speech-reception thresholds between conditions with spatially-coincident and spatially-separate speech and noise, remained constant at 5 dB from the age of 3 years. Data from a separate study demonstrate the age at which children with cochlear implants can complete the same tests. Assessments of left-right discrimination, movement tracking, and speech perception were completed by ≥75% of cochlear-implanted children over 5 years old.

Conclusions: These data can guide the selection of tests for future studies and inform the interpretation of results from clinical populations.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Delicious Delicious   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?