Is Phonological Awareness Related to Pitch, Rhythm, and Speech-in-Noise Discrimination in Young Children?

Links between musical beat perception and phonological skills for autistic children

Exploring non-linguistic predictors of phonological awareness, such as musical beat perception, is valuable for children who present with language difficulties and diverse support needs. Studies on the musical abilities of children on the autism spectrum show that they have average or above-average musical production and auditory processing abilities. This study aimed to explore the relationship between musical beat perception and phonological awareness skills of children on the autism spectrum with a wide range of cognitive abilities. A total of 21 autistic children between the ages of 6 to 11 years old (M = 8.9, SD = 1.5) with full scale IQs ranging from 52 to 105 (M = 74, SD = 16) completed a beat perception and a phonological awareness task. Results revealed that phonological awareness and beat perception are positively correlated for children on the autism spectrum. Findings lend support to the potential use of beat and rhythm perception as a screening tool for early literacy skills, specifically for phonological awareness, for children with diverse support needs as an alternative to traditional verbal tasks that tend to underestimate the potential of children on the autism spectrum.

Speech perception in noise in children with learning difficulties: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Children with learning difficulties (LD) face multiple challenges in classrooms settings while having to meet various auditory demands, such as understanding verbal instructions in the presence of background noise. These challenges pose a risk for academic failure, underachievement, and underemployment. Well-developed skills regarding speech perception in noise promote learning, communication, and academic success. These skills need further investigation to promote evidence-based practice and intervention within the audiological and educational fields.

OBJECTIVE

To identify and review published literature on the speech perception in noise abilities of children with LDs.

DESIGN

A systematic search strategy was used to identify literature on five electronic databases using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Literature from 2011 to 2021 reporting on speech perception in noise in children with LDs was included.

RESULTS

Of 1295 articles identified, five articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this scoping review. All studies used comparative study designs to determine the speech perception in noise skills of children with LDs. Results indicated that children with LDs have poorer speech perception in noise skills when compared to typically developing children. Trisyllabic words were better perceived in noise than monosyllabic and disyllabic words.

CONCLUSION

Children with LDs require greater signal-to-noise ratios if they are to be given the same academic opportunities as typically developing (TD) children. Future studies can investigate the functional outcomes of children with LDs to promote evidence-based practice and intervention.

The Influence of the Psychophysical Assessment Paradigm on Pitch Discrimination for Adults (and a Pilot Sample of Children)

Pitch discrimination ability has been of research interest due to its potential relationship to language and literacy. However, assessment protocols for pitch discrimination have varied widely. Prior studies with both children and adults have produced conflicting performance findings across different pitch discrimination research paradigms, though they have consistently shown that discrimination accuracy is based on the psychophysical assessment method applied. In the present study, we examined pitch discrimination performance among convenience samples of 19 adult women and ten female children across six different adaptive psychophysical measurement conditions. We found pitch discrimination performance in both groups to be impacted by the measurement paradigm such that, while adults exhibited significantly better discrimination thresholds than did children, the pattern of performance across the six conditions was similar for both the adults and the children.