Are listening difficulties in children related to speech recognition in noise and binaural intelligibility level difference?

Abstract

In both clinical practice and the literature, parent reports and poor speech recognition in noise performance are commonly associated with listening difficulty (LiD). However, the relationship between these reports and skills is unclear. This study investigated the relationship between questionnaire measures of LiD and psychoacoustic measures of speech recognition in noise. Four hundred and forty-six typically developing, normal-hearing (pure-tone thresholds ≤ 20 dB HL) school children (73.8% male), 6-13 years old, were recruited. Diotic and antiphasic speech reception thresholds (SRTs), and the difference between them, the digits in noise binaural intelligibility level difference (DIN-BILD), were determined using the South African English DIN. Parents completed the Evaluation of Children's Listening and Processing Skills questionnaire (ECLiPS) (246/446) and teachers the Children's Auditory Processing Performance Scale (CHAPPS) (429/446) questionnaires to identify children with possible LiD. The ECLiPS classified 36/246 (14.6%), and the CHAPPS 103/429 (23.1%) children with LiD by questionnaire published criteria. Both questionnaires were obtained for 229 participants, of which 3.1% (7/229) were classified with LiD based on both CHAPPS and ECLiPS scores. There was no significant relationship between the DIN-BILD or speech recognition in noise (antiphasic and diotic conditions) and ECLiPS or CHAPPS total scores across the 246 ECLiPS and 429 CHAPPS participants. Age had a significant effect on BILD, SRTs and CHAPPS total score. LID, determined by total scores on parent and teacher questionnaires, was not predictive of BILD or poor speech recognition in noise. LiD is a heterogeneous construct for which a DIN test could inform abilities but not identify the condition.