The perception of speech in noise in infancy, the role of auditory development – BabySIN

This project aims to characterize the role of early auditory development in the ability to perceive speech in noisy conditions for infants with normal hearing and with hearing impairment. We will capitalize on an interdisciplinary approach linking developmental psycholinguistics and psychoacoustics, as well as electroencephalography, to systematically describe the neural auditory mechanisms underlying speech perception in noise during infancy. The general questions addressed in the present proposal are: (i) to which extent do basic auditory processes constrain the understanding of speech in noise during the early stages of development? (ii) how do congenital cochlear hearing loss and rehabilitation devices influence the interaction between auditory and speech processing during early development? The ability to hear speech within noise maskers is long to reach adult-like levels in young normal-hearing listeners and is particularly difficult for listeners with hearing-impairment using cochlear implants. The effects of auditory development on this ability will be explored in the present project with regard to the development of auditory temporal processing, that is, the ability of the auditory system to detect changes in sound amplitude over time. The outcomes will substantially improve theoretical knowledge in language education by exploring how infants perceive speech in noisy environments such as day-cares and will also have significant clinical implications concerning the prediction of hearing-aid efficiency for hearing-impaired infants.