Remote Microphones Support Speech Recognition in Noise and Reverberation for Children With a Language Disorder

Purpose: Children with typical hearing and various language and cognitive challenges can struggle with processing speech in background noise. Thus, children with a language disorder (LD) are at risk for difficulty with speech recognition in poorer acoustic environments.

Method: The current study compared the effects of background speech-shaped noise (SSN) with and without reverberation on sentence recognition for children with LD (n = 9) and typical language development (TLD; n = 9). We also investigated whether the use of a remote microphone (RM) improved speech recognition for children with LD.

Results: Children with LD demonstrated poorer sentence recognition than peers with TLD in SSN. Both groups had poorer sentence recognition with SSN + reverberation than SSN alone. Notably, using an RM improved speech recognition for children with LD in SSN and SSN + reverberation.

Conclusion: We discuss educational implications and future research questions to identify how to optimally support speech recognition in noisy environments for children with LD.