Sentence comprehension and word recall in noisy classrooms: links with cognitive and noise-sensitivity measures

The theoretical framework of Ease of Language Understanding suggests that individual characteristics, both cognitive and personality-related, might modulate the effects of listening condition on the children’s performance in complex tasks. In this study we investigate the effect of competing speakers on children’s accuracy and effort in a task combining sentence comprehension and word recall, and how children’s performance relates to their cognitive functioning and noise sensitivity. A total of 95 children (aged 10 to 12 years) with normal hearing participated in the experiment. They completed the task in three listening conditions: quiet, two competing speakers, and four competing speakers. The signal-to-noise ratio was fixed at +5 dB. Children also performed tasks that gauged their executive functions and completed questionnaires to assess their noise sensitivity. The outcomes of accuracy, perceived effort and motivation are used in the investigation. Cognitive and sensitivity measures are also included in the statistical modeling to evaluate if they can predict individual differences in children’s performance.