ERIC Number: EJ1007665
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Feb
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Factors Affecting the Processing of Intensity in School-Aged Children
Buss, Emily; Hall, Joseph W., III; Grose, John H.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v56 n1 p71-80 Feb 2013
Purpose: Thresholds of school-aged children are elevated relative to those of adults for intensity discrimination and amplitude modulation (AM) detection. It is unclear how these findings are related or what role stimulus gating and dynamic envelope cues play in these results. Two experiments assessed the development of sensitivity to intensity increments in different stimulus contexts. Method: Thresholds for detecting an increment in level were estimated for normal-hearing children (5- to 10-year-olds) and adults. Experiment 1 compared intensity discrimination for gated and continuous presentation of a 1-kHz tone, with a 65-dB-SPL standard level. Experiment 2 compared increment detection and 16-Hz AM detection introduced into a continuous 1-kHz tone, with either 35- or 75-dB-SPL standard levels. Results: Children had higher thresholds than adults overall. All listeners were more sensitive to increments in the continuous than the gated stimulus and performed better at the 75- than at the 35-dB-SPL standard level. Both effects were comparable for children and adults. There was some evidence that children's AM detection was more adultlike than increment detection. Conclusion: These results imply that memory for loudness across gated intervals is not responsible for children's poor performance but that multiple dynamic envelope cues may benefit children more than adults.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A