Development of Speech-in-noise Perception During Childhood: Insights from Speech-Brain Tracking

When listening to speech, human auditory cortical activity tracks speech rhythmicity at phrasal (~0.5 Hz) and syllable (4–8 Hz) rates, a phenomenon referred to as ‘speech-brain tracking’ (SBT) [1]. Adult studies have shown that SBT persists in the presence of noise [2] and increases when seeing the speaker’s face and lip movements, especially in speech-in-noise (SiN) conditions [3]. SBT has also been reported in children, in noiseless conditions [4]. Children under 12 years of age typically have lower abilities than adults to understand speech in adverse auditory scenes [5]. Here we examined the neuronal underpinnings of these decreased abilities in this population. Specifically we assessed (i) how different types of background noise and (ii) how seeing the speaker’s face and lips movements affect SBT during SiN processing, and (iii) how these effects develop through childhood. Magnetoencephalographic signals (Elekta Triux) were recorded from 90 typically developing right-handed children aged 5–11, while they were watching four ~5-min-long videos of actors telling a story.