Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR最新文献

{"title":"Lexical Bias During Speech Perception Increases Under Signal Degradation but Not Cognitive Load.","authors":"Zilong Xie","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-01005","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-01005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Lexical information shapes the interpretation of ambiguous speech sounds, often biasing perception toward real words rather than nonwords-a phenomenon known as lexical bias. This study examined the extent to which signal degradation and cognitive load modulate this bias.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Younger adults with normal hearing categorized stimuli along two word-nonword continua (Bap/Gap and Back/Gack), which differed primarily in the formant transitions of the initial consonant. Stimuli were either unprocessed or vocoded to introduce signal degradation, simulating cochlear implant listening. Cognitive load was manipulated via a dual-task paradigm: Participants memorized digits (Experiment A) or images (Experiment B) under low- and high-cognitive-load conditions while performing the categorization task.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Across both experiments, participants demonstrated robust lexical bias and reported more \"Gap\" (word) responses for the Bap/Gap continuum and more \"Back\" (word) responses for the Back/Gack continuum. Vocoded stimuli elicited stronger lexical bias than unprocessed stimuli. In Experiment A, the digit memory task produced a significant interaction: The increase in lexical bias for vocoded stimuli was attenuated under high cognitive load relative to low cognitive load. In Experiment B, the image memory task yielded no significant effect of cognitive load on lexical bias.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Signal degradation amplifies lexical bias during speech perception, whereas cognitive load appears to exert only limited influence. These findings have implications for understanding how individuals relying on spectrally degraded signals may draw on lexical knowledge to support speech perception in challenging conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4490-4505"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148805332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of the Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary of Children in Different Care Settings: A Longitudinal Exploration.","authors":"Aybegum Memisoglu-Sanli, Zeynep Ertekin, Yesim Yavaslar Dogru, Sibel Kazak Berument","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-24-00582","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-24-00582","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Language development in children is influenced by both environmental and individual factors. This study examined vocabulary development among children in care, longitudinally considering environmental (different care types) and individual (temperament) factors.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 211 children under social services care in different care types in Türkiye (23-61 months old, <i>n</i>_boys = 126, <i>n</i>_girls = 85), together with their caregivers and foster families, were assessed three times at 8-month intervals. Information about the care history of the children and day care attendance was included in the analysis. Temperament was assessed using the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Vocabulary scores were measured with the Turkish Expressive and Receptive Language Test.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Hierarchical linear models revealed that vocabulary skills improved over time across all care types. However, the growth rate of receptive vocabulary was negatively associated with the duration of time spent in care. Children attending day care showed significant improvement in expressive vocabulary. Both the foster care and institution groups showed significant increases over time, with children in foster care exhibiting steeper growth rates. Regarding temperament, higher perceptual sensitivity was associated with greater gains in receptive vocabulary, while lower perceptual sensitivity was linked to greater gains in expressive vocabulary. Identification of a three-way interaction revealed that the effect of perceptual sensitivity on receptive vocabulary growth varied by care type.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings of this study emphasize the combined influence of environmental and individual factors on the vocabulary development of children in care.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.33071174.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4327-4347"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148650425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"MyCommunication-Adults: Psychometric Properties of a New Generic Communicative Participation Measure for People With Communication Problems and Development of Short Forms.","authors":"Nicole Ter Wal, Lizet van Ewijk, Eline Alons, Benjamin D Schalet, Johanna M A Visser-Meily, Ellen Gerrits, Caroline B Terwee","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00215","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00215","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>A preliminary item bank of 133 items from MyCommunication-Adults, a patient-reported outcome measure focusing on communicative participation, underwent content validity testing to ensure its relevance, comprehensibility, and comprehensiveness. The present study aimed to assess the structural validity, construct validity, and reliability of MyCommunication-Adults and develop short forms for clinical use.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Adults with communication problems completed the full MyCommunication-Adults item bank, the Dutch Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB) short form (measuring communicative participation), and the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System v2.0 Short Form 8a - Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities (PROMIS-APS; measuring general participation). The psychometric properties of MyCommunication-Adults were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory analyses, and Pearson correlations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 500 adults with communication problems participated. The final item bank was reduced to 42 items, which demonstrated adequate structural validity (sufficient unidimensionality, Comparative Fit Index = .992, Tucker-Lewis index = .991, root-mean-square error of approximation = .085, no violation of local dependence, and good item fit). Construct validity tests confirmed an expected high correlation (.85) between MyCommunication-Adults and the Dutch CPIB short form as well as a moderate correlation between MyCommunication-Adults and the PROMIS-APS (.57). Two short forms (of nine items for unemployed and 10 items for employed adults) were developed. Analyses indicated a high reliability level for the entire item bank and the two short forms (reliability > .90 over more than 2 <i>SD</i>s in the clinical range).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The final 42-item MyCommunication-Adults item bank demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties in a Dutch sample of adults experiencing different communication problems and measures a distinct but related construct to participation. The short forms provide a reliable, valid, and efficient measure of communicative participation in clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4100-4131"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148564313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Domains of Psychosocial Risk in School-Aged Cochlear Implant Users.","authors":"Irina Castellanos, Jessica Beer, David B Pisoni, William G Kronenberger","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00907","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00907","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study was to identify domains of psychosocial risk specific to school-aged cochlear implant (CI) users and to explain individual differences in psychosocial risk within the CI sample.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The parent-completed Behavior Assessment System for Children was used to measure psychosocial functioning behaviors in 59 children with CIs and 52 children with hearing 7-19 years of age. Item-level differences between the CI and hearing samples were identified, and a principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted on differentiating items to identify at-risk psychosocial behavioral constructs specific to CI users. Associations between CI-specific risk constructs and audiological, speech-language, and neurocognitive functioning were investigated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>CI users showed significantly greater psychosocial difficulties compared to their hearing peers on 14 items of the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Second Edition. A PCA on those items identified three domains that represent CI-specific psychosocial risks: communication deficit, social popularity, and executive functioning. Better receptive vocabulary and verbal comprehension were associated with better functioning in all three CI psychosocial risk domains. Better verbal short-term memory was associated with fewer risks related to communication deficit and social popularity, whereas better verbal working memory was associated with stronger executive functioning. Participants with stronger sentence recognition had fewer risks related to communication deficit.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Children and adolescents with CIs show specific elevated psychosocial risks for problems in social communication and executive functioning. Language abilities broadly influenced all psychosocial risk domains, while other cognitive abilities were more specifically associated with some psychosocial outcomes. Development of measures tailored to assess CI-specific domains of psychosocial risk is needed to inform targeted clinical intervention.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.32913569.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4474-4489"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13577946/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148451297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intelligibility of Unfamiliar Accents in Quiet and Noise Develops Into Adolescence.","authors":"Rachael Frush Holt, Tessa Bent, Malachi Henry, Holly Lind-Combs","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00847","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00847","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>School-aged children have more difficulty understanding talkers with unfamiliar accents than adults, but little is known about when this ability matures. This study examines when word recognition for unfamiliar accents matures in quiet and noise as well as how phonetic distance contributes to word recognition.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We cross-sectionally examined word-in-sentence recognition in quiet and multitalker babble for three groups of listeners: 5- to 7-year-old children (<i>n</i> = 304), 11- to 13-year-old adolescents (<i>n</i> = 147), and adults (<i>n</i> = 200). The sentences were spoken by one familiar first language (L1)-accented, one bilingual-accented, five second language (L2)-accented, and two unfamiliar L1-accented female talkers. The pointwise mutual information-based Levenshtein distance metric quantified phonetic distance of the talkers' productions from local norms.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Children's word recognition was poorer than adults for all unfamiliar accents in both noise and quiet. Adolescents' word recognition for the unfamiliar accents was similar to that of adults in quiet for accents that were phonetically closer to the familiar L1 accent but was lower than that of adults for talkers whose phonetic distances were more distant. In noise, all L2 accents resulted in poorer accuracy for adolescents.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Foundational skills for coping with speech variability emerge early in development. However, adeptly using them for spoken word recognition in noise follows a protracted developmental trajectory that requires more than 15 years of development and listening experience. The results have implications for children with sensory aids, as indexical variability can be particularly problematic because of their degraded spectrotemporal resolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4442-4460"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148440742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Novel Proactive Speech-Language Intervention Is More Effective Than Usual Care: Randomized Controlled Trial of Babble Boot Camp for Infants With Classic Galactosemia.","authors":"Nancy Potter, Michelle Choi, Claire Schrock, Victoria Heinlen, Laurel Bruce, Jennifer Davis, Nancy Scherer, Linda Eng, Lizbeth Finestack, Carol Stoel-Gammon, Mark VanDam, Caitlin Raaz, Amy Armstrong-Heimsoth, Yookyung Kim, Beate Peter","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00579","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00579","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Speech and language disorders cannot be diagnosed and treated until children are approximately 2-4 years old. To investigate whether these disorders can be prevented, we developed and trialed Babble Boot Camp (BBC), the first proactive sustained intervention starting with precursor skills including cooing and babbling.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Participants were two randomly assigned groups of 22 infants with classic galactosemia, a metabolic disease with known risks for severe speech and language disorders. One group started BBC at under 6 months of age, and the other started at 15 months of age, both completing BBC at 24 months of age. Coached by a speech-language pathologist in weekly telehealth sessions, caregivers implemented BBC activities and routines daily at home. A typical control group and a group of children with classic galactosemia who received usual care participated as well. All children completed standardized assessments of speech and language at postintervention.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Assessment scores showed that BBC was more effective than usual care for both intervention groups. Greatest benefits were seen in the group that started at or before 6 months of age, with a proportion of clinically concerning scores equal to that in the typically developing peers. No effects of sex, genotype, or milk consumption were evident in the outcomes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Findings motivate a paradigm shift from deficit-based to proactive approaches for infants with classic galactosemia. BBC is extensible to many other disorders, with trials currently underway for infants with Down syndrome and infants born preterm.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4405-4426"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13577952/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148633476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study of the Effectiveness of the Childhood Dysphagia Management Scale (CDMS): Part 2 of a CDMS Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study.","authors":"Jennifer Maybee, Emily DeBoer, Emily Cooper, John T Brinton, Juliana G Barnard, Jeremy Prager, Arwen Jackson","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00824","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00824","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>As Part 2 of a Type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the Childhood Dysphagia Management Scale (CDMS), a validated pediatric dysphagia outcomes assessment completed by therapists following instrumental swallow assessments.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research implementation science frameworks, mixed methods were used to evaluate CDMS effectiveness in a tertiary care children's hospital system across the following areas: general/workflow, referrals, follow-up care, communication, and patient/caregiver impact. Using an explanatory sequential design, quantitative results informed qualitative interview guides. Referrals for and receipt of dysphagia management follow-up care were evaluated for patients seen pre-CDMS implementation (<i>n</i> = 533) and post-CDMS implementation (<i>n</i> = 594). Separate analyses were conducted for patients with Down syndrome. Results were modeled via ordinal logistic regression across patient-level and contextual factors. Surveys and interviews were conducted with referring providers (<i>n</i> = 17) and therapists (<i>n</i> = 35) to explore knowledge gaps revealed in the quantitative analysis. Qualitative data were analyzed using rapid qualitative analysis and integrated with quantitative data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Pre- to post-CDMS implementation, referrals (28.7%-73.6%, <i>p</i> < .001) and receipt of follow-up care (57%-63%, <i>p</i> = .067) increased. Patients had 9.8 (7.31-13.29) times greater odds of referrals matching their CDMS score post-implementation (<i>p</i> < .001). Patients with Down syndrome had higher CDMS scores and follow-up care needs. Interviews revealed critical insights about mechanisms involved in the CDMS workflow that supported the observed improvements in referrals and follow-up care and also brought areas of challenge for dysphagia management care to light such as access, process dissemination, risk for service duplication, and family burden.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Implementing the CDMS and its associated workflow in a large children's hospital system provided an objective process that increased frequency of referrals and improved follow-up care for dysphagia management. Qualitative inquiry illuminated mechanisms, barriers, and facilitators.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.33180143.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4200-4221"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148727377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural Indicators of Inhibition in Tinnitus: Onset-Offset and Sensory Gating Auditory Evoked Potentials Vary by Stimulus Frequency and Tinnitus Severity.","authors":"Kenneth V Morse, Leah R Morse","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00470","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00470","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of stimulus frequency and tinnitus severity on measurements indicative of inhibition called onset-offset and sensory gating auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). The specific aims were to (a) determine the effect of stimulus frequency on AEPs in people with and without tinnitus; (b) determine if people with high-frequency tinnitus demonstrate abnormal AEPs in response to high-frequency stimuli; and (c) compare AEPs in people with tinnitus of varying severity.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 26 people with tinnitus and 26 age-, sex-, and hearing-matched no-tinnitus controls participated. AEPs were recorded in response to stimuli of varying frequency (broadband noise [BBN], 0.25, 2, 8 kHz). AEPs were quantified by measuring difference wave amplitudes and latencies. For Aims 1 and 2, mixed-model ANOVAs were calculated to determine the main effect of and interaction between stimulus frequency and tinnitus presence. For Aim 3, participants were divided into subgroups based on median tinnitus severity and <i>t</i> tests were used to compare AEPs between subgroups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>(1) BBN evoked the largest amplitude onset-offset and sensory gating difference waves. As stimulus frequency increased, amplitude decreased. (2) Individuals who perceived high-frequency tinnitus did not demonstrate the most abnormal onset-offset and sensory gating AEPs in response to high-frequency stimuli. (3) Individuals with moderate and severe tinnitus demonstrated abnormal sensory gating AEPs compared to age-, hearing-, and sex-matched no-tinnitus controls and compared to individuals with milder tinnitus who were of similar age and hearing status.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Stimulus frequency does influence onset-offset and sensory gating AEPs. People with moderate and severe tinnitus demonstrated reduced inhibition compared to people with milder tinnitus, indicated by abnormal sensory gating AEPs. This suggests that a person's psychological reaction to their tinnitus may be linked to unconscious physiological mechanisms underlying tinnitus, including reduced inhibition.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.33155000.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4543-4561"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148690748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Low-Intensity Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission Protocols in Infants and Young Children: Contributions of Age-Specific Ear Characteristics.","authors":"Ana Paula Bruner, Uzma Shaheen Akhtar, Sumitrajit Dhar, Renata Mota Mamede Carvallo, Alessandra Spada Durante","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00969","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00969","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Despite almost complete cochlear maturity at birth, distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) levels in neonates and infants are typically higher than those measured in older children and adults, depending on the type and frequency stimulus, which suggests functional immaturity of the cochlea as well as the role of the outer and/or middle ear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between outer and middle ear characteristics, using wideband tympanometry (WBT), and DPOAEs and to evaluate the applicability of normative criteria at reduced stimulus intensities in children aged between 6 days and 5 years.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 109 ears from 60 participants were examined and categorized into three age groups: newborns, infants (6-8 months), and children (3-5 years). The following measurements were analyzed: ear canal volume, compensated acoustic admittance (with 1-kHz probe tone and 226-Hz probe tone), acoustic absorbance, and DPOAEs with two stimulus intensity protocols (<i>L</i>₁-<i>L</i>₂ = 65-55 and 55-45 dB SPL). Statistical analyses included nonparametric tests and correlation models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>WBT measures reflect the age-related maturation of the conductive pathway. Absorbance, DPOAE response levels, and signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were higher in neonates and 6- to 8-month-olds than in the 3- to 5-year group, especially at high frequencies. Lower stimulus levels (<i>L</i>₁-<i>L</i>₂ = 55-45 dB SPL) led to reduced DPOAE amplitudes and increased rates of absent responses across all groups, although the SNR remained above 6 dB in most ears.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings suggest that the structural characteristics of the outer and middle ears alter both the forward and reverse sound transmission properties, impacting DPOAE detectability. Reducing stimulus intensities affected DPOAE measures differently across age groups; however, the use of age-specific normative data may improve the accuracy of result interpretation.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4506-4525"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148809774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does the Presence of Semantic Head Facilitate Novel Word Learning in Mandarin-Speaking Children?","authors":"Jiayu Yu, Li Sheng","doi":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00393","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00393","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Characteristics of to-be-learned words influence word learning but are understudied in Mandarin-speaking children. The current study comprehensively investigated the effect of semantic head on word learning and examined the predictive role of verbal working memory and compound awareness.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Fifty-nine children (<i>M</i>_age = 63.10 months) learned pseudo-disyllabic words with semantic head (WH words) and without semantic head (OH words). Learning was measured by four tasks (i.e., mispronunciation detection, referent identification, naming, and definition) immediately after training and by naming and definition tasks 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after training.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Better learning outcomes for WH words than OH words were only observed in forming phonological representations. Significant differences were not observed between WH and OH words at all three posttraining intervals. Substitution errors in naming WH words increased 1 month after training compared to earlier time points, suggesting an interference from the OH counterparts during offline consolidation. Compound awareness contributed to children's word-learning performance after accounting for the role of verbal working memory.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The availability of semantic head may have alleviated the processing demands of WH words initially. However, this facilitation did not persist into the retention stage. WH words were more susceptible to interference during offline consolidation, resulting in significant forgetting over longer term retention. The absence of a semantic head in OH words may have rendered them more distinctive, requiring increased cognitive effort and deeper processing and thereby resulting in relatively robust retention.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.33049889.</p>","PeriodicalId":520690,"journal":{"name":"Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR","volume":" ","pages":"4308-4326"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148623755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}