Neural and perceptual speech in noise processing among 6–8-year-old children: Relation to working memory

Young school-age-children learn literacy skills in classrooms that present challenging listening environments, particularly background noise. The ability to perceive speech in noisy environments relies on the interaction between cognitive and auditory processing. The present study investigates the relationship between speech in noise (SiN) perception and working memory (WM) in children aged 6–8, in addition it explores potential neural-cognitive-behavioral links in SiN processing.

Thirty-four normal-hearing children aged 6–8 years participated in the study. Neural SiN processing was assessed using the frequency following response to speech syllable /da/, collected in quiet and background noise, and analyzed for latency, amplitude, and fundamental frequency (F0) components. Perceptual SiN accuracy was examined using a sentence recognition task at three signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels (+3, 0, and -3 dB). WM was assessed using digit span tasks.

Background noise reduced both perceptual accuracy and neural SiN processing showing delayed latencies and lower amplitudes, and weaker F0 encoding, compared to the quiet condition. WM function positively contributed to SiN perception, with its effect moderated by the neural encoding of F0 in noise. Specifically, better neural encoding of F0 in noise decreased the positive contribution of WM to SiN perception. This study confirms the relationship between SiN perception and WM in children aged 6–8 years, highlighting the crucial contribution of cognitive factors, such as WM, in processing SiN, and reveals a neural-cognitive-perceptual interaction that modulates this contribution.