Development of auditory tracking and speech perception in noise

In noisy surroundings, the auditory system must parse the auditory mixture reaching the ears to selectively focus on the relevant signal while ignoring the noise. In fact, in the presence of a similar-sounding interference, adults track a target stream over time by using a moving locus of attention. In spite of their functionally mature auditory system, school-age children’s perception of speech in noise remains poorer than adults’. The main aim of this study was to better understand the mechanisms underlying this protracted development. In particular, we focused on auditory tracking of voice streams, and its relationship to speech perception in noise throughout development. Our results indicate that tracking a synthetic target in the presence of a similar-sounding interference follows a protracted development, only starting to improve at adolescence. Speech perception in noise improved from childhood to adulthood. Irrespective of their age, listeners’ tracking performance significantly predicts their intelligibility in noise. These results suggest that the slow maturation of speech perception in noise might be partly attributed to the protracted development of auditory scene analysis until late adolescence.