The role of auditory working memory In the development of glimpsing skills in children

Glimpsing is a complex process involving lower-and higher level auditory skills required for speech understanding in noise. However, little is know the role of working memory as glimpsing develops in children. The present study aimed to determine the extent to which auditory working memory contributes across the continuum of auditory perception skills in children. This study investigated the role working memory plays in speech recognition and auditory comprehension task in the presences of noise. We measured working memory, speech recognition and auditory comprehension performance with noise in 20 seven-to-nine year old children with normal hearing. Backward digit recall was used to assess working memory. Speech recognition in noise performance was measure using the Hearing In Noise Test. Comprehension was measured by a child’s ability to answer five questions associated to auditorily-presented stories. Each question evaluated a different level of comprehension. In general, there are no relationships between the speech recognition in noise performance and working memory. However, the relationship between working memory and comprehension was stronger. These results suggest that working memory contributes more when the auditory task is more complex especially in the presence of noise.