The effect of auditory distractors on listening effort and speech-in-noise recognition in school-age children

Recent research with young adults has shown that unexpected auditory stimuli increase listening effort when listening to speech in quiet and in competing noise. Considering that children spend the vast majority of their time in noisy, distracting environments, this study aimed to evaluate if school-age children (7–12 years) experience similar consequences from auditory distractors when listening in competing noise. Speech recognition accuracy, listening effort (via verbal response time), and subjective ratings were used to evaluate the effect of unexpected auditory distractors in two competing noise conditions. The overall pattern of results is not consistent with previous adult research, suggesting differential effects of auditory distraction for children compared to adults.