Evidence for Relationship Between Speech Perception in Noise and Spectrotemporal Modulation Processing in Children With Mild Bilateral Hearing Loss: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

OBJECTIVES: Children with mild bilateral hearing loss (CHL), defined as having thresholds between 20 and 40 dB HL, experience difficulties conversing in adverse acoustic conditions with background noise, despite having near-normal speech perception in quiet....

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This study strengthens the case for assessing spectrotemporal processing in children with mild bilateral hearing loss who struggle with speech-in-noise, but fNIRS is not yet a routine clinical tool — no immediate practice change is warranted pending broader validation.

Demonstrating a neural basis for speech-in-noise difficulties in children with mild hearing loss (often under-served clinically) supports the argument for earlier and more comprehensive audiological intervention in this group.

1. 01fNIRS used to measure brain activity during speech-in-noise and spectrotemporal modulation tasks in children.
2. 02Participants had mild bilateral hearing loss (20–40 dB HL) — a population often overlooked clinically.
3. 03A significant relationship was found between spectrotemporal modulation processing and speech perception in noise.
4. 04Published in Ear and Hearing, a high-impact peer-reviewed audiology journal.
5. 05Findings support a neural explanation for why mild hearing loss causes real-world listening difficulties.

PMID

42765930

DOI

10.1097/AUD.0000000000001893.

Journal

Ear and Hearing

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Children with mild bilateral hearing loss (20–40 dB HL)

Intervention

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measurement of spectrotemporal modulation processing