HESP Seminar: Rochelle Newman (HESP)

Title: Three studies on listening in noise: The role of attention, the impact of autism, and humans vs. canines

Abstract: The language systems of the brain evolved in what were presumably far quieter ambient environments than present-day settings, where noise from traffic, television, and electronic devices is ubiquitous.  In modern society, being able to understand spoken language in the presence of background noise is a critical skill.  Yet this ability appears to be particularly problematic for many different groups of people, including those with hearing impairment, the elderly, second language learners, young children, etc.   Yet presumably the reasons for these difficulties may be quite different.

In this colloquium, I will discuss three distinct areas of ongoing research in my lab within the broader domain of listening in noise:
-whether children's difficulty listening in noise relates to their domain-general attention ability
-whether children with autism have more difficulty listening in noise than their peers
-whether canine companions show similar ability to recognize speech in noise as do young children

Although each of these studies addresses a separate question, together they provide a more nuanced understanding of the different factors that impact speech comprehension outside of the laboratory.