Auditory and visual information in speech perception: A developmental perspective

This study investigates the development of audiovisual speech perception from age 4 to 80, analysing the contribution of modality, context and special features of specific language being tested. Data of 77 participants in five age groups is presented in the study. Speech stimuli were introduced via auditory, visual and audiovisual modalities. Monosyllabic meaningful and nonsense words were included in a signal-to-noise ratio of 0 dB. Speech perception accuracy in audiovisual and auditory modalities by age resulted in an inverse U-shape, with lowest performance at ages 4–5 and 65–80. In the visual modality, a clear difference was shown between performance of children (ages 4–5 and 8–9) and adults (age 20 and above). The findings of the current study have important implications for strategic planning in rehabilitation programmes for child and adult speakers of different languages with hearing difficulties.