Children’s intentional switching of auditory selective attention in spatial and noisy acoustic environments in comparison to adults.

Abstract

am MainChildren's development and education take place in educational buildings with highly complex acoustic scenes, including spatially distributed target speakers, many surrounding distracting sounds, and general background noises. Auditory selective attention, therefore, is a valuable tool to orient oneself, to focus on specific sound sources, and to extract relevant information. Until now, it is unknown to what extent children have developed the cognitive processes of intentional attention control in spatial situations and how they differ from adults. This work provides a paradigm to examine children's intentional switching of auditory selective attention that also allows to examine effects due to noisy and spatial sound environments presented virtually via headphones. A listening experiment was conducted in Germany with 24 children (6-10 years, 50% female) and 24 young adults (18-26 years, 50% female). First, results revealed higher error rates and lower reaction times in conditions with noise (relative to conditions without noise) for children, but not for adults. This assumes that children are more sensitive to noise and conclude faster with noise trials, taking errors into account. Second, although auditory attention flexibility reflected in attention switch and relevant information selection was comparable between children and adults, it was found that adults benefited from spatial cues when selecting the relevant information. This was not observed to the same extent in children. These results suggest that children's cognitive processes are affected at significantly lower noise levels than adults and that noise effect assessment methods should consider spatial aspects.

Examining the Auditory Selective Attention Switch in a Child-Suited Virtual Reality Classroom Environment

“…To investigate the switching of auditory selective attention in children, as well as the related developmental effects, the paradigm by Oberem et al [ 12 ] was adapted for children by Loh et al [ 18 ]. To be understandable for young children, the task was changed slightly.…”

“…Other than the visual cue and the feedback elements presented on a computer display, no visual stimuli were used. The child-appropriate paradigm was validated with 24 children at the ages of 6–10 years, as well as 24 young adults in conditions with and without noise [ 18 ]. The first results indicated that children are more susceptible to noise than adults, which was reflected in higher error rates and lower reaction times.…”

“…The results further suggested that adults could benefit more from the spatial information provided by the binaural reproduction. Although even low noise levels were found to influence children’s auditory attention, the performance of children and adults regarding the voluntary attention switch was comparable [ 18 ]. These findings add to the previously discussed lack of understanding of the development of the auditory system in children.…”

“…These findings add to the previously discussed lack of understanding of the development of the auditory system in children. Loh et al [ 18 ] therefore argued for the investigation of ASA in children below the age of six years.…”

Towards Child-Appropriate Virtual Acoustic Environments: A Database of High-Resolution HRTF Measurements and 3D-Scans of Children

“…Hence, their HRTFs differ from adult or standardized artificial heads [ 33 ] HRTFs based on adult geometries. Nonetheless, the same artificial head HRTFs are used in virtual environments for children (e.g., [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]). Kids under the age of 10 are especially of interest here, as the growth-rate of the pinnae significantly decreases around that age [ 31 ].…”