Listening comprehension and listening effort in the primary school classroom
(2018) In Frontiers in Psychology 9(JUN).- Abstract
In the primary school classroom, children are exposed to multiple factors that combine to create adverse conditions for listening to and understanding what the teacher is saying. Despite the ubiquity of these conditions, there is little knowledge concerning the way in which various factors combine to influence listening comprehension and the effortfulness of listening. The aim of the present study was to investigate the combined effects of background noise, voice quality, and visual cues on children's listening comprehension and effort. To achieve this aim, we performed a set of four well-controlled, yet ecologically valid, experiments with 245 eight-year-old participants. Classroom listening conditions were simulated using a digitally... (More)
In the primary school classroom, children are exposed to multiple factors that combine to create adverse conditions for listening to and understanding what the teacher is saying. Despite the ubiquity of these conditions, there is little knowledge concerning the way in which various factors combine to influence listening comprehension and the effortfulness of listening. The aim of the present study was to investigate the combined effects of background noise, voice quality, and visual cues on children's listening comprehension and effort. To achieve this aim, we performed a set of four well-controlled, yet ecologically valid, experiments with 245 eight-year-old participants. Classroom listening conditions were simulated using a digitally animated talker with a dysphonic (hoarse) voice and background babble noise composed of several children talking. Results show that even low levels of babble noise interfere with listening comprehension, and there was some evidence that this effect was reduced by seeing the talker's face. Dysphonia did not significantly reduce listening comprehension scores, but it was considered unpleasant and made listening seem difficult, probably by reducing motivation to listen. We found some evidence that listening comprehension performance under adverse conditions is positively associated with individual differences in executive function. Overall, these results suggest that multiple factors combine to influence listening comprehension and effort for child listeners in the primary school classroom. The constellation of these room, talker, modality, and listener factors should be taken into account in the planning and design of educational and learning activities.
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- author
- Rudner, Mary ; Lyberg-Åhlander, Viveka LU ; Brännström, Jonas LU ; Nirme, Jens LU ; Pichora-Fuller, M. K. and Sahlén, Birgitta LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018-07-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Classroom, Cognition, Context, Dysphonic voice, Effort, Listening comprehension, Motivation, Multi-talker babble noise
- in
- Frontiers in Psychology
- volume
- 9
- issue
- JUN
- article number
- 1193
- publisher
- Frontiers Media S. A.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85049873453
- pmid:30050489
- ISSN
- 1664-1078
- DOI
- 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01193
- project
- Thinking in Time: Cognition, Communication and Learning
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- ec590829-9e08-4f8c-804d-8db06ed0d27b
- date added to LUP
- 2018-08-28 15:27:47
- date last changed
- 2025-02-04 16:09:52
@article{ec590829-9e08-4f8c-804d-8db06ed0d27b,
abstract = {{<p>In the primary school classroom, children are exposed to multiple factors that combine to create adverse conditions for listening to and understanding what the teacher is saying. Despite the ubiquity of these conditions, there is little knowledge concerning the way in which various factors combine to influence listening comprehension and the effortfulness of listening. The aim of the present study was to investigate the combined effects of background noise, voice quality, and visual cues on children's listening comprehension and effort. To achieve this aim, we performed a set of four well-controlled, yet ecologically valid, experiments with 245 eight-year-old participants. Classroom listening conditions were simulated using a digitally animated talker with a dysphonic (hoarse) voice and background babble noise composed of several children talking. Results show that even low levels of babble noise interfere with listening comprehension, and there was some evidence that this effect was reduced by seeing the talker's face. Dysphonia did not significantly reduce listening comprehension scores, but it was considered unpleasant and made listening seem difficult, probably by reducing motivation to listen. We found some evidence that listening comprehension performance under adverse conditions is positively associated with individual differences in executive function. Overall, these results suggest that multiple factors combine to influence listening comprehension and effort for child listeners in the primary school classroom. The constellation of these room, talker, modality, and listener factors should be taken into account in the planning and design of educational and learning activities.</p>}},
author = {{Rudner, Mary and Lyberg-Åhlander, Viveka and Brännström, Jonas and Nirme, Jens and Pichora-Fuller, M. K. and Sahlén, Birgitta}},
issn = {{1664-1078}},
keywords = {{Classroom; Cognition; Context; Dysphonic voice; Effort; Listening comprehension; Motivation; Multi-talker babble noise}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
number = {{JUN}},
publisher = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
series = {{Frontiers in Psychology}},
title = {{Listening comprehension and listening effort in the primary school classroom}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01193}},
doi = {{10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01193}},
volume = {{9}},
year = {{2018}},
}