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The Influence of Language Background on Dichotic Listening in Primary School Children

Brännström, Jonas LU ; Rudner, Mary ; Carlie, Johanna LU ; Andersson, Ketty LU orcid ; Johansson, Roger LU orcid ; Gulz, Agneta LU and Sahlén, Birgitta LU (2023) In Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups 8(2). p.298-307
Abstract
Purpose: Dichotic speech tests are commonly used in audiological assessments of children with suspected listening difficulties, which may have a range of origins. In Sweden, today, one in four primary schoolchildren has a foreign background, which means that a large proportion of children will be assessed through the medium of a language that they speak at school, but it is not the language they regularly speak at home. This study examines dichotic listening ability among children attending primary schools in two cities in southern Sweden with a high proportion of recent immigrants.

Method: In this study, 82 Swedish second and third graders aged 7–9 years with varying Swedish language exposure performed a dichotic listening task,... (More)
Purpose: Dichotic speech tests are commonly used in audiological assessments of children with suspected listening difficulties, which may have a range of origins. In Sweden, today, one in four primary schoolchildren has a foreign background, which means that a large proportion of children will be assessed through the medium of a language that they speak at school, but it is not the language they regularly speak at home. This study examines dichotic listening ability among children attending primary schools in two cities in southern Sweden with a high proportion of recent immigrants.

Method: In this study, 82 Swedish second and third graders aged 7–9 years with varying Swedish language exposure performed a dichotic listening task, under free recall and directed conditions. They also performed backward digit span as a measure of working memory and crosslinguistic nonword repetition, which is central for language learning.

Results: We found no effect of Swedish language exposure on dichotic listening performance. Right ear was not significantly better than the left ear in either free or directed recall indicating no right ear advantage. Dichotic listening performance was significantly better in free recall compared with directed recall. Dichotic listening was related to working memory capacity. After controlling for working memory capacity, nonword repetition showed a significant positive association with dichotic listening under free recall but not directed recall.

Conclusions: Test language exposure and knowledge do not seem to influence primary school children's performance on a dichotic digit task. Performance was related to working memory capacity and the complex skill of perceiving, coding, and producing novel words in a nonword repetition task. In clinical practice, both tests of working memory capacity and crosslinguistic nonword repetition may inform the interpretation of dichotic listening results in children with diverse language backgrounds. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups
volume
8
issue
2
pages
10 pages
ISSN
2381-473X
DOI
10.1044/2022_PERSP-22-00199
project
Håll koll på ögonen - lyssningsansträngning och svenska som andraspråk i klassrummet
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2f826e7f-320b-4817-a08f-9eb814da00e6
date added to LUP
2023-02-20 14:19:16
date last changed
2023-10-26 14:51:05
@article{2f826e7f-320b-4817-a08f-9eb814da00e6,
  abstract     = {{Purpose: Dichotic speech tests are commonly used in audiological assessments of children with suspected listening difficulties, which may have a range of origins. In Sweden, today, one in four primary schoolchildren has a foreign background, which means that a large proportion of children will be assessed through the medium of a language that they speak at school, but it is not the language they regularly speak at home. This study examines dichotic listening ability among children attending primary schools in two cities in southern Sweden with a high proportion of recent immigrants.<br/><br/>Method: In this study, 82 Swedish second and third graders aged 7–9 years with varying Swedish language exposure performed a dichotic listening task, under free recall and directed conditions. They also performed backward digit span as a measure of working memory and crosslinguistic nonword repetition, which is central for language learning.<br/><br/>Results: We found no effect of Swedish language exposure on dichotic listening performance. Right ear was not significantly better than the left ear in either free or directed recall indicating no right ear advantage. Dichotic listening performance was significantly better in free recall compared with directed recall. Dichotic listening was related to working memory capacity. After controlling for working memory capacity, nonword repetition showed a significant positive association with dichotic listening under free recall but not directed recall.<br/><br/>Conclusions: Test language exposure and knowledge do not seem to influence primary school children's performance on a dichotic digit task. Performance was related to working memory capacity and the complex skill of perceiving, coding, and producing novel words in a nonword repetition task. In clinical practice, both tests of working memory capacity and crosslinguistic nonword repetition may inform the interpretation of dichotic listening results in children with diverse language backgrounds.}},
  author       = {{Brännström, Jonas and Rudner, Mary and Carlie, Johanna and Andersson, Ketty and Johansson, Roger and Gulz, Agneta and Sahlén, Birgitta}},
  issn         = {{2381-473X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{298--307}},
  series       = {{Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups}},
  title        = {{The Influence of Language Background on Dichotic Listening in Primary School Children}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/2022_PERSP-22-00199}},
  doi          = {{10.1044/2022_PERSP-22-00199}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}