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Culturally and linguistically diverse children's retention of spoken narratives encoded in quiet and in babble noise

Carlie, Johanna LU ; Sahlén, Birgitta LU orcid ; Andersson, Ketty LU orcid ; Johansson, Roger LU orcid ; Whitling, Susanna LU and Jonas Brännström, K. LU (2025) In Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 249.
Abstract

Multi-talker noise impedes children's speech processing and may affect children listening to their second language more than children listening to their first language. Evidence suggests that multi-talker noise also may impede children's memory retention and learning. A total of 80 culturally and linguistically diverse children aged 7 to 9 years listened to narratives in two listening conditions: quiet and multi-talker noise (signal-to-noise ratio +6 dB). Repeated recall (immediate and delayed recall), was measured with a 1-week retention interval. Retention was calculated as the difference in recall accuracy per question between immediate and delayed recall. Working memory capacity was assessed, and the children's degree of school... (More)

Multi-talker noise impedes children's speech processing and may affect children listening to their second language more than children listening to their first language. Evidence suggests that multi-talker noise also may impede children's memory retention and learning. A total of 80 culturally and linguistically diverse children aged 7 to 9 years listened to narratives in two listening conditions: quiet and multi-talker noise (signal-to-noise ratio +6 dB). Repeated recall (immediate and delayed recall), was measured with a 1-week retention interval. Retention was calculated as the difference in recall accuracy per question between immediate and delayed recall. Working memory capacity was assessed, and the children's degree of school language (Swedish) exposure was quantified. Immediate narrative recall was lower for the narrative encoded in noise than in quiet. During delayed recall, narrative recall was similar for both listening conditions. Children with higher degrees of school language exposure and higher working memory capacity had better narrative recall overall, but these factors were not associated with an effect of listening condition or retention. Multi-talker babble noise does not impair culturally and linguistically diverse primary school children's retention of spoken narratives as measured by multiple-choice questions. Although a quiet listening condition allows for a superior encoding compared with a noisy listening condition, details are likely lost during memory consolidation and re-consolidation.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Auditory recall, Bilingualism, Consolidation, Learning, Listening comprehension, Memory, Speech recognition
in
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
volume
249
article number
106088
publisher
Academic Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85204574138
  • pmid:39316884
ISSN
0022-0965
DOI
10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106088
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors
id
5818936d-d7fe-4518-a875-b7fcdd9793d9
date added to LUP
2024-09-30 06:55:03
date last changed
2025-07-08 08:59:23
@article{5818936d-d7fe-4518-a875-b7fcdd9793d9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Multi-talker noise impedes children's speech processing and may affect children listening to their second language more than children listening to their first language. Evidence suggests that multi-talker noise also may impede children's memory retention and learning. A total of 80 culturally and linguistically diverse children aged 7 to 9 years listened to narratives in two listening conditions: quiet and multi-talker noise (signal-to-noise ratio +6 dB). Repeated recall (immediate and delayed recall), was measured with a 1-week retention interval. Retention was calculated as the difference in recall accuracy per question between immediate and delayed recall. Working memory capacity was assessed, and the children's degree of school language (Swedish) exposure was quantified. Immediate narrative recall was lower for the narrative encoded in noise than in quiet. During delayed recall, narrative recall was similar for both listening conditions. Children with higher degrees of school language exposure and higher working memory capacity had better narrative recall overall, but these factors were not associated with an effect of listening condition or retention. Multi-talker babble noise does not impair culturally and linguistically diverse primary school children's retention of spoken narratives as measured by multiple-choice questions. Although a quiet listening condition allows for a superior encoding compared with a noisy listening condition, details are likely lost during memory consolidation and re-consolidation.</p>}},
  author       = {{Carlie, Johanna and Sahlén, Birgitta and Andersson, Ketty and Johansson, Roger and Whitling, Susanna and Jonas Brännström, K.}},
  issn         = {{0022-0965}},
  keywords     = {{Auditory recall; Bilingualism; Consolidation; Learning; Listening comprehension; Memory; Speech recognition}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Academic Press}},
  series       = {{Journal of Experimental Child Psychology}},
  title        = {{Culturally and linguistically diverse children's retention of spoken narratives encoded in quiet and in babble noise}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106088}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106088}},
  volume       = {{249}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}