Evaluating how language and masked-speech recognition change over time for bilingual children in the Midwest

Spanish-English bilingual children living in the US often become more proficient in English compared to Spanish over time, in part due to education models. For example, most bilingual children in the Midwest receive educational instruction in English or rapidly transition to English-only instruction. If a bilingual child’s relative proficiency shifts, how does that shift affect their speech recognition? To address this question, we invited participants from the Children’s English and Spanish Speech Recognition Test (ChEgSS) normative study back three years later to retest their speech recognition. The initial study evaluated word recognition in 83 Spanish-English bilingual children with normal hearing. Children completed Spanish and English word recognition tests in speech-shaped noise and two-talker speech using a 4AFC procedure. Language proficiency and language use were assessed using standardized tests and a questionnaire. Results indicated that age and receptive vocabulary influenced word recognition performance. In this study we retested a subgroup of children who were between the ages of 4-8 years in the initial study using the same procedures. Results will advance our understanding of the association between language proficiency and word recognition in this demographic of bilingual children.