Be Quiet! Effects of Competing Speakers and Individual Characteristics on Listening Comprehension for Primary School Students

Chiara Visentin (), Matteo Pellegatti, Maria Garraffa, Alberto Di Domenico and Nicola Prodi
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Chiara Visentin: Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara, Via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Matteo Pellegatti: Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara, Via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Maria Garraffa: School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
Alberto Di Domenico: Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Nicola Prodi: Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara, Via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: Students learn in noisy classrooms, where the main sources of noise are their own voices. In this sound environment, students are not equally at risk from background noise interference during lessons, due to the moderation effect of the individual characteristics on the listening conditions. This study investigates the effect of the number of competing speakers on listening comprehension and whether this is modulated by selective attention skills, working memory, and noise sensitivity. Seventy-one primary school students aged 10 to 13 years completed a sentence comprehension task in three listening conditions: quiet, two competing speakers, and four competing speakers. Outcome measures were accuracy, listening effort (response times and self-reported), motivation, and confidence in completing the task. Individual characteristics were assessed in quiet. Results showed that the number of competing speakers has no direct effects on the task, whilst the individual characteristics were found to moderate the effect of the listening conditions. Selective attention moderated the effects on accuracy and response times, working memory on motivation, and noise sensitivity on both perceived effort and confidence. Students with low cognitive abilities and high noise sensitivity were found to be particularly at risk in the condition with two competing speakers.

Keywords: classroom acoustics; noise; children; listening comprehension; cognitive abilities; noise sensitivity; attention; working memory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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