Summary: New research from the University of Washington challenges the common assumption that difficulty understanding speech in noisy places always stems from hearing loss. The study found a strong link between cognitive ability and how well people with normal hearing perceive speech amid competing talkers, suggesting that cognitive factors play a major role in real-world listening challenges.
Researchers tested people with autism spectrum disorder, people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), and neurotypical controls, and observed the same pattern across groups: higher measured intellectual ability predicted better performance on a multitalker speech-perception task. The results imply that classroom accommodations and other listening supports should consider cognitive load in addition to standard hearing assessments.
Key Facts
- Study groups: 12 participants with autism, 10 with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and 27 neurotypical controls, ages 13–47.
- Main finding: Intellectual ability was strongly associated with speech perception thresholds in multitalker conditions, even with clinically normal peripheral hearing.
- Clinical implication: Difficulty hearing in complex acoustic settings can reflect cognitive processing limits rather than peripheral hearing loss.
Source: University of Washington
Imagine sitting in a crowded café trying to follow a friend. The background chat and clatter make conversation difficult — but that difficulty does not always indicate a hearing impairment. Instead, this new study indicates that cognitive capacity plays a key role in filtering, attending, and comprehending speech in noisy environments.
Lead investigator Bonnie Lau, a research assistant professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine, emphasized that the relationship between cognitive ability and multitalker speech perception was consistent across diagnostic groups. Although the study was relatively small, with fewer than 50 participants, its results highlight intellectual ability as an important factor in everyday listening performance.
To explore this relationship, researchers included participants with autism and with FASD because those groups often report difficulty hearing in noisy settings despite having clinically normal audiograms. Including neurodivergent participants broadened the range of intellectual ability represented in the sample and allowed the team to test whether cognition, rather than a diagnosis per se, predicted listening performance.
All participants first passed audiologic screening to confirm typical peripheral hearing. They then completed a controlled multitalker listening task delivered through headphones. In each trial, participants were introduced to a target (primary) speaker’s voice and instructed to attend to that voice while two competing background voices spoke simultaneously. The primary voice was always male; background voices varied. Each talker produced a single sentence starting with a call sign followed by a color and number, for example: “Ready, Eagle, go to green five now.”
Onscreen, participants selected the colored, numbered box that matched the target speaker’s sentence while the relative volume of the background talkers was gradually increased. After the listening task, participants completed brief standardized cognitive tests that assessed verbal and nonverbal intelligence and perceptual reasoning. The investigators then correlated participants’ intelligence scores with their speech-perception thresholds from the multitalker task.
The team reported a robust positive correlation between measured intellectual ability and multitalker speech-perception performance across all three groups. In other words, higher cognitive scores predicted better ability to understand the target talker as competing speech became louder and more confusable.
Lau described the multiple cognitive operations that support successful listening in noisy environments: segregating overlapping streams of speech, selectively attending to and tracking the chosen speaker, suppressing competing acoustic features, and decoding linguistic elements such as phonemes, syllables, words, and meaning. Social and pragmatic skills — for example interpreting facial cues and conversational timing — also contribute and can increase the overall cognitive load when the acoustics are poor.
Because these demands rely on central processing rather than peripheral encoding of sound, people can experience substantial listening difficulties even when standard hearing tests are normal. The study authors suggest that clinicians and educators consider cognitive factors when evaluating people who struggle to hear in real-world situations. Practical accommodations might include seating adjustments (for example, front-row placement), classroom soundfield systems, or hearing-assistive devices tailored to reduce cognitive load rather than treating peripheral hearing loss alone.
The research team was based at the UW Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, and coauthors represented the UW Autism Center, the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, and several departments across the University of Washington as well as the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
About this cognition and auditory neuroscience research news
Author: Brian Donohue ([email protected])
Source: University of Washington
Contact: Brian Donohue – University of Washington
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “The relationship between intellectual ability and auditory multitalker speech perception in neurodivergent individuals” by Bonnie Lau et al., published in PLOS One. The study investigates how cognitive ability relates to speech perception under multitalker conditions and recommends that audiological services consider cognitive factors when addressing communication in complex listening environments.
Abstract
The relationship between intellectual ability and auditory multitalker speech perception in neurodivergent individuals
Understanding one speaker in the presence of competing talkers is essential for real-world communication. This study assessed how intellectual ability influences speech perception under multitalker conditions. Because neurodivergent populations display a wide range of cognitive ability, from above-average performance to intellectual disability, cognitive capacity may strongly affect multitalker listening but has not been thoroughly examined.
Testing people with autism, individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and age- and sex-matched comparison participants, all with typical peripheral hearing, the researchers identified a strong positive relationship between IQ and multitalker speech-perception thresholds. The results indicate that reduced intellectual ability is associated with difficulty listening in complex auditory environments, despite intact peripheral encoding of sound.
Future work should identify the specific cognitive control mechanisms — such as attention, working memory, and auditory scene analysis — that most directly contribute to these listening difficulties. Meanwhile, audiological and educational evaluations should account for cognitive contributions to communication challenges and consider targeted environmental or technological supports to improve real-world listening outcomes.