Speech perception in noise in children with dyslexia: Does speech sound disorder matter?

The aim of this observational cohort study with a control group is to compare consonant perception skills in quiet and in noise in children with typical language and learning development and in children with dyslexia, with and without Speech Sound Disorder (SSD). Three groups were included: A control group of twenty children with normal reading abilities and typical language development, twelve children with dyslexia and typical language development and thirteen children with dyslexia and SSD. All subjects received a consonant recognition test in three different listening conditions (quiet, + 10 and 0 Signal-to-Noise Ratio). In all test conditions, children with dyslexia and SSD had significantly lower consonant recognition scores than the control group and the children with dyslexia and typical language development (p <.0001). The poorer performances observed in children with dyslexia and SSD may be explained by impaired phonological processing underlying both conditions.