Comparison of auditory temporal resolution between monolingual Persian and bilingual Turkish-Persian individuals

Abstract

Objective: The aims of this study were to prepare a Persian version of the temporal resolution test using the method of and , and to compare the word-recognition performance in the presence of continuous and interrupted noise as well as the temporal resolution abilities between monolingual (ML) Persian and bilingual (BL) Turkish-Persian young adults. Design: Word-recognition scores (WRSs) were obtained in quiet and in the presence of background competing continuous and interrupted noise at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of − 20, − 10, 0, and 10 dB. Study sample: Two groups of 33 ML Persian and 36 BL Turkish-Persian volunteers participated. Results: WRSs significantly differed between ML and BL subjects at four sensation levels in the presence of continuous and interrupted noise. However, the difference in the release from masking between ML and BL subjects was not significant at the studied SNRs. Conclusions: BL Turkish-Persian listeners seem to show poorer performance when responding to Persian words in continuous and interrupted noise. However, bilingualism may not affect auditory temporal resolution ability.

Key Words::

• Continuous noise
• interrupted noise
• signal-to-noise ratio
• bilingual
• Persian
• Turkish

Acknowledgements

The guidance and assistance of Dr. Andrew Stuart and Dr. Dennis Phillips in the construction of the Persian version of the temporal resolution test, and the guidance of Dr. Yahya Modarresi in establishing the criteria for choosing BL subjects are greatly appreciated.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest that could bias the work.