Late Bilinguals’ Ability to Discriminate Speech in Noise

Abstract

Hussein, D., Late Bilinguals’ Ability to Discriminate Speech in Noise, Hacettepe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Master Thesis of Audiology, Ankara, 2019. As the bilinguals are more affected by noise while listening to a speech in their non-native language, this study examined the performance of late bilinguals whose native language is Arabic and acquired Turkish later in life on the Turkish Matrix Test. The study was consisted of a study group which contained 15 participants whose Turkish is their non-native language, and of a control group which contained 13 participants whose Turkish is their native language. The Turkish Matrix test, RAVEN test, SDQ and KAS tests, VADS -B test, were performed for each participant in the study group. The Arabic version of Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) was also completed by each participant in the study group. For the Control Group, only Matrix tests’ protocols were applied for each participant. The results of this study showed a significant difference between the study and control groups on all Turkish Matrix test protocols’. Also, a significant difference was found between the Turkish and Arabic VADS test, as well as a significant difference between the KAS results of this study and the test’s normative data. These results indicate that the performance of the study group was affected by the working memory and the age of Turkish acquisition in addition to the effect of the noise. Thus, the acquiring of language in younger age and having a larger working memory capacity give an advantage for understanding speech in noise.