Development of auditory-visual speech perception in English-speaking children: the role of language-specific factors

It has been found that auditory-visual speech perception differs over languages, particularly between English and Japanese speakers. This difference emerges due to increased use of visual information by English speakers between 6 and 8 years [14]. This study investigates the linguistic factors that may cause changes in auditory-visual speech perception development. Children aged between 5 and 8 years were given tests of reading, articulation, language-specific speech perception and auditory-visual speech perception. The results show that only language-specific speech perception predicts auditory-visual speech perception. Possible reasons for this relationship are discussed.