Children with normal hearing (CNH) have greater difficulty segregating competing speech than do adults with normal hearing (ANH). Children with cochlear implants (CCI) have greater difficulty segregating competing speech than do CNH. In the present study, speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in competing speech were measured in Chinese Mandarin-speaking ANH, CNH, and CCIs. Target sentences were produced by a male Mandarin-speaking talker. Maskers were time-forward or -reversed sentences produced by a native Mandarin-speaking male (different from the target) or female or a non-native English-speaking male. The SRTs were lowest (best) for the ANH group, followed by the CNH and CCI groups. The masking release (MR) was comparable between the ANH and CNH group, but much poorer in the CCI group. The temporal properties differed between the native and non-native maskers and between forward and reversed speech. The temporal properties of the maskers were significantly associated with the SRTs for the CCI and CNH groups but not for the ANH group. Whereas the temporal properties of the maskers were significantly associated with the MR for all three groups, the association was stronger for the CCI and CNH groups than for the ANH group.

中文翻译：

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听力正常的成人和儿童以及植入人工耳蜗的儿童的竞争性语音分离

听力正常 (CNH) 的儿童比听力正常 (ANH) 的成人更难区分竞争性语音。与 CNH 相比，植入人工耳蜗 (CCI) 的儿童更难区分竞争性语音。在本研究中，在讲中文的普通话 ANH、CNH 和 CCI 中测量了竞争语音中的语音接收阈值 (SRT)。目标句子是由一名说普通话的男性说话者产生的。掩码是由母语为普通话的男性（与目标不同）或女性或非母语为英语的男性产生的时间向前或反向的句子。ANH 组的 SRT 最低（最佳），其次是 CNH 和 CCI 组。掩蔽释放 (MR) 在 ANH 和 CNH 组之间相当，但在 CCI 组中要差得多。本地和非本地掩蔽器之间以及正向和反向语音之间的时间属性不同。掩蔽剂的时间特性与 CCI 和 CNH 组的 SRT 显着相关，但与 ANH 组无关。虽然掩蔽剂的时间特性与所有三组的 MR 显着相关，但 CCI 和 CNH 组的关联性强于 ANH 组。