Assessing children's classroom comprehension: Development of a closed-set listening comprehension test

The effects of noise on children’s word and sentence recognition have been extensively studied. However, the impact of noise on higher-level communication skills, such as listening comprehension, has received less attention. Currently, there are no widely available tests to assess children’s listening comprehension in noise. Existing tests are often time-intensive and limited in trial number, restricting their utility for assessing comprehension across different conditions. This study aims to develop a test to measure children's sentence comprehension in noise. A closed-set format was chosen to ensure ease of testing and facilitate group assessment in real classrooms. The test comprises 50 sentences, each containing 10 words describing an object. For this study, target sentences were presented in both quiet and various noise conditions, using a four-alternative forced-choice picture-pointing procedure. Children (5-17 years) participated in test-retest rounds to establish reliability and feasibility. Working memory, receptive vocabulary, and language ability were also measured. Sensitivity analysis was employed to evaluate the test's ability to detect differences in comprehension across noise conditions. Item analysis was conducted to refine test items for clarity and difficulty. Preliminary results are promising and suggest the test could be a valuable tool for assessing listening skills in noisy classrooms.