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Xia Q, Chen J, Zheng Y, Yang S, Ji F. Feasibility exploration of cortical auditory evoked potentials evoked by spectro-temporal modulation signals. Acta Otolaryngol 2024:1-6. [PMID: 39192827 DOI: 10.1080/00016489.2024.2393214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2024] [Revised: 08/06/2024] [Accepted: 08/08/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND An objective measurement of speech perception would be valuable in hearing-impaired patients who are unable to perform auditory tasks reliably. OBJECTIVES To investigate the feasibility of cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) evoked by different spectro-temporal modulation (STM) signals and provide reference for the further exploration of acoustic change complex (ACC) in hearing-impaired patients. METHOD 29 normal hearing (NH) adults were recruited and stimulated randomly by STM signals at 6 spectral modulation rates: 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 cycles/octave, at each of 4 temporal modulation rates: 0, 2, 4, 8 Hz, to elicit ACC response. RESULTS The change of spectral modulation rates ≤ 16 cycles/octave at 0 Hz temporal modulation rate had different impacts on latency. 0, 1 cycles/octave, and 4, 8 Hz made a difference to the P2-N1 amplitude easily. 8, 16 cycles/octave were more unstable in rejection rate. No significant difference existed in waveform repetition rate among different STM rates. No significant interaction effect existed in spectral and temporal modulation. CONCLUSIONS STM as a stimulus signal to induce ACC response had its feasibility. 2 cycles/octave at spectral modulation rate and 2 Hz at temporal modulation rate had better stability and waveform repeatability in NH adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingqing Xia
- College of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
| | - Jiyue Chen
- Senior Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Hearing and Balance Science, Beijing, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Hearing Impairment Prevention and Treatment, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Zheng
- Beihang University, Beijing, China
| | - Shiming Yang
- College of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Senior Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Hearing and Balance Science, Beijing, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Hearing Impairment Prevention and Treatment, Beijing, China
| | - Fei Ji
- Senior Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Hearing and Balance Science, Beijing, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Otolaryngologic Diseases, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Hearing Impairment Prevention and Treatment, Beijing, China
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Cheng FY, Campbell J, Liu C. Auditory Sensory Gating: Effects of Noise. BIOLOGY 2024; 13:443. [PMID: 38927323 PMCID: PMC11200888 DOI: 10.3390/biology13060443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2024] [Revised: 06/06/2024] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) indicate that noise degrades auditory neural encoding, causing decreased peak amplitude and increased peak latency. Different types of noise affect CAEP responses, with greater informational masking causing additional degradation. In noisy conditions, attention can improve target signals' neural encoding, reflected by an increased CAEP amplitude, which may be facilitated through various inhibitory mechanisms at both pre-attentive and attentive levels. While previous research has mainly focused on inhibition effects during attentive auditory processing in noise, the impact of noise on the neural response during the pre-attentive phase remains unclear. Therefore, this preliminary study aimed to assess the auditory gating response, reflective of the sensory inhibitory stage, to repeated vowel pairs presented in background noise. CAEPs were recorded via high-density EEG in fifteen normal-hearing adults in quiet and noise conditions with low and high informational masking. The difference between the average CAEP peak amplitude evoked by each vowel in the pair was compared across conditions. Scalp maps were generated to observe general cortical inhibitory networks in each condition. Significant gating occurred in quiet, while noise conditions resulted in a significantly decreased gating response. The gating function was significantly degraded in noise with less informational masking content, coinciding with a reduced activation of inhibitory gating networks. These findings illustrate the adverse effect of noise on pre-attentive inhibition related to speech perception.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Julia Campbell
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (F.-Y.C.); (C.L.)
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Duquette-Laplante F, Jutras B, Néron N, Fortin S, Koravand A. Exploring the Differences Between an Immature and a Mature Human Auditory System Through Auditory Late Responses in Quiet and in Noise. Neuroscience 2024; 545:171-184. [PMID: 38513763 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Children are disadvantaged compared to adults when they perceive speech in a noisy environment. Noise reduces their ability to extract and understand auditory information. Auditory-Evoked Late Responses (ALRs) offer insight into how the auditory system can process information in noise. This study investigated how noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and stimulus type affect ALRs in children and adults. Fifteen participants from each group with normal hearing were studied under various conditions. The findings revealed that both groups experienced delayed latencies and reduced amplitudes in noise but that children had fewer identifiable waves than adults. Babble noise had a significant impact on both groups, limiting the analysis to one condition: the /da/ stimulus at +10 dB SNR for the P1 wave. P1 amplitude was greater in quiet for children compared to adults, with no stimulus effect. Children generally exhibited longer latencies. N1 latency was longer in noise, with larger amplitudes in white noise compared to quiet for both groups. P2 latency was shorter with the verbal stimulus in quiet, with larger amplitudes in children than adults. N2 latency was shorter in quiet, with no amplitude differences between the groups. Overall, noise prolonged latencies and reduced amplitudes. Different noise types had varying impacts, with the eight-talker babble noise causing more disruption. Children's auditory system responded similarly to adults but may be more susceptible to noise. This research emphasizes the need to understand noise's impact on children's auditory development, given their exposure to noisy environments, requiring further exploration of noise parameters in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fauve Duquette-Laplante
- Audiology and Speech Pathology Program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa, Roger Guindon Hall, 451 Smyth Road, Room 3071, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M5, Canada; School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Université de Montréal, c.p. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal H3C 3J7, Canada; Research Center, CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175, Côte Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, Québec H3T 1C5, Canada.
| | - Benoît Jutras
- School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Université de Montréal, c.p. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal H3C 3J7, Canada; Research Center, CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175, Côte Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, Québec H3T 1C5, Canada.
| | - Noémie Néron
- School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Université de Montréal, c.p. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal H3C 3J7, Canada; Research Center, CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175, Côte Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, Québec H3T 1C5, Canada.
| | - Sandra Fortin
- School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Université de Montréal, c.p. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal H3C 3J7, Canada.
| | - Amineh Koravand
- Audiology and Speech Pathology Program, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Ottawa, Roger Guindon Hall, 451 Smyth Road, Room 3071, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8M5, Canada.
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Key AP, Thompson EC, Benítez-Barrera C, Feldman JI, Woynaroski T, Picou E, Tharpe AM. Electrophysiological Measures of Listening-in-Noise With and Without Remote Microphone System Use in Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth. Ear Hear 2024; 45:710-720. [PMID: 38273435 PMCID: PMC11014766 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES This study examined the neural mechanisms by which remote microphone (RM) systems might lead to improved behavioral performance on listening-in-noise tasks in autistic and non-autistic youth. DESIGN Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) were recorded in autistic (n = 25) and non-autistic (n = 22) youth who were matched at the group level on chronological age ( M = 14.21 ± 3.39 years) and biological sex. Potentials were recorded during an active syllable identification task completed in quiet and in multi-talker babble noise with and without the use of an RM system. The effects of noise and RM system use on speech-sound-evoked P1-N1-P2 responses and the associations between the cortical responses and behavioral performance on syllable identification were examined. RESULTS No group differences were observed for behavioral or CAEP measures of speech processing in quiet or in noise. In the combined sample, syllable identification in noise was less accurate and slower than in the quiet condition. The addition of the RM system to the noise condition restored accuracy, but not the response speed, to the levels observed in quiet. The CAEP analyses noted amplitude reductions and latency delays in the noise compared with the quiet condition. The RM system use increased the N1 amplitude as well as reduced and delayed the P2 response relative to the quiet and noise conditions. Exploratory brain-behavior correlations revealed that larger N1 amplitudes in the RM condition were associated with greater behavioral accuracy of syllable identification. Reduced N1 amplitude and accelerated P2 response were associated with shorter syllable identification response times when listening with the RM system. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that although listening-in-noise with an RM system might remain effortful, the improved signal to noise ratio facilitates attention to the sensory features of the stimuli and increases speech sound identification accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra P. Key
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
| | - Emily C. Thompson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
| | | | - Jacob I. Feldman
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
| | - Tiffany Woynaroski
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
| | - Erin Picou
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
| | - Anne Marie Tharpe
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
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Bidelman GM, Bernard F, Skubic K. Hearing in categories aids speech streaming at the "cocktail party". BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.03.587795. [PMID: 38617284 PMCID: PMC11014555 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.03.587795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Our perceptual system bins elements of the speech signal into categories to make speech perception manageable. Here, we aimed to test whether hearing speech in categories (as opposed to a continuous/gradient fashion) affords yet another benefit to speech recognition: parsing noisy speech at the "cocktail party." We measured speech recognition in a simulated 3D cocktail party environment. We manipulated task difficulty by varying the number of additional maskers presented at other spatial locations in the horizontal soundfield (1-4 talkers) and via forward vs. time-reversed maskers, promoting more and less informational masking (IM), respectively. In separate tasks, we measured isolated phoneme categorization using two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) and visual analog scaling (VAS) tasks designed to promote more/less categorical hearing and thus test putative links between categorization and real-world speech-in-noise skills. We first show that listeners can only monitor up to ~3 talkers despite up to 5 in the soundscape and streaming is not related to extended high-frequency hearing thresholds (though QuickSIN scores are). We then confirm speech streaming accuracy and speed decline with additional competing talkers and amidst forward compared to reverse maskers with added IM. Dividing listeners into "discrete" vs. "continuous" categorizers based on their VAS labeling (i.e., whether responses were binary or continuous judgments), we then show the degree of IM experienced at the cocktail party is predicted by their degree of categoricity in phoneme labeling; more discrete listeners are less susceptible to IM than their gradient responding peers. Our results establish a link between speech categorization skills and cocktail party processing, with a categorical (rather than gradient) listening strategy benefiting degraded speech perception. These findings imply figure-ground deficits common in many disorders might arise through a surprisingly simple mechanism: a failure to properly bin sounds into categories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M. Bidelman
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
- Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
- Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Fallon Bernard
- School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis TN, USA
| | - Kimberly Skubic
- School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis TN, USA
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Felix LDDA, Menezes PL, Oliveira LVD, Batista CHA, Carnaúba ATL, Andrade KCLD. The Effect of Simultaneous Contralateral White Noise Masking on Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials Elicited by Speech Stimuli. Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2024; 28:e115-e121. [PMID: 38322432 PMCID: PMC10843931 DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1767675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/26/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Noise obscures speech signal, causing auditory masking. The effects of this masking can be observed through the cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs). White noise, in turn, has an effect on the auditory cortex, interfering, for example, with lexical decision making. Objective To analyze the effect of simultaneous masking by contralateral white noise on CAEPs elicited by speech stimuli. Methods Cross-sectional observational analytical study carried out with 15 participants of both sexes, who were submitted to CAEPs in two conditions: 1) without noise; 2) with white noise at 100 dBSPL intensity, contralaterally and simultaneously. To compare these conditions, the Student t test or the Wilcoxon test were used, depending on the sample normality. Differences with p values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results : When white noise was presented contralaterally and simultaneously to the CAEPs with speech stimulus, an increase in P1, N1 and P2 wave latencies was observed. P1 and P2 amplitudes and N1-P2 peak to peak amplitude also increased, unlike N1 amplitude, which decreased. The differences were significant for P1 and P2 wave latencies and for P2 wave amplitude. Conclusion The simultaneous masking effect was observed from the morphological alterations of the CAEPs with speech stimulus when white noise was presented in the contralateral ear. There was a significant increase in P1 and P2 wave latencies, as well as in P2 wave amplitude.
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Bidelman GM, Carter JA. Continuous dynamics in behavior reveal interactions between perceptual warping in categorization and speech-in-noise perception. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1032369. [PMID: 36937676 PMCID: PMC10014819 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1032369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Spoken language comprehension requires listeners map continuous features of the speech signal to discrete category labels. Categories are however malleable to surrounding context and stimulus precedence; listeners' percept can dynamically shift depending on the sequencing of adjacent stimuli resulting in a warping of the heard phonetic category. Here, we investigated whether such perceptual warping-which amplify categorical hearing-might alter speech processing in noise-degraded listening scenarios. Methods We measured continuous dynamics in perception and category judgments of an acoustic-phonetic vowel gradient via mouse tracking. Tokens were presented in serial vs. random orders to induce more/less perceptual warping while listeners categorized continua in clean and noise conditions. Results Listeners' responses were faster and their mouse trajectories closer to the ultimate behavioral selection (marked visually on the screen) in serial vs. random order, suggesting increased perceptual attraction to category exemplars. Interestingly, order effects emerged earlier and persisted later in the trial time course when categorizing speech in noise. Discussion These data describe interactions between perceptual warping in categorization and speech-in-noise perception: warping strengthens the behavioral attraction to relevant speech categories, making listeners more decisive (though not necessarily more accurate) in their decisions of both clean and noise-degraded speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M. Bidelman
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
- Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Jared A. Carter
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- Hearing Sciences – Scottish Section, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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Plasticity Changes in Central Auditory Systems of School-Age Children Following a Brief Training With a Remote Microphone System. Ear Hear 2023:00003446-990000000-00109. [PMID: 36706057 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to investigate whether a brief speech-in-noise training with a remote microphone (RM) system (favorable listening condition) would contribute to enhanced post-training plasticity changes in the auditory system of school-age children. DESIGN Before training, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 49 typically developing children, who actively identified two syllables in quiet and in noise (+5 dB signal-to-noise ratio [SNR]). During training, children completed the same syllable identification task as in the pre-training noise condition, but received feedback on their performance. Following random assignment, half of the sample used an RM system during training (experimental group), while the other half did not (control group). That is, during training' children in the experimental group listened to a more favorable speech signal (+15 dB SNR) than children from the control group (+5 dB SNR). ERPs were collected after training at +5 dB SNR to evaluate the effects of training with and without the RM system. Electrical neuroimaging analyses quantified the effects of training in each group on ERP global field power (GFP) and topography, indexing response strength and network changes, respectively. Behavioral speech-perception-in-noise skills of children were also evaluated and compared before and after training. We hypothesized that training with the RM system (experimental group) would lead to greater enhancement of GFP and greater topographical changes post-training than training without the RM system (control group). We also expected greater behavioral improvement on the speech-perception-in-noise task when training with than without the RM system. RESULTS GFP was enhanced after training only in the experimental group. These effects were observed on early time-windows corresponding to traditional P1-N1 (100 to 200 msec) and P2-N2 (200 to 400 msec) ERP components. No training effects were observed on response topography. Finally, both groups increased their speech-perception-in-noise skills post-training. CONCLUSIONS Enhanced GFP after training with the RM system indicates plasticity changes in the neural representation of sound resulting from listening to an enriched auditory signal. Further investigation of longer training or auditory experiences with favorable listening conditions is needed to determine if that results in long-term speech-perception-in-noise benefits.
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Deshpande P, Brandt C, Debener S, Neher T. Comparing Clinically Applicable Behavioral and Electrophysiological Measures of Speech Detection, Discrimination, and Comprehension. Trends Hear 2022; 26:23312165221139733. [PMID: 36423251 PMCID: PMC9703531 DOI: 10.1177/23312165221139733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Effective communication requires good speech perception abilities. Speech perception can be assessed with behavioral and electrophysiological methods. Relating these two types of measures to each other can provide a basis for new clinical tests. In audiological practice, speech detection and discrimination are routinely assessed, whereas comprehension-related aspects are ignored. The current study compared behavioral and electrophysiological measures of speech detection, discrimination, and comprehension. Thirty young normal-hearing native Danish speakers participated. All measurements were carried out with digits and stationary speech-shaped noise as the stimuli. The behavioral measures included speech detection thresholds (SDTs), speech recognition thresholds (SRTs), and speech comprehension scores (i.e., response times). For the electrophysiological measures, multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were performed. N100 and P300 responses were evoked using an active auditory oddball paradigm. N400 and Late Positive Complex (LPC) responses were evoked using a paradigm based on congruent and incongruent digit triplets, with the digits presented either all acoustically or first visually (digits 1-2) and then acoustically (digit 3). While no correlations between the SDTs and SRTs and the N100 and P300 responses were found, the response times were correlated with the EEG responses to the congruent and incongruent triplets. Furthermore, significant differences between the response times (but not EEG responses) obtained with auditory and visual-then-auditory stimulus presentation were observed. This pattern of results could reflect a faster recall mechanism when the first two digits are presented visually rather than acoustically. The visual-then-auditory condition may facilitate the assessment of comprehension-related processes in hard-of-hearing individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pushkar Deshpande
- Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark,Research Unit for ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Odense University Hospital & University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark,Pushkar Deshpande, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Research Unit for ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Odense University Hospital & University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
| | - Christian Brandt
- Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark,Research Unit for ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Odense University Hospital & University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Stefan Debener
- Department of Psychology, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Neher
- Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark,Research Unit for ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Odense University Hospital & University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
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Vermiglio AJ, Osborne HR, Bonilla E, Leclerc L, Thornton M, Fang X. The Relationship between Speech Perception in Quiet and in Noise for Young Adults with Pure-Tone Thresholds ≤ 25 dB HL. J Am Acad Audiol 2022; 33:390-395. [PMID: 39074795 DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1757443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/31/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The standard audiological protocol utilizes quiet measures. However, it has been noted that speech recognition in noise (SRN) testing provides information that cannot be inferred from quiet measures. PURPOSE The purpose of this convergent validity study was to investigate the relationships between behavioral responses in quiet and in noise. RESEARCH DESIGN Bilateral pure-tone averages (BPTA) were calculated for thresholds from 500 to 6000 Hz. The Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) thresholds in quiet (HINT-Q) were also measured. SRN performances were determined using the HINT Noise Front (HINT-F) condition and the AzBio test. The HINT-F uses steady-state speech-shaped noise and the AzBio uses a 10-talker babble. All conditions were randomized. STUDY SAMPLE Fifty young, native English-speaking females with pure-tone thresholds less than or equal to 25 dB HL participated in this study. The average age of the participants was 20.5 years (standard deviation = 1.47). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Pearson correlation coefficients were used to quantify the relationships between all measures. RESULTS Statistically significant relationships were found between HINT-Q thresholds versus BPTA (0.5-6.0 kHz) (r = 0.62, p < 0.01) and between HINT-F thresholds versus AzBio (0 dB signal-to-noise ratio) scores (r = -0.41, p < 0.05). No significant relationships were found between any of the quiet versus noise measures. CONCLUSION These results suggest that, for individuals with pure-tone thresholds less than or equal to 25 dB HL, SRN ability must be measured directly and not inferred from PTA or speech-in-quiet measures. It is possible, to a modest degree, to predict AzBio performances from the HINT-F thresholds, and vice versa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J Vermiglio
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
| | - Hannah R Osborne
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
| | - Elizabeth Bonilla
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
| | - Lauren Leclerc
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
| | - Meagan Thornton
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
| | - Xiangming Fang
- Department of Biostatistics, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
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Muncke J, Kuruvila I, Hoppe U. Prediction of Speech Intelligibility by Means of EEG Responses to Sentences in Noise. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:876421. [PMID: 35720724 PMCID: PMC9198593 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.876421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Understanding speech in noisy conditions is challenging even for people with mild hearing loss, and intelligibility for an individual person is usually evaluated by using several subjective test methods. In the last few years, a method has been developed to determine a temporal response function (TRF) between speech envelope and simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements. By using this TRF it is possible to predict the EEG signal for any speech signal. Recent studies have suggested that the accuracy of this prediction varies with the level of noise added to the speech signal and can predict objectively the individual speech intelligibility. Here we assess the variations of the TRF itself when it is calculated for measurements with different signal-to-noise ratios and apply these variations to predict speech intelligibility. Methods For 18 normal hearing subjects the individual threshold of 50% speech intelligibility was determined by using a speech in noise test. Additionally, subjects listened passively to speech material of the speech in noise test at different signal-to-noise ratios close to individual threshold of 50% speech intelligibility while an EEG was recorded. Afterwards the shape of TRFs for each signal-to-noise ratio and subject were compared with the derived intelligibility. Results The strongest effect of variations in stimulus signal-to-noise ratio on the TRF shape occurred close to 100 ms after the stimulus presentation, and was located in the left central scalp region. The investigated variations in TRF morphology showed a strong correlation with speech intelligibility, and we were able to predict the individual threshold of 50% speech intelligibility with a mean deviation of less then 1.5 dB. Conclusion The intelligibility of speech in noise can be predicted by analyzing the shape of the TRF derived from different stimulus signal-to-noise ratios. Because TRFs are interpretable, in a manner similar to auditory evoked potentials, this method offers new options for clinical diagnostics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Muncke
- Department of Audiology, ENT-Clinic, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Ivine Kuruvila
- Department of Audiology, ENT-Clinic, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
- WS Audiology, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Ulrich Hoppe
- Department of Audiology, ENT-Clinic, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
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Vonck BM, van Heteren JA, Lammers MJ, de Jel DV, Schaake WA, van Zanten GA, Stokroos RJ, Versnel H. Cortical potentials evoked by tone frequency changes can predict speech perception in noise. Hear Res 2022; 420:108508. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Effect of Noise Reduction on Cortical Speech-in-Noise Processing and Its Variance due to Individual Noise Tolerance. Ear Hear 2021; 43:849-861. [PMID: 34751679 PMCID: PMC9010348 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Despite the widespread use of noise reduction (NR) in modern digital hearing aids, our neurophysiological understanding of how NR affects speech-in-noise perception and why its effect is variable is limited. The current study aimed to (1) characterize the effect of NR on the neural processing of target speech and (2) seek neural determinants of individual differences in the NR effect on speech-in-noise performance, hypothesizing that an individual's own capability to inhibit background noise would inversely predict NR benefits in speech-in-noise perception. DESIGN Thirty-six adult listeners with normal hearing participated in the study. Behavioral and electroencephalographic responses were simultaneously obtained during a speech-in-noise task in which natural monosyllabic words were presented at three different signal-to-noise ratios, each with NR off and on. A within-subject analysis assessed the effect of NR on cortical evoked responses to target speech in the temporal-frontal speech and language brain regions, including supramarginal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus in the left hemisphere. In addition, an across-subject analysis related an individual's tolerance to noise, measured as the amplitude ratio of auditory-cortical responses to target speech and background noise, to their speech-in-noise performance. RESULTS At the group level, in the poorest signal-to-noise ratio condition, NR significantly increased early supramarginal gyrus activity and decreased late inferior frontal gyrus activity, indicating a switch to more immediate lexical access and less effortful cognitive processing, although no improvement in behavioral performance was found. The across-subject analysis revealed that the cortical index of individual noise tolerance significantly correlated with NR-driven changes in speech-in-noise performance. CONCLUSIONS NR can facilitate speech-in-noise processing despite no improvement in behavioral performance. Findings from the current study also indicate that people with lower noise tolerance are more likely to get more benefits from NR. Overall, results suggest that future research should take a mechanistic approach to NR outcomes and individual noise tolerance.
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Hernández-Pérez H, Mikiel-Hunter J, McAlpine D, Dhar S, Boothalingam S, Monaghan JJM, McMahon CM. Understanding degraded speech leads to perceptual gating of a brainstem reflex in human listeners. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001439. [PMID: 34669696 PMCID: PMC8559948 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to navigate "cocktail party" situations by focusing on sounds of interest over irrelevant, background sounds is often considered in terms of cortical mechanisms. However, subcortical circuits such as the pathway underlying the medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex modulate the activity of the inner ear itself, supporting the extraction of salient features from auditory scene prior to any cortical processing. To understand the contribution of auditory subcortical nuclei and the cochlea in complex listening tasks, we made physiological recordings along the auditory pathway while listeners engaged in detecting non(sense) words in lists of words. Both naturally spoken and intrinsically noisy, vocoded speech-filtering that mimics processing by a cochlear implant (CI)-significantly activated the MOC reflex, but this was not the case for speech in background noise, which more engaged midbrain and cortical resources. A model of the initial stages of auditory processing reproduced specific effects of each form of speech degradation, providing a rationale for goal-directed gating of the MOC reflex based on enhancing the representation of the energy envelope of the acoustic waveform. Our data reveal the coexistence of 2 strategies in the auditory system that may facilitate speech understanding in situations where the signal is either intrinsically degraded or masked by extrinsic acoustic energy. Whereas intrinsically degraded streams recruit the MOC reflex to improve representation of speech cues peripherally, extrinsically masked streams rely more on higher auditory centres to denoise signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heivet Hernández-Pérez
- Department of Linguistics, The Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Jason Mikiel-Hunter
- Department of Linguistics, The Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - David McAlpine
- Department of Linguistics, The Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Sumitrajit Dhar
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Sriram Boothalingam
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Jessica J. M. Monaghan
- Department of Linguistics, The Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
- National Acoustic Laboratories, Sydney, Australia
| | - Catherine M. McMahon
- Department of Linguistics, The Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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15
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Informational Masking Effects of Similarity and Uncertainty on Early and Late Stages of Auditory Cortical Processing. Ear Hear 2021; 42:1006-1023. [PMID: 33416259 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Understanding speech in a background of other people talking is a difficult listening situation for hearing-impaired individuals, and even for those with normal hearing. Speech-on-speech masking is known to contribute to increased perceptual difficulty over nonspeech background noise because of informational masking provided over and above the effects of energetic masking. While informational masking research has identified factors of similarity and uncertainty between target and masker that contribute to reduced behavioral performance in speech background noise, critical gaps in knowledge including the underlying neural-perceptual processes remain. By systematically manipulating aspects of acoustic similarity and uncertainty in the same auditory paradigm, the current study examined the time course and objectively quantified these informational masking effects at both early and late stages of auditory processing using auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). METHOD Thirty participants were included in a cross-sectional repeated measures design. Target-masker similarity was manipulated by varying the linguistic/phonetic similarity (i.e., language) of the talkers in the background. Specifically, four levels representing hypothesized increasing levels of informational masking were implemented: (1) no masker (quiet); (2) Mandarin; (3) Dutch; and (4) English. Stimulus uncertainty was manipulated by task complexity, specifically presentation of target-to-target interval (TTI) in the auditory evoked paradigm. Participants had to discriminate between English word stimuli (/bæt/ and /pæt/) presented in an oddball paradigm under each masker condition pressing buttons to either the target or standard stimulus. Responses were recorded simultaneously for P1-N1-P2 (standard waveform) and P3 (target waveform). This design allowed for simultaneous recording of multiple AEP peaks, as well as accuracy, reaction time, and d' behavioral discrimination to button press responses. RESULTS Several trends in AEP components were consistent with effects of increasing linguistic/phonetic similarity and stimulus uncertainty. All babble maskers significantly affected outcomes compared to quiet. In addition, the native language English masker had the largest effect on outcomes in the AEP paradigm, including reduced P3 amplitude and area, as well as decreased accuracy and d' behavioral discrimination to target word responses. AEP outcomes for the Mandarin and Dutch maskers, however, were not significantly different across any measured component. Latency outcomes for both N1 and P3 also supported an effect of stimulus uncertainty, consistent with increased processing time related to greater task complexity. An unanticipated result was the absence of the interaction of linguistic/phonetic similarity and stimulus uncertainty. CONCLUSIONS Observable effects of both similarity and uncertainty were evidenced at a level of the P3 more than the earlier N1 level of auditory cortical processing suggesting that higher-level active auditory processing may be more sensitive to informational masking deficits. The lack of significant interaction between similarity and uncertainty at either level of processing suggests that these informational masking factors operated independently. Speech babble maskers across languages altered AEP component measures, behavioral detection, and reaction time. Specifically, this occurred when the babble was in the native/same language as the target, while the effects of foreign language maskers did not differ. The objective results from this study provide a foundation for further investigation of how the linguistic content of target and masker and task difficulty contribute to difficulty understanding speech-in-noise.
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Hennessy S, Wood A, Wilcox R, Habibi A. Neurophysiological improvements in speech-in-noise task after short-term choir training in older adults. Aging (Albany NY) 2021; 13:9468-9495. [PMID: 33824226 PMCID: PMC8064162 DOI: 10.18632/aging.202931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Perceiving speech in noise (SIN) is important for health and well-being and decreases with age. Musicians show improved speech-in-noise abilities and reduced age-related auditory decline, yet it is unclear whether short term music engagement has similar effects. In this randomized control trial we used a pre-post design to investigate whether a 12-week music intervention in adults aged 50-65 without prior music training and with subjective hearing loss improves well-being, speech-in-noise abilities, and auditory encoding and voluntary attention as indexed by auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) in a syllable-in-noise task, and later AEPs in an oddball task. Age and gender-matched adults were randomized to a choir or control group. Choir participants sang in a 2-hr ensemble with 1-hr home vocal training weekly; controls listened to a 3-hr playlist weekly, attended concerts, and socialized online with fellow participants. From pre- to post-intervention, no differences between groups were observed on quantitative measures of well-being or behavioral speech-in-noise abilities. In the choir group, but not the control group, changes in the N1 component were observed for the syllable-in-noise task, with increased N1 amplitude in the passive condition and decreased N1 latency in the active condition. During the oddball task, larger N1 amplitudes to the frequent standard stimuli were also observed in the choir but not control group from pre to post intervention. Findings have implications for the potential role of music training to improve sound encoding in individuals who are in the vulnerable age range and at risk of auditory decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Hennessy
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Alison Wood
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Rand Wilcox
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - Assal Habibi
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
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Atılgan A, Çiprut A. Effects of spatial separation with better- ear listening on N1-P2 complex. Auris Nasus Larynx 2021; 48:1067-1073. [PMID: 33745789 DOI: 10.1016/j.anl.2021.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine better- ear listening effect on spatial separation with the N1-P2 complex. METHODS Twenty individuals with normal hearing participated in this study. The speech stimulus /ba/ was presented in front of the participant (0°). Continuous Speech Noise (5 dB signal-to-noise ratio) was presented either in front of the participant (0°), left-side (-90°), or right-side (+90°). N1- P2 complex has been recorded in quiet and three noisy conditions. RESULTS There was a remarkable effect of noise direction on N1, P2 latencies. When the noise was separated from the stimulus, N1 and P2 latency increased in terms of when noise was co-located with the stimulus. There was no statistically significant difference in N1-P2 amplitudes between the stimulus-only and co-located condition. N1-P2 amplitude was increased when the noise came from the sides, according to the stimulus-only and co-located conditions. CONCLUSION These findings demonstrate that the latency shifts on N1-P2 complex explain cortical mechanisms of spatial separation in better-ear listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atılım Atılgan
- Marmara University, School of Medicine, Audiology Department, İstanbul, Turkey; İstanbul Medeniyet University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Audiology Department, İstanbul, Turkey.
| | - Ayça Çiprut
- Marmara University, School of Medicine, Audiology Department, İstanbul, Turkey
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18
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Defining the Role of Attention in Hierarchical Auditory Processing. Audiol Res 2021; 11:112-128. [PMID: 33805600 PMCID: PMC8006147 DOI: 10.3390/audiolres11010012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 03/07/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Communication in noise is a complex process requiring efficient neural encoding throughout the entire auditory pathway as well as contributions from higher-order cognitive processes (i.e., attention) to extract speech cues for perception. Thus, identifying effective clinical interventions for individuals with speech-in-noise deficits relies on the disentanglement of bottom-up (sensory) and top-down (cognitive) factors to appropriately determine the area of deficit; yet, how attention may interact with early encoding of sensory inputs remains unclear. For decades, attentional theorists have attempted to address this question with cleverly designed behavioral studies, but the neural processes and interactions underlying attention's role in speech perception remain unresolved. While anatomical and electrophysiological studies have investigated the neurological structures contributing to attentional processes and revealed relevant brain-behavior relationships, recent electrophysiological techniques (i.e., simultaneous recording of brainstem and cortical responses) may provide novel insight regarding the relationship between early sensory processing and top-down attentional influences. In this article, we review relevant theories that guide our present understanding of attentional processes, discuss current electrophysiological evidence of attentional involvement in auditory processing across subcortical and cortical levels, and propose areas for future study that will inform the development of more targeted and effective clinical interventions for individuals with speech-in-noise deficits.
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Benítez-Barrera CR, Key AP, Ricketts TA, Tharpe AM. Central auditory system responses from children while listening to speech in noise. Hear Res 2021; 403:108165. [PMID: 33485110 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2020.108165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2019] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/30/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) have been successfully used to explore the effects of noise on speech processing at the cortical level in adults and children. The purpose of this study was to determine whether +15 dB signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), often recommended for optimal speech perception in children, elicit higher amplitude CAEPs than more realistic SNRs encountered by children during their daily lives (+10 dB SNR). Moreover, we aimed to investigate whether cortical speech categorization is observable in children in quiet and in noise and whether CAEPs to speech in noise are related to behavioral speech perception in noise performance in children. CAEPs were measured during a passive speech-syllable task in 51 normal hearing children aged 8 to 11 years. The speech syllables /da/ and /ga/ were presented in quiet and in the presence of a 4-talker-babble noise at +15 dB and +10 dB SNR. N1 latencies and P2 amplitudes and latencies varied as a function of SNR, with poorer SNRs (+10 dB) eliciting significantly smaller P2 amplitudes and delayed N1 and P2 latencies relative to the higher SNR (+15 dB). Finally, speech categorization was present at the cortical level in this group of children in quiet and at both SNRs; however, N1 and P2 amplitudes and latencies were not related to behavioral speech-in-noise perception of children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos R Benítez-Barrera
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
| | - Alexandra P Key
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States; Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA
| | - Todd A Ricketts
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States; Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
| | - Anne Marie Tharpe
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States; Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
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20
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Anderson S, Karawani H. Objective evidence of temporal processing deficits in older adults. Hear Res 2020; 397:108053. [PMID: 32863099 PMCID: PMC7669636 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2020.108053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2019] [Revised: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The older listener's ability to understand speech in challenging environments may be affected by impaired temporal processing. This review summarizes objective evidence of degraded temporal processing from studies that have used the auditory brainstem response, auditory steady-state response, the envelope- or frequency-following response, cortical auditory-evoked potentials, and neural tracking of continuous speech. Studies have revealed delayed latencies and reduced amplitudes/phase locking in subcortical responses in older vs. younger listeners, in contrast to enhanced amplitudes of cortical responses in older listeners. Reconstruction accuracy of responses to continuous speech (e.g., cortical envelope tracking) shows over-representation in older listeners. Hearing loss is a factor in many of these studies, even though the listeners would be considered to have clinically normal hearing thresholds. Overall, the ability to draw definitive conclusions regarding these studies is limited by the use of multiple stimulus conditions, small sample sizes, and lack of replication. Nevertheless, these objective measures suggest a need to incorporate new clinical measures to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the listener's speech understanding ability, but more work is needed to determine the most efficacious measure for clinical use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samira Anderson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States.
| | - Hanin Karawani
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
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Brodbeck C, Jiao A, Hong LE, Simon JZ. Neural speech restoration at the cocktail party: Auditory cortex recovers masked speech of both attended and ignored speakers. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3000883. [PMID: 33091003 PMCID: PMC7644085 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2020] [Revised: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans are remarkably skilled at listening to one speaker out of an acoustic mixture of several speech sources. Two speakers are easily segregated, even without binaural cues, but the neural mechanisms underlying this ability are not well understood. One possibility is that early cortical processing performs a spectrotemporal decomposition of the acoustic mixture, allowing the attended speech to be reconstructed via optimally weighted recombinations that discount spectrotemporal regions where sources heavily overlap. Using human magnetoencephalography (MEG) responses to a 2-talker mixture, we show evidence for an alternative possibility, in which early, active segregation occurs even for strongly spectrotemporally overlapping regions. Early (approximately 70-millisecond) responses to nonoverlapping spectrotemporal features are seen for both talkers. When competing talkers’ spectrotemporal features mask each other, the individual representations persist, but they occur with an approximately 20-millisecond delay. This suggests that the auditory cortex recovers acoustic features that are masked in the mixture, even if they occurred in the ignored speech. The existence of such noise-robust cortical representations, of features present in attended as well as ignored speech, suggests an active cortical stream segregation process, which could explain a range of behavioral effects of ignored background speech. How do humans focus on one speaker when several are talking? MEG responses to a continuous two-talker mixture suggest that, even though listeners attend only to one of the talkers, their auditory cortex tracks acoustic features from both speakers. This occurs even when those features are locally masked by the other speaker.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Brodbeck
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Alex Jiao
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
| | - L. Elliot Hong
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Jonathan Z. Simon
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
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22
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Faucette SP, Stuart A. An examination of electrophysiological release from masking in young and older adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:1786. [PMID: 33138490 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The effect of age on release from masking (RFM) was examined using cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs). Two speech-in-noise paradigms [i.e., fixed speech with varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and fixed noise with varying speech levels], similar to those used in behavioral measures of RFM, were employed with competing continuous and interrupted noises. Young and older normal-hearing adults participated (N = 36). Cortical responses were evoked in the fixed speech paradigm at SNRs of -10, 0, and 10 dB. In the fixed noise paradigm, the CAEP SNR threshold was determined in both noises as the lowest SNR that yielded a measurable response. RFM was demonstrated in the fixed speech paradigm with a significant amount of missing responses, longer P1 and N1 latencies, and smaller N1 response amplitudes in continuous noise at the poorest -10 dB SNR. In the fixed noise paradigm, RFM was demonstrated with significantly lower CAEP SNR thresholds in interrupted noise. Older participants demonstrated significantly longer P2 latencies and reduced P1 and N1 amplitudes. There was no evidence of a group difference in RFM in either paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah P Faucette
- Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39216-4505, USA
| | - Andrew Stuart
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353, USA
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23
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Legris E, Galvin J, Roux S, Aoustin JM, Bakhos D. Development of cortical auditory responses to speech in noise in unilaterally deaf adults following cochlear implantation. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0239487. [PMID: 32976532 PMCID: PMC7518575 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND For patients with single-sided deafness (SSD), restoration of binaural function via cochlear implant (CI) has been shown to improve speech understanding in noise. The objective of this study was to investigate changes in behavioral performance and cortical auditory responses following cochlear implantation. DESIGN Prospective longitudinal study. SETTING Tertiary referral center. METHODS Six adults with SSD were tested before and 12 months post-activation of the CI. Six normal hearing (NH) participants served as experimental controls. Speech understanding in noise was evaluated for various spatial conditions. Cortical auditory evoked potentials were recorded with /ba/ stimuli in quiet and in noise. Global field power and responses at Cz were analyzed. RESULTS Speech understanding in noise significantly improved with the CI when speech was presented to the CI ear and noise to the normal ear (p<0.05), but remained poorer than that of NH controls (p<0.05). N1 peak amplitude measure in noise significantly increased after CI activation (p<0.05), but remained lower than that of NH controls (p<0.05) at 12 months. After 12 months of CI experience, cortical responses in noise became more comparable between groups. CONCLUSION Binaural restoration in SSD patients via cochlear implantation improved speech performance noise and cortical responses. While behavioral performance and cortical auditory responses improved, SSD-CI outcomes remained poorer than that of NH controls in most cases, suggesting only partial restoration of binaural hearing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elsa Legris
- UMR1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, INSERM, Tours, France
- Ear Nose and Throat Department, Tours, France
| | - John Galvin
- House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Sylvie Roux
- UMR1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, INSERM, Tours, France
| | | | - David Bakhos
- UMR1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, INSERM, Tours, France
- Ear Nose and Throat Department, Tours, France
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Simon J, Balla VR. Electrophysiological correlates of the spatial temporal order judgment task. Biol Psychol 2020; 156:107947. [PMID: 32828914 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2020] [Revised: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The study investigated auditory temporal processing on a tens of milliseconds scale that is the interval when two consecutive stimuli are processed either together or as distinct events. Distinctiveness is defined by one's ability to make correct order judgments of the presented sounds and is measured via the spatial temporal order judgement task (TOJ). The study aimed to identify electrophysiological indices of the TOJ performance. Tone pairs were presented with inter-stimulus intervals (ISI) varying between 25 and 75 ms while EEG was recorded. A pronounced amplitude change in the P2 interval was found between the event-related potential (ERP) of tone pairs having ISI = 55 and 65 ms, but it was a characteristic only of the group having poor behavioral thresholds. With the two groups combined, the amplitude change between these ERPs in the P2 interval showed a medium-size correlation with the behavioral threshold.
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Affiliation(s)
- Júlia Simon
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Viktória Roxána Balla
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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25
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Uhrig S, Perkis A, Behne DM. Effects of speech transmission quality on sensory processing indicated by the cortical auditory evoked potential. J Neural Eng 2020; 17:046021. [PMID: 32422617 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab93e1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Degradations of transmitted speech have been shown to affect perceptual and cognitive processing in human listeners, as indicated by the P3 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP). However, research suggests that previously observed P3 modulations might actually be traced back to earlier neural modulations in the time range of the P1-N1-P2 complex of the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP). This study investigates whether auditory sensory processing, as reflected by the P1-N1-P2 complex, is already systematically altered by speech quality degradations. APPROACH Electrophysiological data from two studies were analyzed to examine effects of speech transmission quality (high-quality, noisy, bandpass-filtered) for spoken words on amplitude and latency parameters of individual P1, N1 and P2 components. MAIN RESULTS In the resultant ERP waveforms, an initial P1-N1-P2 manifested at stimulus onset, while a second N1-P2 occurred within the ongoing stimulus. Bandpass-filtered versus high-quality word stimuli evoked a faster and larger initial N1 as well as a reduced initial P2, hence exhibiting effects as early as the sensory stage of auditory information processing. SIGNIFICANCE The results corroborate the existence of systematic quality-related modulations in the initial N1-P2, which may potentially have carried over into P3 modulations demonstrated by previous studies. In future psychophysiological speech quality assessments, rigorous control procedures are needed to ensure the validity of P3-based indication of speech transmission quality. An alternative CAEP-based assessment approach is discussed, which promises to be more efficient and less constrained than the established approach based on P3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Uhrig
- Quality and Usability Lab, Technische Universität Berlin, D-10587 Berlin, Germany. Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed
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Mahmud MS, Ahmed F, Al-Fahad R, Moinuddin KA, Yeasin M, Alain C, Bidelman GM. Decoding Hearing-Related Changes in Older Adults' Spatiotemporal Neural Processing of Speech Using Machine Learning. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:748. [PMID: 32765215 PMCID: PMC7378401 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 06/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Speech perception in noisy environments depends on complex interactions between sensory and cognitive systems. In older adults, such interactions may be affected, especially in those individuals who have more severe age-related hearing loss. Using a data-driven approach, we assessed the temporal (when in time) and spatial (where in the brain) characteristics of cortical speech-evoked responses that distinguish older adults with or without mild hearing loss. We performed source analyses to estimate cortical surface signals from the EEG recordings during a phoneme discrimination task conducted under clear and noise-degraded conditions. We computed source-level ERPs (i.e., mean activation within each ROI) from each of the 68 ROIs of the Desikan-Killiany (DK) atlas, averaged over a randomly chosen 100 trials without replacement to form feature vectors. We adopted a multivariate feature selection method called stability selection and control to choose features that are consistent over a range of model parameters. We use parameter optimized support vector machine (SVM) as a classifiers to investigate the time course and brain regions that segregate groups and speech clarity. For clear speech perception, whole-brain data revealed a classification accuracy of 81.50% [area under the curve (AUC) 80.73%; F1-score 82.00%], distinguishing groups within ∼60 ms after speech onset (i.e., as early as the P1 wave). We observed lower accuracy of 78.12% [AUC 77.64%; F1-score 78.00%] and delayed classification performance when speech was embedded in noise, with group segregation at 80 ms. Separate analysis using left (LH) and right hemisphere (RH) regions showed that LH speech activity was better at distinguishing hearing groups than activity measured in the RH. Moreover, stability selection analysis identified 12 brain regions (among 1428 total spatiotemporal features from 68 regions) where source activity segregated groups with >80% accuracy (clear speech); whereas 16 regions were critical for noise-degraded speech to achieve a comparable level of group segregation (78.7% accuracy). Our results identify critical time-courses and brain regions that distinguish mild hearing loss from normal hearing in older adults and confirm a larger number of active areas, particularly in RH, when processing noise-degraded speech information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Md Sultan Mahmud
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Faruk Ahmed
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Rakib Al-Fahad
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Kazi Ashraf Moinuddin
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Mohammed Yeasin
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Claude Alain
- Rotman Research Institute-Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Gavin M Bidelman
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States
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McFayden TC, Baskin P, Stephens JDW, He S. Cortical Auditory Event-Related Potentials and Categorical Perception of Voice Onset Time in Children With an Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:184. [PMID: 32523521 PMCID: PMC7261872 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: This study evaluated cortical encoding of voice onset time (VOT) in quiet and noise, and their potential associations with the behavioral categorical perception of VOT in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). Design: Subjects were 11 children with ANSD ranging in age between 6.4 and 16.2 years. The stimulus was an /aba/-/apa/ vowel-consonant-vowel continuum comprising eight tokens with VOTs ranging from 0 ms (voiced endpoint) to 88 ms (voiceless endpoint). For speech in noise, speech tokens were mixed with the speech-shaped noise from the Hearing In Noise Test at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of +5 dB. Speech-evoked auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral categorization perception of VOT were measured in quiet in all subjects, and at an SNR of +5 dB in seven subjects. The stimuli were presented at 35 dB SL (re: pure tone average) or 115 dB SPL if this limit was less than 35 dB SL. In addition to the onset response, the auditory change complex (ACC) elicited by VOT was recorded in eight subjects. Results: Speech evoked ERPs recorded in all subjects consisted of a vertex positive peak (i.e., P1), followed by a trough occurring approximately 100 ms later (i.e., N2). For results measured in quiet, there was no significant difference in categorical boundaries estimated using ERP measures and behavioral procedures. Categorical boundaries estimated in quiet using both ERP and behavioral measures closely correlated with the most-recently measured Phonetically Balanced Kindergarten (PBK) scores. Adding a competing background noise did not affect categorical boundaries estimated using either behavioral or ERP procedures in three subjects. For the other four subjects, categorical boundaries estimated in noise using behavioral measures were prolonged. However, adding background noise only increased categorical boundaries measured using ERPs in three out of these four subjects. Conclusions: VCV continuum can be used to evaluate behavioral identification and the neural encoding of VOT in children with ANSD. In quiet, categorical boundaries of VOT estimated using behavioral measures and ERP recordings are closely associated with speech recognition performance in children with ANSD. Underlying mechanisms for excessive speech perception deficits in noise may vary for individual patients with ANSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler C McFayden
- Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, United States
| | - Paola Baskin
- Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Joseph D W Stephens
- Department of Psychology, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC, United States
| | - Shuman He
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.,Department of Audiology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, United States
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Papesh MA, Stefl AA, Gallun FJ, Billings CJ. Effects of Signal Type and Noise Background on Auditory Evoked Potential N1, P2, and P3 Measurements in Blast-Exposed Veterans. Ear Hear 2020; 42:106-121. [PMID: 32520849 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Veterans who have been exposed to high-intensity blast waves frequently report persistent auditory difficulties such as problems with speech-in-noise (SIN) understanding, even when hearing sensitivity remains normal. However, these subjective reports have proven challenging to corroborate objectively. Here, we sought to determine whether use of complex stimuli and challenging signal contrasts in auditory evoked potential (AEP) paradigms rather than traditional use of simple stimuli and easy signal contrasts improved the ability of these measures to (1) distinguish between blast-exposed Veterans with auditory complaints and neurologically normal control participants, and (2) predict behavioral measures of SIN perception. DESIGN A total of 33 adults (aged 19-56 years) took part in this study, including 17 Veterans exposed to high-intensity blast waves within the past 10 years and 16 neurologically normal control participants matched for age and hearing status with the Veteran participants. All participants completed the following test measures: (1) a questionnaire probing perceived hearing abilities; (2) behavioral measures of SIN understanding including the BKB-SIN, the AzBio presented in 0 and +5 dB signal to noise ratios (SNRs), and a word-level consonant-vowel-consonant test presented at +5 dB SNR; and (3) electrophysiological tasks involving oddball paradigms in response to simple tones (500 Hz standard, 1000 Hz deviant) and complex speech syllables (/ba/ standard, /da/ deviant) presented in quiet and in four-talker speech babble at a SNR of +5 dB. RESULTS Blast-exposed Veterans reported significantly greater auditory difficulties compared to control participants. Behavioral performance on tests of SIN perception was generally, but not significantly, poorer among the groups. Latencies of P3 responses to tone signals were significantly longer among blast-exposed participants compared to control participants regardless of background condition, though responses to speech signals were similar across groups. For cortical AEPs, no significant interactions were found between group membership and either stimulus type or background. P3 amplitudes measured in response to signals in background babble accounted for 30.9% of the variance in subjective auditory reports. Behavioral SIN performance was best predicted by a combination of N1 and P2 responses to signals in quiet which accounted for 69.6% and 57.4% of the variance on the AzBio at 0 dB SNR and the BKB-SIN, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Although blast-exposed participants reported far more auditory difficulties compared to controls, use of complex stimuli and challenging signal contrasts in cortical and cognitive AEP measures failed to reveal larger group differences than responses to simple stimuli and easy signal contrasts. Despite this, only P3 responses to signals presented in background babble were predictive of subjective auditory complaints. In contrast, cortical N1 and P2 responses were predictive of behavioral SIN performance but not subjective auditory complaints, and use of challenging background babble generally did not improve performance predictions. These results suggest that challenging stimulus protocols are more likely to tap into perceived auditory deficits, but may not be beneficial for predicting performance on clinical measures of SIN understanding. Finally, these results should be interpreted with caution since blast-exposed participants did not perform significantly poorer on tests of SIN perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa A Papesh
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Alyssa A Stefl
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Frederick J Gallun
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Curtis J Billings
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
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Yaralı M. Varying effect of noise on sound onset and acoustic change evoked auditory cortical N1 responses evoked by a vowel-vowel stimulus. Int J Psychophysiol 2020; 152:36-43. [PMID: 32302643 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2019] [Revised: 04/09/2020] [Accepted: 04/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION According to previous studies noise causes prolonged latencies and decreased amplitudes in acoustic change evoked cortical responses. Particularly for a consonant-vowel stimulus, speech shaped noise leads to more pronounced changes on onset evoked response than acoustic change evoked response. Reasoning that this may be related to the spectral characteristics of the stimuli and the noise, in the current study a vowel-vowel stimulus (/ui/) was presented in white noise during cortical response recordings. The hypothesis is that the effect of noise will be higher on acoustic change N1 compared to onset N1 due to the masking effects on formant transitions. METHODS Onset and acoustic change evoked auditory cortical N1-P2 responses were obtained from 21 young adults with normal hearing while presenting 1000 ms /ui/ stimuli in quiet and in white noise at +10 dB and 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). RESULTS In the quiet and +10 dB SNR conditions, the N1-P2 responses to both onset and change were present. In the +10 dB SNR condition acoustic change N1-P2 peak-to-peak amplitudes were reduced and N1 latencies were prolonged compared to the quiet condition. Whereas there was not a significant change in onset N1 latencies and N1-P2 peak-to-peak amplitudes in the +10 dB SNR condition. In the 0 dB SNR condition change responses were not observed but onset N1-P2 peak-to-peak amplitudes were significantly lower, and onset N1 latencies were significantly higher compared to the quiet and the 10 dB SNR conditions. Onset and change responses were also compared with each other in each condition. N1 latencies and N1-P2 peak to peak amplitudes of onset and acoustic change were not significantly different in the quiet condition. Whereas at 10 dB SNR, acoustic change N1 latencies were higher and N1-P2 amplitudes were lower than onset latencies and amplitudes. To summarize, presentation of white noise at 10 dB SNR resulted in the reduction of acoustic change evoked N1-P2 peak-to-peak amplitudes and the prolongation of N1 latencies compared to quiet. Same effect on onsets were only observed at 0 dB SNR, where acoustic change N1 was not observed. In the quiet condition, latencies and amplitudes of onsets and changes were not different. Whereas at 10 dB SNR, acoustic change N1 latencies were higher, amplitudes were lower than onset N1. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS The effect of noise was found to be higher on acoustic change evoked N1 response compared to onset N1. This may be related to the spectral characteristics of the utilized noise and the stimuli, possible differences in acoustic features of sound onsets and acoustic changes, or to the possible differences in the mechanisms for detecting acoustic changes and sound onsets. In order to investigate the possible reasons for more pronounced effect of noise on acoustic changes, future work with different vowel-vowel transitions in different noise types is suggested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehmet Yaralı
- Department of Audiology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
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30
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Tepe V, Papesh M, Russell S, Lewis MS, Pryor N, Guillory L. Acquired Central Auditory Processing Disorder in Service Members and Veterans. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:834-857. [PMID: 32163310 DOI: 10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Purpose A growing body of evidence suggests that military service members and military veterans are at risk for deficits in central auditory processing. Risk factors include exposure to blast, neurotrauma, hazardous noise, and ototoxicants. We overview these risk factors and comorbidities, address implications for clinical assessment and care of central auditory processing deficits in service members and veterans, and specify knowledge gaps that warrant research. Method We reviewed the literature to identify studies of risk factors, assessment, and care of central auditory processing deficits in service members and veterans. We also assessed the current state of the science for knowledge gaps that warrant additional study. This literature review describes key findings relating to military risk factors and clinical considerations for the assessment and care of those exposed. Conclusions Central auditory processing deficits are associated with exposure to known military risk factors. Research is needed to characterize mechanisms, sources of variance, and differential diagnosis in this population. Existing best practices do not explicitly consider confounds faced by military personnel. Assessment and rehabilitation strategies that account for these challenges are needed. Finally, investment is critical to ensure that Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense clinical staff are informed, trained, and equipped to implement effective patient care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Tepe
- Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence, JBSA Lackland, TX
- The Geneva Foundation, Tacoma, WA
| | - Melissa Papesh
- VA RR&D National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, OR
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
| | - Shoshannah Russell
- Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD
- Henry Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, MD
| | - M Samantha Lewis
- VA RR&D National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, OR
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
- School of Audiology, Pacific University, Hillsboro, OR
| | - Nina Pryor
- Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence, JBSA Lackland, TX
- Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH
| | - Lisa Guillory
- Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital, Columbia, MO
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia
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Bidelman GM, Bush LC, Boudreaux AM. Effects of Noise on the Behavioral and Neural Categorization of Speech. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:153. [PMID: 32180700 PMCID: PMC7057933 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether the categorical perception (CP) of speech might also provide a mechanism that aids its perception in noise. We varied signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) [clear, 0 dB, -5 dB] while listeners classified an acoustic-phonetic continuum (/u/ to /a/). Noise-related changes in behavioral categorization were only observed at the lowest SNR. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) differentiated category vs. category-ambiguous speech by the P2 wave (~180-320 ms). Paralleling behavior, neural responses to speech with clear phonetic status (i.e., continuum endpoints) were robust to noise down to -5 dB SNR, whereas responses to ambiguous tokens declined with decreasing SNR. Results demonstrate that phonetic speech representations are more resistant to degradation than corresponding acoustic representations. Findings suggest the mere process of binning speech sounds into categories provides a robust mechanism to aid figure-ground speech perception by fortifying abstract categories from the acoustic signal and making the speech code more resistant to external interferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M Bidelman
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Lauren C Bush
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Alex M Boudreaux
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
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Egger K, Dau T, Epp B. Supra-threshold perception and neural representation of tones presented in noise in conditions of masking release. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0222804. [PMID: 31600238 PMCID: PMC6786607 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222804] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The neural representation and perceptual salience of tonal signals presented in different noise maskers were investigated. The properties of the maskers and signals were varied such that they produced different amounts of either monaural masking release, binaural masking release, or a combination of both. The signals were then presented at different levels above their corresponding masked thresholds and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were measured. It was found that, independent of the masking condition, the amplitude of the P2 component of the AEP was similar for the same stimulus levels above masked threshold, suggesting that both monaural and binaural effects of masking release were represented at the level of the auditory pathway where P2 is generated. The perceptual salience of the signal was evaluated at equal levels above masked threshold using a rating task. In contrast to the electrophysiological findings, the subjective ratings of the perceptual signal salience were less consistent with the signal level above masked threshold and varied strongly across listeners and masking conditions. Overall, the results from the present study suggest that the P2 amplitude of the AEP represents an objective indicator of the audibility of a target signal in the presence of complex acoustic maskers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Egger
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Torsten Dau
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Bastian Epp
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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Roque L, Karawani H, Gordon-Salant S, Anderson S. Effects of Age, Cognition, and Neural Encoding on the Perception of Temporal Speech Cues. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:749. [PMID: 31379494 PMCID: PMC6659127 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Older adults commonly report difficulty understanding speech, particularly in adverse listening environments. These communication difficulties may exist in the absence of peripheral hearing loss. Older adults, both with normal hearing and with hearing loss, demonstrate temporal processing deficits that affect speech perception. The purpose of the present study is to investigate aging, cognition, and neural processing factors that may lead to deficits on perceptual tasks that rely on phoneme identification based on a temporal cue - vowel duration. A better understanding of the neural and cognitive impairments underlying temporal processing deficits could lead to more focused aural rehabilitation for improved speech understanding for older adults. This investigation was conducted in younger (YNH) and older normal-hearing (ONH) participants who completed three measures of cognitive functioning known to decline with age: working memory, processing speed, and inhibitory control. To evaluate perceptual and neural processing of auditory temporal contrasts, identification functions for the contrasting word-pair WHEAT and WEED were obtained on a nine-step continuum of vowel duration, and frequency-following responses (FFRs) and cortical auditory-evoked potentials (CAEPs) were recorded to the two endpoints of the continuum. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the cognitive, peripheral, and/or central mechanisms that may contribute to perceptual performance. YNH participants demonstrated higher cognitive functioning on all three measures compared to ONH participants. The slope of the identification function was steeper in YNH than in ONH participants, suggesting a clearer distinction between the contrasting words in the YNH participants. FFRs revealed better response waveform morphology and more robust phase-locking in YNH compared to ONH participants. ONH participants also exhibited earlier latencies for CAEP components compared to the YNH participants. Linear regression analyses revealed that cortical processing significantly contributed to the variance in perceptual performance in the WHEAT/WEED identification functions. These results suggest that reduced neural precision contributes to age-related speech perception difficulties that arise from temporal processing deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey Roque
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Hanin Karawani
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States.,Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Sandra Gordon-Salant
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Samira Anderson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States
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Rouhbakhsh N, Mahdi J, Hwo J, Nobel B, Mousave F. Spatial hearing processing: electrophysiological documentation at subcortical and cortical levels. Int J Neurosci 2019; 129:1119-1132. [DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2019.1635129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nematollah Rouhbakhsh
- HEARing Cooperation Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- National Acoustic Laboratories, Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
- Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Pich-e Shemiran, Tehran, Iran
| | - John Mahdi
- The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jacob Hwo
- Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Baran Nobel
- Department of Audiology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
| | - Fati Mousave
- Department of Audiology, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
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Vander Werff KR, Rieger B. Impaired auditory processing and neural representation of speech in noise among symptomatic post-concussion adults. Brain Inj 2019; 33:1320-1331. [PMID: 31317775 PMCID: PMC6731965 DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2019.1641624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Background: The purpose of the study was to examine auditory event-related potential (AERP) evidence of changes in earlier and later stages of auditory processing in individuals with long-term post-concussion problems compared to healthy controls, with a secondary aim of comparing AERPs by functional auditory behavioral outcomes. Methods: P1-N1-P2 complex and P300 components recorded to speech in quiet and background noise conditions were completed in individuals with ongoing post-concussion symptoms following mTBI and healthy controls. AERPs were also examined between sub-groups with normal or impaired auditory processing by behavioral tests. Results: Group differences were present for later stages of auditory processing (P300). Earlier components did not significantly differ by group overall but were more affected by noise in the mTBI group. P2 amplitude in noise differed between mTBI sub-groups with normal or impaired auditory processing. Conclusion: AERPs revealed differences between healthy controls and those with chronic post-concussion symptoms following mTBI at a later stage of auditory processing (P300). Neural processing at the earlier stage (P1-N1-P2) was more affected by noise in the mTBI group. Preliminary evidence suggested that it may be only the proportion of individuals with functional evidence of central auditory dysfunction with changes in AERPs at earlier stages of processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathy R. Vander Werff
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY
| | - Brian Rieger
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
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Roque L, Gaskins C, Gordon-Salant S, Goupell MJ, Anderson S. Age Effects on Neural Representation and Perception of Silence Duration Cues in Speech. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2019; 62:1099-1116. [PMID: 31026197 PMCID: PMC6802877 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-h-ascc7-18-0076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Revised: 06/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/12/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Degraded temporal processing associated with aging may be a contributing factor to older adults' hearing difficulties, especially in adverse listening environments. This degraded processing may affect the ability to distinguish between words based on temporal duration cues. The current study investigates the effects of aging and hearing loss on cortical and subcortical representation of temporal speech components and on the perception of silent interval duration cues in speech. Method Identification functions for the words DISH and DITCH were obtained on a 7-step continuum of silence duration (0-60 ms) prior to the final fricative in participants who are younger with normal hearing (YNH), older with normal hearing (ONH), and older with hearing impairment (OHI). Frequency-following responses and cortical auditory-evoked potentials were recorded to the 2 end points of the continuum. Auditory brainstem responses to clicks were obtained to verify neural integrity and to compare group differences in auditory nerve function. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the peripheral or central factors that contributed to perceptual performance. Results ONH and OHI participants required longer silence durations to identify DITCH than did YNH participants. Frequency-following responses showed reduced phase locking and poorer morphology, and cortical auditory-evoked potentials showed prolonged latencies in ONH and OHI participants compared with YNH participants. No group differences were noted for auditory brainstem response Wave I amplitude or Wave V/I ratio. After accounting for the possible effects of hearing loss, linear regression analysis revealed that both midbrain and cortical processing contributed to the variance in the DISH-DITCH perceptual identification functions. Conclusions These results suggest that age-related deficits in the ability to encode silence duration cues may be a contributing factor in degraded speech perception. In particular, degraded response morphology relates to performance on perceptual tasks based on silence duration contrasts between words.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey Roque
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
| | - Casey Gaskins
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
| | - Sandra Gordon-Salant
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park
| | - Matthew J. Goupell
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park
| | - Samira Anderson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park
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Jenkins KA, Fodor C, Presacco A, Anderson S. Effects of Amplification on Neural Phase Locking, Amplitude, and Latency to a Speech Syllable. Ear Hear 2019; 39:810-824. [PMID: 29287038 PMCID: PMC6014864 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Older adults often have trouble adjusting to hearing aids when they start wearing them for the first time. Probe microphone measurements verify appropriate levels of amplification up to the tympanic membrane. Little is known, however, about the effects of amplification on auditory-evoked responses to speech stimuli during initial hearing aid use. The present study assesses the effects of amplification on neural encoding of a speech signal in older adults using hearing aids for the first time. It was hypothesized that amplification results in improved stimulus encoding (higher amplitudes, improved phase locking, and earlier latencies), with greater effects for the regions of the signal that are less audible. DESIGN Thirty-seven adults, aged 60 to 85 years with mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss and no prior hearing aid use, were bilaterally fit with Widex Dream 440 receiver-in-the-ear hearing aids. Probe microphone measures were used to adjust the gain of the hearing aids and verify the fitting. Unaided and aided frequency-following responses and cortical auditory-evoked potentials to the stimulus /ga/ were recorded in sound field over the course of 2 days for three conditions: 65 dB SPL and 80 dB SPL in quiet, and 80 dB SPL in six-talker babble (+10 signal to noise ratio). RESULTS Responses from midbrain were analyzed in the time regions corresponding to the consonant transition (18 to 68 ms) and the steady state vowel (68 to 170 ms). Generally, amplification increased phase locking and amplitude and decreased latency for the region and presentation conditions that had lower stimulus amplitudes-the transition region and 65 dB SPL level. Responses from cortex showed decreased latency for P1, but an unexpected decrease in N1 amplitude. Previous studies have demonstrated an exaggerated cortical representation of speech in older adults compared to younger adults, possibly because of an increase in neural resources necessary to encode the signal. Therefore, a decrease in N1 amplitude with amplification and with increased presentation level may suggest that amplification decreases the neural resources necessary for cortical encoding. CONCLUSION Increased phase locking and amplitude and decreased latency in midbrain suggest that amplification may improve neural representation of the speech signal in new hearing aid users. The improvement with amplification was also found in cortex, and, in particular, decreased P1 latencies and lower N1 amplitudes may indicate greater neural efficiency. Further investigations will evaluate changes in subcortical and cortical responses during the first 6 months of hearing aid use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly A. Jenkins
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Calli Fodor
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Alessandro Presacco
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Samira Anderson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
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38
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Morris DJ, Tøndering J, Lindgren M. Electrophysiological and behavioral measures of some speech contrasts in varied attention and noise. Hear Res 2019; 373:1-9. [PMID: 30553033 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2018] [Revised: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
This paper investigates the salience of speech contrasts in noise, in relation to how listening attention affects scalp-recorded cortical responses. The contrasts that were examined with consonant-vowel syllables, were place of articulation, vowel length and voice-onset time (VOT) and our analysis focuses on the correspondence between the effect of attention on the electrophysiology and the decrement in behavioral results when noise was added to the stimuli. Normal-hearing subjects (n = 20) performed closed-set syllable identification in no noise, 0, 4 and 8 dB signal-noise ratio (SNR). Identification in noise decreased markedly for place of articulation, moderately for vowel length and marginally for VOT. The same syllables were used in two electrophysiology conditions, where subjects attended to the stimuli, and also while their attention was diverted to a visual discrimination task. Differences in global field power between the attention conditions from each contrast showed that that the effect of attention was negligible for place of articulation. They implied offset encoding of vowel length and were early (starting at 117 ms), and of high amplitude (>3 μV) for VOT. There were significant correlations between the difference in syllable identification in no noise and 0 dB SNR and the electrophysiology results between attention conditions for the VOT contrast. Comparison of the two attention conditions with microstate analysis showed a significant difference in the duration of microstate class D. These results show differential integration of attention and syllable processing according to speech contrast and they suggest that there is correspondence between the salience of a contrast in noise and the effect of attention on the evoked electrical response.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jackson Morris
- University of Copenhagen, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, Speech Pathology and Audiology, Emil Holms Kanal 2, 2300, Copenhagen, Denmark; Lund University, Humanities Laboratory, Helgonabacken 12, Lund, 22100, Sweden.
| | - John Tøndering
- University of Copenhagen, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, Speech Pathology and Audiology, Emil Holms Kanal 2, 2300, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Magnus Lindgren
- Lund University Department of Psychology, Paradisgatan 5, Lund, 22100, Sweden.
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Gustafson SJ, Billings CJ, Hornsby BWY, Key AP. Effect of competing noise on cortical auditory evoked potentials elicited by speech sounds in 7- to 25-year-old listeners. Hear Res 2019; 373:103-112. [PMID: 30660965 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2019.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2018] [Revised: 01/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Child listeners have particular difficulty with speech perception when competing speech noise is present; this challenge is often attributed to their immature top-down processing abilities. The purpose of this study was to determine if the effects of competing speech noise on speech-sound processing vary with age. Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) were measured during an active speech-syllable discrimination task in 58 normal-hearing participants (age 7-25 years). Speech syllables were presented in quiet and embedded in competing speech noise (4-talker babble, +15 dB signal-to-noise ratio; SNR). While noise was expected to similarly reduce amplitude and delay latencies of N1 and P2 peaks in all listeners, it was hypothesized that effects of noise on the P3b peak would be inversely related to age due to the maturation of top-down processing abilities throughout childhood. Consistent with previous work, results showed that a +15 dB SNR reduces amplitudes and delays latencies of CAEPs for listeners of all ages, affecting speech-sound processing, delaying stimulus evaluation, and causing a reduction in behavioral speech-sound discrimination. Contrary to expectations, findings suggest that competing speech noise at a +15 dB SNR may have similar effects on various stages of speech-sound processing for listeners of all ages. Future research directions should examine how more difficult listening conditions (poorer SNRs) might affect results across ages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha J Gustafson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
| | - Curtis J Billings
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA; National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Benjamin W Y Hornsby
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Alexandra P Key
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
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40
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41
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Koerner TK, Zhang Y. Differential effects of hearing impairment and age on electrophysiological and behavioral measures of speech in noise. Hear Res 2018; 370:130-142. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2018] [Revised: 10/06/2018] [Accepted: 10/14/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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42
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Billings CJ, McMillan GP, Dille MF, Konrad-Martin D. Compensatory and Serial Processing Models for Relating Electrophysiology, Speech Understanding, and Cognition. Ear Hear 2018; 40:1035-1038. [PMID: 30407937 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to develop a framework for investigating the roles of neural coding and cognition in speech perception. DESIGN N1 and P3 auditory evoked potentials, QuickSIN speech understanding scores, and the Digit Symbol Coding cognitive test results were used to test the accuracy of either a compensatory processing model or serial processing model. RESULTS The current dataset demonstrated that neither the compensatory nor the serial processing model were well supported. An additive processing model may best represent the relationships in these data. CONCLUSIONS With the outcome measures used in this study, it is apparent that an additive processing model, where exogenous neural coding and higher order cognition contribute independently, best describes the effects of neural coding and cognition on speech perception. Further testing with additional outcome measures and a larger number of subjects is needed to confirm and further clarify the relationships between these processing domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis J Billings
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Garnett P McMillan
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Marilyn F Dille
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
| | - Dawn Konrad-Martin
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon, USA.,Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA
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43
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Billings CJ, Madsen BM. A perspective on brain-behavior relationships and effects of age and hearing using speech-in-noise stimuli. Hear Res 2018; 369:90-102. [PMID: 29661615 PMCID: PMC6636926 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.03.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2017] [Revised: 03/06/2018] [Accepted: 03/28/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Understanding speech in background noise is often more difficult for individuals who are older and have hearing impairment than for younger, normal-hearing individuals. In fact, speech-understanding abilities among older individuals with hearing impairment varies greatly. Researchers have hypothesized that some of that variability can be explained by how the brain encodes speech signals in the presence of noise, and that brain measures may be useful for predicting behavioral performance in difficult-to-test patients. In a series of experiments, we have explored the effects of age and hearing impairment in both brain and behavioral domains with the goal of using brain measures to improve our understanding of speech-in-noise difficulties. The behavioral measures examined showed effect sizes for hearing impairment that were 6-10 dB larger than the effects of age when tested in steady-state noise, whereas electrophysiological age effects were similar in magnitude to those of hearing impairment. Both age and hearing status influence neural responses to speech as well as speech understanding in background noise. These effects can in turn be modulated by other factors, such as the characteristics of the background noise itself. Finally, the use of electrophysiology to predict performance on receptive speech-in-noise tasks holds promise, demonstrating root-mean-square prediction errors as small as 1-2 dB. An important next step in this field of inquiry is to sample the aging and hearing impairment variables continuously (rather than categorically) - across the whole lifespan and audiogram - to improve effect estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Curtis J Billings
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, 3710 SW US Veterans Hospital Road (NCRAR), Portland, OR 97239, USA; Department of Otolaryngology, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
| | - Brandon M Madsen
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System, 3710 SW US Veterans Hospital Road (NCRAR), Portland, OR 97239, USA
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44
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Brainstem-cortical functional connectivity for speech is differentially challenged by noise and reverberation. Hear Res 2018; 367:149-160. [PMID: 29871826 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2018] [Revised: 05/18/2018] [Accepted: 05/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Everyday speech perception is challenged by external acoustic interferences that hinder verbal communication. Here, we directly compared how different levels of the auditory system (brainstem vs. cortex) code speech and how their neural representations are affected by two acoustic stressors: noise and reverberation. We recorded multichannel (64 ch) brainstem frequency-following responses (FFRs) and cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) simultaneously in normal hearing individuals to speech sounds presented in mild and moderate levels of noise and reverb. We matched signal-to-noise and direct-to-reverberant ratios to equate the severity between classes of interference. Electrode recordings were parsed into source waveforms to assess the relative contribution of region-specific brain areas [i.e., brainstem (BS), primary auditory cortex (A1), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)]. Results showed that reverberation was less detrimental to (and in some cases facilitated) the neural encoding of speech compared to additive noise. Inter-regional correlations revealed associations between BS and A1 responses, suggesting subcortical speech representations influence higher auditory-cortical areas. Functional connectivity analyses further showed that directed signaling toward A1 in both feedforward cortico-collicular (BS→A1) and feedback cortico-cortical (IFG→A1) pathways were strong predictors of degraded speech perception and differentiated "good" vs. "poor" perceivers. Our findings demonstrate a functional interplay within the brain's speech network that depends on the form and severity of acoustic interference. We infer that in addition to the quality of neural representations within individual brain regions, listeners' success at the "cocktail party" is modulated based on how information is transferred among subcortical and cortical hubs of the auditory-linguistic network.
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45
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Lei M, Zhang C, Li L. Neural correlates of perceptual separation-induced enhancement of prepulse inhibition of startle in humans. Sci Rep 2018; 8:472. [PMID: 29323167 PMCID: PMC5765047 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18793-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2017] [Accepted: 12/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is the suppression of the startle reflex when the intense startling stimulus is shortly preceded by a weaker non-startling stimulus (prepulse). In rats, the auditory precedence-effect-induced perceived spatial separation between the fear-conditioned prepulse and a noise masker facilitates selective attention to the prepulse and enhances PPI. However, whether the perceptual separation between the prepulse and a noise masker can also enhance PPI in humans remains unclear. Also, the relationship between the PPI enhancement and the change in early cortical representations of prepulse signals is unclear. This study for the first time reveals that in a sound-attenuated laboratory environment, relative to the listening condition with perceptual co-location between the prepulse stimulus and a noise-masking stimulus, the perceptual separation between the two stimuli significantly enhances the group-mean PPI. More importantly, the early cortical responses (N1/P2 complex) to the prepulse stimulus are also enhanced by the perceptual separation in most listeners, and the perceptual-separation-induced enhancement of the N1 component is positively correlated with the perceptual-separation-induced PPI enhancement. Thus, the perceptual separation enhances PPI through facilitating selective attention to the prepulse, leading to an enhancement of the early cortical representation of the prepulse signal in temporal auditory cortical fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming Lei
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100080, China.,Department of Health Industry Management, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, 100024, China
| | - Changxin Zhang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100080, China.,Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Liang Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100080, China. .,Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Speech and Hearing Research Center, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. .,Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, 100069, China.
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46
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The Effect of Signal to Noise Ratio on Cortical Auditory-Evoked Potentials Elicited to Speech Stimuli in Infants and Adults With Normal Hearing. Ear Hear 2017; 39:305-317. [PMID: 28863034 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Identification and discrimination of speech sounds in noisy environments is challenging for adults and even more so for infants and children. Behavioral studies consistently report maturational differences in the influence that signal to noise ratio (SNR) and masker type have on speech processing; however, few studies have investigated the neural mechanisms underlying these differences at the level of the auditory cortex. In the present study, we investigated the effect of different SNRs on speech-evoked cortical auditory-evoked potentials (CAEPs) in infants and adults with normal hearing. DESIGN A total of 10 adults (mean age 24.1 years) and 15 infants (mean age 30.7 weeks), all with normal hearing, were included in the data analyses. CAEPs were evoked to /m/ and /t/ speech stimuli (duration: 79 ms) presented at 75 dB SPL in the sound field with a jittered interstimulus interval of 1000-1200 ms. Each of the stimuli were presented in quiet and in the presence of white noise (SNRs of 10, 15, and 20 dB). Amplitude and latency measures were compared for P1, N1, and P2 for adults and for the large positivity (P) and following negativity (N: N250 and/or N450) for infants elicited in quiet and across SNR conditions. RESULTS Infant P-N responses to /t/ showed no statistically significant amplitude and latency effects across SNR conditions; in contrast, infant CAEPs to /m/ were greatly reduced in amplitude and delayed in latency. Responses were more frequently absent for SNRs of 20 dB or less. Adult P1-N1-P2 responses were present for all SNRs for /t/ and most SNRs for /m/ (two adults had no responses to /m/ for SNR 10); significant effects of SNR were found for P1, N1, and P2 amplitude and latencies. CONCLUSIONS The findings of the present study support that SNR effects on CAEP amplitudes and latencies in infants cannot be generalized across different types of speech stimuli and cannot be predicted from adult data. These findings also suggest that factors other than energetic masking are contributing to the immaturities in the SNR effects for infants. How these CAEP findings relate to an infant's capacity to process speech-in-noise perceptually has yet to be established; however, we can be confident that the presence of CAEPs to a speech stimulus in noise means that the stimulus is detected at the level of the auditory cortex. The absence of a response should be interpreted with caution as further studies are needed to investigate a range of different speech stimuli and SNRs, in conjunction with behavioral measures, to confirm that infant CAEPs do indeed reflect functional auditory capacity to process speech stimuli in noise.
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47
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Coffey EBJ, Chepesiuk AMP, Herholz SC, Baillet S, Zatorre RJ. Neural Correlates of Early Sound Encoding and their Relationship to Speech-in-Noise Perception. Front Neurosci 2017; 11:479. [PMID: 28890684 PMCID: PMC5575455 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2017] [Accepted: 08/11/2017] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Speech-in-noise (SIN) perception is a complex cognitive skill that affects social, vocational, and educational activities. Poor SIN ability particularly affects young and elderly populations, yet varies considerably even among healthy young adults with normal hearing. Although SIN skills are known to be influenced by top-down processes that can selectively enhance lower-level sound representations, the complementary role of feed-forward mechanisms and their relationship to musical training is poorly understood. Using a paradigm that minimizes the main top-down factors that have been implicated in SIN performance such as working memory, we aimed to better understand how robust encoding of periodicity in the auditory system (as measured by the frequency-following response) contributes to SIN perception. Using magnetoencephalograpy, we found that the strength of encoding at the fundamental frequency in the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex is correlated with SIN accuracy. The amplitude of the slower cortical P2 wave was previously also shown to be related to SIN accuracy and FFR strength; we use MEG source localization to show that the P2 wave originates in a temporal region anterior to that of the cortical FFR. We also confirm that the observed enhancements were related to the extent and timing of musicianship. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that basic feed-forward sound encoding affects SIN perception by providing better information to later processing stages, and that modifying this process may be one mechanism through which musical training might enhance the auditory networks that subserve both musical and language functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily B J Coffey
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityMontréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound ResearchMontréal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and MusicMontréal, QC, Canada
| | - Alexander M P Chepesiuk
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityMontréal, QC, Canada
| | - Sibylle C Herholz
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityMontréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound ResearchMontréal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and MusicMontréal, QC, Canada.,German Center for Neurodegenerative DiseasesBonn, Germany
| | - Sylvain Baillet
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and MusicMontréal, QC, Canada.,McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityMontréal, QC, Canada
| | - Robert J Zatorre
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill UniversityMontréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound ResearchMontréal, QC, Canada.,Centre for Research on Brain, Language and MusicMontréal, QC, Canada
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48
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Faucette SP, Stuart A. Evidence of a speech evoked electrophysiological release from masking in noise. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2017; 142:EL218. [PMID: 28863590 DOI: 10.1121/1.4998151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
In this study, a release from masking (RFM) was sought with cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) elicited by speech (/da/) in competing continuous and interrupted noises. Two paradigms (i.e., fixed speech with varying signal-to-noise ratios and fixed noise with varying speech levels) were employed. Shorter latencies and larger amplitudes were observed in interrupted versus continuous noise at equivalent signal-to-noise ratios. With fixed speech presentation, P1-N1-P2 latencies were prolonged and peak N1 and P2 amplitudes decreased and more so with continuous noise. CAEP thresholds were lower in interrupted noise. This is the first demonstration of RFM with CAEPs to speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah P Faucette
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353, USA ,
| | - Andrew Stuart
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353, USA ,
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49
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Koerner TK, Zhang Y, Nelson PB, Wang B, Zou H. Neural indices of phonemic discrimination and sentence-level speech intelligibility in quiet and noise: A P3 study. Hear Res 2017; 350:58-67. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2017.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2016] [Revised: 04/12/2017] [Accepted: 04/16/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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50
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Bidelman GM, Yellamsetty A. Noise and pitch interact during the cortical segregation of concurrent speech. Hear Res 2017; 351:34-44. [PMID: 28578876 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2017.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2017] [Revised: 05/09/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral studies reveal listeners exploit intrinsic differences in voice fundamental frequency (F0) to segregate concurrent speech sounds-the so-called "F0-benefit." More favorable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the environment, an extrinsic acoustic factor, similarly benefits the parsing of simultaneous speech. Here, we examined the neurobiological substrates of these two cues in the perceptual segregation of concurrent speech mixtures. We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while listeners performed a speeded double-vowel identification task. Listeners heard two concurrent vowels whose F0 differed by zero or four semitones presented in either clean (no noise) or noise-degraded (+5 dB SNR) conditions. Behaviorally, listeners were more accurate in correctly identifying both vowels for larger F0 separations but F0-benefit was more pronounced at more favorable SNRs (i.e., pitch × SNR interaction). Analysis of the ERPs revealed that only the P2 wave (∼200 ms) showed a similar F0 x SNR interaction as behavior and was correlated with listeners' perceptual F0-benefit. Neural classifiers applied to the ERPs further suggested that speech sounds are segregated neurally within 200 ms based on SNR whereas segregation based on pitch occurs later in time (400-700 ms). The earlier timing of extrinsic SNR compared to intrinsic F0-based segregation implies that the cortical extraction of speech from noise is more efficient than differentiating speech based on pitch cues alone, which may recruit additional cortical processes. Findings indicate that noise and pitch differences interact relatively early in cerebral cortex and that the brain arrives at the identities of concurrent speech mixtures as early as ∼200 ms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M Bidelman
- School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA; Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA; Univeristy of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA.
| | - Anusha Yellamsetty
- School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA
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