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Calcus A. Development of auditory scene analysis: a mini-review. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1352247. [PMID: 38532788 PMCID: PMC10963424 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1352247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Most auditory environments contain multiple sound waves that are mixed before reaching the ears. In such situations, listeners must disentangle individual sounds from the mixture, performing the auditory scene analysis. Analyzing complex auditory scenes relies on listeners ability to segregate acoustic events into different streams, and to selectively attend to the stream of interest. Both segregation and selective attention are known to be challenging for adults with normal hearing, and seem to be even more difficult for children. Here, we review the recent literature on the development of auditory scene analysis, presenting behavioral and neurophysiological results. In short, cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting stream segregation are functional from birth but keep developing until adolescence. Similarly, from 6 months of age, infants can orient their attention toward a target in the presence of distractors. However, selective auditory attention in the presence of interfering streams only reaches maturity in late childhood at the earliest. Methodological limitations are discussed, and a new paradigm is proposed to clarify the relationship between auditory scene analysis and speech perception in noise throughout development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Axelle Calcus
- Center for Research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CRCN), ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
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Zaltz Y, Goldsworthy RL, Eisenberg LS, Kishon-Rabin L. Children With Normal Hearing Are Efficient Users of Fundamental Frequency and Vocal Tract Length Cues for Voice Discrimination. Ear Hear 2021; 41:182-193. [PMID: 31107364 PMCID: PMC9371943 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The ability to discriminate between talkers assists listeners in understanding speech in a multitalker environment. This ability has been shown to be influenced by sensory processing of vocal acoustic cues, such as fundamental frequency (F0) and formant frequencies that reflect the listener's vocal tract length (VTL), and by cognitive processes, such as attention and memory. It is, therefore, suggested that children who exhibit immature sensory and/or cognitive processing will demonstrate poor voice discrimination (VD) compared with young adults. Moreover, greater difficulties in VD may be associated with spectral degradation as in children with cochlear implants. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was as follows: (1) to assess the use of F0 cues, VTL cues, and the combination of both cues for VD in normal-hearing (NH) school-age children and to compare their performance with that of NH adults; (2) to assess the influence of spectral degradation by means of vocoded speech on the use of F0 and VTL cues for VD in NH children; and (3) to assess the contribution of attention, working memory, and nonverbal reasoning to performance. DESIGN Forty-one children, 8 to 11 years of age, were tested with nonvocoded stimuli. Twenty-one of them were also tested with eight-channel, noise-vocoded stimuli. Twenty-one young adults (18 to 35 years) were tested for comparison. A three-interval, three-alternative forced-choice paradigm with an adaptive tracking procedure was used to estimate the difference limens (DLs) for VD when F0, VTL, and F0 + VTL were manipulated separately. Auditory memory, visual attention, and nonverbal reasoning were assessed for all participants. RESULTS (a) Children' F0 and VTL discrimination abilities were comparable to those of adults, suggesting that most school-age children utilize both cues effectively for VD. (b) Children's VD was associated with trail making test scores that assessed visual attention abilities and speed of processing, possibly reflecting their need to recruit cognitive resources for the task. (c) Best DLs were achieved for the combined (F0 + VTL) manipulation for both children and adults, suggesting that children at this age are already capable of integrating spectral and temporal cues. (d) Both children and adults found the VTL manipulations more beneficial for VD compared with the F0 manipulations, suggesting that formant frequencies are more reliable for identifying a specific speaker than F0. (e) Poorer DLs were achieved with the vocoded stimuli, though the children maintained similar thresholds and pattern of performance among manipulations as the adults. CONCLUSIONS The present study is the first to assess the contribution of F0, VTL, and the combined F0 + VTL to the discrimination of speakers in school-age children. The findings support the notion that many NH school-age children have effective spectral and temporal coding mechanisms that allow sufficient VD, even in the presence of spectrally degraded information. These results may challenge the notion that immature sensory processing underlies poor listening abilities in children, further implying that other processing mechanisms contribute to their difficulties to understand speech in a multitalker environment. These outcomes may also provide insight into VD processes of children under listening conditions that are similar to cochlear implant users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yael Zaltz
- Department of Communication Disorders, The Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- University of Southern California Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Raymond L. Goldsworthy
- University of Southern California Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Laurie S. Eisenberg
- University of Southern California Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Liat Kishon-Rabin
- Department of Communication Disorders, The Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Conroy C, Kidd G. Informational masking in the modulation domain. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:3665. [PMID: 34241144 PMCID: PMC8163511 DOI: 10.1121/10.0005038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Uncertainty regarding the frequency spectrum of a masker can have an adverse effect on the ability to focus selective attention on a target frequency channel, yielding informational masking (IM). This study sought to determine if uncertainty regarding the modulation spectrum of a masker can have an analogous adverse effect on the ability to focus selective attention on a target modulation channel, yielding IM in the modulation domain, or "modulation IM." A single-interval, two-alternative forced-choice (yes-no) procedure was used. The task was to detect 32-Hz target sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM) imposed on a broadband-noise carrier in the presence of masker SAM imposed on the same carrier. Six maskers, spanning the range from 8 to 128 Hz in half-octave steps, were tested, excluding those that fell within a two-octave protected zone surrounding the target. Psychometric functions (d'-vs-target modulation depth) were measured for each masker under two conditions: a fixed (low-uncertainty/low-IM) condition, in which the masker was the same on all trials within a block, and a random (high-uncertainty/high-IM) condition, in which it varied randomly from presentation-to-presentation. Thresholds and slopes extracted from the psychometric functions differed markedly between the conditions. These results are consistent with the idea that IM occurs in the modulation domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Conroy
- Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences and Hearing Research Center, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
| | - Gerald Kidd
- Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences and Hearing Research Center, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
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McCreery RW, Miller MK, Buss E, Leibold LJ. Cognitive and Linguistic Contributions to Masked Speech Recognition in Children. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:3525-3538. [PMID: 32881629 PMCID: PMC8060059 DOI: 10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2020] [Revised: 06/08/2020] [Accepted: 06/28/2020] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The goal of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive and linguistic skills on masked speech recognition for children with normal hearing in three different masking conditions: (a) speech-shaped noise (SSN), (b) amplitude-modulated SSN (AMSSN), and (c) two-talker speech (TTS). We hypothesized that children with better working memory and language skills would have better masked speech recognition than peers with poorer skills in these areas. Selective attention was predicted to affect performance in the TTS masker due to increased cognitive demands from informational masking. Method A group of 60 children in two age groups (5- to 6-year-olds and 9- to 10-year-olds) with normal hearing completed sentence recognition in SSN, AMSSN, and TTS masker conditions. Speech recognition thresholds for 50% correct were measured. Children also completed standardized measures of language, memory, and executive function. Results Children's speech recognition was poorer in the TTS relative to the SSN and AMSSN maskers. Older children had lower speech recognition thresholds than younger children for all masker conditions. Greater language abilities were associated with better sentence recognition for the younger children in all masker conditions, but there was no effect of language for older children. Better working memory and selective attention skills were associated with better masked sentence recognition for both age groups, but only in the TTS masker condition. Conclusions The decreasing influence of vocabulary on masked speech recognition for older children supports the idea that this relationship depends on an interaction between the language level of the stimuli and the listener's vocabulary. Increased cognitive demands associated with perceptually isolating the target talker and two competing masker talkers with a TTS masker may result in the recruitment of working memory and selective attention skills, effects that were not observed in SSN or AMSSN maskers. Future research should evaluate these effects across a broader range of stimuli or with children who have hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan W. McCreery
- Audibility, Perception and Cognition Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE
| | - Margaret K. Miller
- Human Auditory Development Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE
| | - Emily Buss
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
| | - Lori J. Leibold
- Human Auditory Development Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE
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McCreery RW, Walker EA, Spratford M, Lewis D, Brennan M. Auditory, Cognitive, and Linguistic Factors Predict Speech Recognition in Adverse Listening Conditions for Children With Hearing Loss. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:1093. [PMID: 31680828 PMCID: PMC6803493 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 09/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives: Children with hearing loss listen and learn in environments with noise and reverberation, but perform more poorly in noise and reverberation than children with normal hearing. Even with amplification, individual differences in speech recognition are observed among children with hearing loss. Few studies have examined the factors that support speech understanding in noise and reverberation for this population. This study applied the theoretical framework of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model to examine the influence of auditory, cognitive, and linguistic factors on speech recognition in noise and reverberation for children with hearing loss. Design: Fifty-six children with hearing loss and 50 age-matched children with normal hearing who were 7–10 years-old participated in this study. Aided sentence recognition was measured using an adaptive procedure to determine the signal-to-noise ratio for 50% correct (SNR50) recognition in steady-state speech-shaped noise. SNR50 was also measured with noise plus a simulation of 600 ms reverberation time. Receptive vocabulary, auditory attention, and visuospatial working memory were measured. Aided speech audibility indexed by the Speech Intelligibility Index was measured through the hearing aids of children with hearing loss. Results: Children with hearing loss had poorer aided speech recognition in noise and reverberation than children with typical hearing. Children with higher receptive vocabulary and working memory skills had better speech recognition in noise and noise plus reverberation than peers with poorer skills in these domains. Children with hearing loss with higher aided audibility had better speech recognition in noise and reverberation than peers with poorer audibility. Better audibility was also associated with stronger language skills. Conclusions: Children with hearing loss are at considerable risk for poor speech understanding in noise and in conditions with noise and reverberation. Consistent with the predictions of the ELU model, children with stronger vocabulary and working memory abilities performed better than peers with poorer skills in these domains. Better aided speech audibility was associated with better recognition in noise and noise plus reverberation conditions for children with hearing loss. Speech audibility had direct effects on speech recognition in noise and reverberation and cumulative effects on speech recognition in noise through a positive association with language development over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan W McCreery
- The Audibility Perception and Cognition Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Elizabeth A Walker
- Pediatric Audiology Laboratory, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States
| | - Meredith Spratford
- The Audibility Perception and Cognition Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Dawna Lewis
- The Audibility Perception and Cognition Laboratory, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Marc Brennan
- Amplification and Perception Laboratory, Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
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Musacchia G, Ortiz-Mantilla S, Roesler CP, Rajendran S, Morgan-Byrne J, Benasich AA. Effects of noise and age on the infant brainstem response to speech. Clin Neurophysiol 2018; 129:2623-2634. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2018.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 08/20/2018] [Accepted: 08/24/2018] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Thompson EC, Krizman J, White-Schwoch T, Nicol T, LaBella CR, Kraus N. Difficulty hearing in noise: a sequela of concussion in children. Brain Inj 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2018.1447686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Elaine C Thompson
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Jennifer Krizman
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Travis White-Schwoch
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Trent Nicol
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Cynthia R LaBella
- Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Nina Kraus
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
- Institute for Neuroscience, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
- Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES Spectral resolution is a correlate of open-set speech understanding in postlingually deaf adults and prelingually deaf children who use cochlear implants (CIs). To apply measures of spectral resolution to assess device efficacy in younger CI users, it is necessary to understand how spectral resolution develops in normal-hearing children. In this study, spectral ripple discrimination (SRD) was used to measure listeners' sensitivity to a shift in phase of the spectral envelope of a broadband noise. Both resolution of peak to peak location (frequency resolution) and peak to trough intensity (across-channel intensity resolution) are required for SRD. DESIGN SRD was measured as the highest ripple density (in ripples per octave) for which a listener could discriminate a 90° shift in phase of the sinusoidally-modulated amplitude spectrum. A 2 × 3 between-subjects design was used to assess the effects of age (7-month-old infants versus adults) and ripple peak/trough "depth" (10, 13, and 20 dB) on SRD in normal-hearing listeners (experiment 1). In experiment 2, SRD thresholds in the same age groups were compared using a task in which ripple starting phases were randomized across trials to obscure within-channel intensity cues. In experiment 3, the randomized starting phase method was used to measure SRD as a function of age (3-month-old infants, 7-month-old infants, and young adults) and ripple depth (10 and 20 dB in repeated measures design). RESULTS In experiment 1, there was a significant interaction between age and ripple depth. The infant SRDs were significantly poorer than the adult SRDs at 10 and 13 dB ripple depths but adult-like at 20 dB depth. This result is consistent with immature across-channel intensity resolution. In contrast, the trajectory of SRD as a function of depth was steeper for infants than adults suggesting that frequency resolution was better in infants than adults. However, in experiment 2 infant performance was significantly poorer than adults at 20 dB depth suggesting that variability of infants' use of within-channel intensity cues, rather than better frequency resolution, explained the results of experiment 1. In experiment 3, age effects were seen with both groups of infants showing poorer SRD than adults but, unlike experiment 1, no significant interaction between age and depth was seen. CONCLUSIONS Measurement of SRD thresholds in individual 3 to 7-month-old infants is feasible. Performance of normal-hearing infants on SRD may be limited by across-channel intensity resolution despite mature frequency resolution. These findings have significant implications for design and stimulus choice for applying SRD for testing infants with CIs. The high degree of variability in infant SRD can be somewhat reduced by obscuring within-channel cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- David L Horn
- 1Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA; 2Division of Otolaryngology, Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, Wahington, USA; and 3Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
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Leibold LJ, Buss E. Factors responsible for remote-frequency masking in children and adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 140:4367. [PMID: 28040030 PMCID: PMC5392082 DOI: 10.1121/1.4971780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2016] [Revised: 10/25/2016] [Accepted: 11/23/2016] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Susceptibility to remote-frequency masking in children and adults was evaluated with respect to three stimulus features: (1) masker bandwidth, (2) spectral separation of the signal and masker, and (3) gated versus continuous masker presentation. Listeners were 4- to 6-year-olds, 7- to 10-year-olds, and adults. Detection thresholds for a 500-ms, 2000-Hz signal were estimated in quiet or presented with a band of noise in one of four frequency regions: 425-500 Hz, 4000-4075 Hz, 8000-8075 Hz, or 4000-10 000 Hz. In experiment 1, maskers were gated on in each 500-ms interval of a three-interval, forced-choice adaptive procedure. Masking was observed for all ages in all maskers, but the greatest masking was observed for the 4000-4075 Hz masker. These findings suggest that signal/masker spectral proximity plays an important role in remote-frequency masking, even when peripheral excitation associated with the signal and masker does not overlap. Younger children tended to have more masking than older children or adults, consistent with a reduced ability to segregate simultaneous sounds and/or listen in a frequency-selective manner. In experiment 2, detection thresholds were estimated in the same noises, but maskers were presented continuously. Masking was reduced for all ages relative to gated conditions, suggesting improved segregation and/or frequency-selective listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lori J Leibold
- Center for Hearing Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska 68131, USA
| | - Emily Buss
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
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Thompson EC, Woodruff Carr K, White-Schwoch T, Otto-Meyer S, Kraus N. Individual differences in speech-in-noise perception parallel neural speech processing and attention in preschoolers. Hear Res 2016; 344:148-157. [PMID: 27864051 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2016.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2016] [Revised: 11/08/2016] [Accepted: 11/13/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
From bustling classrooms to unruly lunchrooms, school settings are noisy. To learn effectively in the unwelcome company of numerous distractions, children must clearly perceive speech in noise. In older children and adults, speech-in-noise perception is supported by sensory and cognitive processes, but the correlates underlying this critical listening skill in young children (3-5 year olds) remain undetermined. Employing a longitudinal design (two evaluations separated by ∼12 months), we followed a cohort of 59 preschoolers, ages 3.0-4.9, assessing word-in-noise perception, cognitive abilities (intelligence, short-term memory, attention), and neural responses to speech. Results reveal changes in word-in-noise perception parallel changes in processing of the fundamental frequency (F0), an acoustic cue known for playing a role central to speaker identification and auditory scene analysis. Four unique developmental trajectories (speech-in-noise perception groups) confirm this relationship, in that improvements and declines in word-in-noise perception couple with enhancements and diminishments of F0 encoding, respectively. Improvements in word-in-noise perception also pair with gains in attention. Word-in-noise perception does not relate to strength of neural harmonic representation or short-term memory. These findings reinforce previously-reported roles of F0 and attention in hearing speech in noise in older children and adults, and extend this relationship to preschool children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elaine C Thompson
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Kali Woodruff Carr
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Travis White-Schwoch
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Sebastian Otto-Meyer
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Nina Kraus
- Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Institute for Neuroscience, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Neurobiology & Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Otolaryngology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
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Dombroski J, Newman RS. Toddlers' ability to map the meaning of new words in multi-talker environments. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2014; 136:2807-2815. [PMID: 25373980 DOI: 10.1121/1.4898051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Whether in a noisy daycare center, home, or classroom, many of the environments children are exposed to are, undoubtedly, not acoustically ideal for speech processing. Yet, somehow, these toddlers are still able to acquire vocabularies consisting of hundreds of words. The current study explores the effect of background speech noise on children's early word learning (specifically, their ability to map a label onto an object). Three groups of children aged 32-36 months were taught two new words either in quiet, or in the presence of multi-talker babble at a +5 or 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). They were then tested on their learning of these new word-to-object mappings. Children showed similar accuracy in all three conditions, suggesting that even at a 0 dB SNR, children were successfully able to learn new words.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justine Dombroski
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
| | - Rochelle S Newman
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
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12
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Yuen KCP, Yuan M. Development of spatial release from masking in mandarin-speaking children with normal hearing. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2014; 57:2005-23. [PMID: 24950448 DOI: 10.1044/2014_jslhr-h-13-0060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2013] [Accepted: 05/24/2014] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study investigated the development of spatial release from masking in children using closed-set Mandarin disyllabic words and monosyllabic words carrying lexical tones as test stimuli and speech spectrum-weighted noise as a masker. METHOD Twenty-six children ages 4-9 years and 12 adults, all with normal hearing, participated in speech recognition tests under 2 conditions: (a) speech and noise spatially mixed and presented from the front (NF), and (b) speech presented from the front with noise spatially separated and presented from the side (NS) with different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Performance-SNR psychometric functions were obtained that generated the SNR for a 50% correct score (SNR-50%) as the outcome measure. RESULTS In the child participants, SNR-50% improved with age in NS but not NF. The difference in SNR-50% between NS and NF-the spatial release from masking (SRM)-increased with age with an average improvement of 0.1-0.15 dB per month. CONCLUSIONS SRM has a long developmental time, at least up to 9 years of age, which is significantly longer than some previous developmental studies have suggested. The child participants had not yet reached the adult SRM performance level. SRM is a potential clinical measure to reflect the maturation of spatial auditory processing.
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Bonino AY, Leibold LJ, Buss E. Effect of signal-temporal uncertainty in children and adults: tone detection in noise or a random-frequency masker. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2013; 134:4446. [PMID: 25669256 PMCID: PMC3874056 DOI: 10.1121/1.4828828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2012] [Revised: 10/12/2013] [Accepted: 10/18/2013] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
A cue indicating when in time to listen can improve adults' tone detection thresholds, particularly for conditions that produce substantial informational masking. The purpose of this study was to determine if 5- to 13-yr-old children likewise benefit from a light cue indicating when in time to listen for a masked pure-tone signal. Each listener was tested in one of two continuous maskers: Broadband noise (low informational masking) or a random-frequency, two-tone masker (high informational masking). Using a single-interval method of constant stimuli, detection thresholds were measured for two temporal conditions: (1) Temporally-defined, with the listening interval defined by a light cue, and (2) temporally-uncertain, with no light cue. Thresholds estimated from psychometric functions fitted to the data indicated that children and adults benefited to the same degree from the visual cue. Across listeners, the average benefit of a defined listening interval was 1.8 dB in the broadband noise and 8.6 dB in the random-frequency, two-tone masker. Thus, the benefit of knowing when in time to listen was more robust for conditions believed to be dominated by informational masking. An unexpected finding of this study was that children's thresholds were comparable to adults' in the random-frequency, two-tone masker.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Yarnell Bonino
- Department of Allied Health Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7190, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
| | - Lori J Leibold
- Department of Allied Health Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7190, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
| | - Emily Buss
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7070, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
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Leibold LJ. Development of Auditory Scene Analysis and Auditory Attention. HUMAN AUDITORY DEVELOPMENT 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-1421-6_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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Relationship between speech perception in noise and phonological awareness skills for children with normal hearing. Ear Hear 2011; 31:761-8. [PMID: 20562623 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0b013e3181e5d188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Speech perception difficulties experienced by children in adverse listening environments have been well documented. It has been suggested that phonological awareness may be related to children's ability to understand speech in noise. The goal of this study was to provide data that will allow a clearer characterization of this potential relation in typically developing children. Doing so may result in a better understanding of how children learn to listen in noise as well as providing information to identify children who are at risk for difficulties listening in noise. DESIGN Thirty-six children (5 to 7 yrs) with normal hearing participated in the study. Three phonological awareness tasks (syllable counting, initial consonant same, and phoneme deletion), representing a range of skills, were administered. For perception in noise tasks, nonsense syllables, monosyllabic words, and meaningful sentences with three key words were presented (50 dB SPL) at three signal to noise ratios (0, +5, and +10 dB). RESULTS Among the speech in noise tasks, there was a significant effect of signal to noise ratio, with children performing less well at 0-dB signal to noise ratio for all stimuli. A significant age effect occurred only for word recognition, with 7-yr-olds scoring significantly higher than 5-yr olds. For all three phonological awareness tasks, an age effect existed with 7-year-olds again performing significantly better than 5-yr-olds. However, when examining the relation between speech recognition in noise and phonological awareness skills, no single variable accounted for a significant part of the variance in performance on nonsense syllables, words, or sentences. However, there was an association between vocabulary knowledge and speech perception in noise. CONCLUSIONS Although phonological awareness skills are strongly related to reading and some children with reading difficulties also demonstrate poor speech perception in noise, results of this study question a relation between phonological awareness skills and speech perception in moderate levels of noise for typically developing children with normal hearing from 5 to 7 yrs of age. Further research in this area is needed to examine possible relations among the many factors that affect both speech perception in noise and the development of phonological awareness.
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Smith NA, Trainor LJ. Auditory Stream Segregation Improves Infants' Selective Attention to Target Tones Amid Distractors. INFANCY 2011; 16:655-668. [PMID: 22039336 DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2011.00067.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The present study examined the role of auditory stream segregation in the selective attention to target tones in infancy. Using a task adapted from Bregman and Rudnicky's (1975) study and implemented in a conditioned head-turn procedure, infant and adult listeners had to discriminate the temporal order of 2200 and 2400 Hz target tones presented alone, preceded and followed by 1460 Hz flanker tones, and presented within a series of 1460 Hz captor tones meant to release the target tones from the effects of the flankers by capturing the flankers into a separate stream. Infants showed the same pattern of discrimination across conditions as adults: discrimination of target tones in the target-alone condition, a decrease in performance when flanker tones were introduced, and a return to target-alone level in the captor condition. These results suggest that infants' perceptual organization of tones is similar to that of adults, and that their ability to selectively attend to target sounds and ignore distractors depends on the structural properties and perceptual organization of the non-target sounds.
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Klatte M, Lachmann T, Schlittmeier S, Hellbrück J. The irrelevant sound effect in short-term memory: Is there developmental change? ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/09541440903378250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE A dead region (DR) is defined as a region in the cochlea where inner hair cells and/or neurons are functioning so poorly that a tone producing peak vibration in this region is detected by off-frequency listening, i.e., via a place on the basilar membrane with a characteristic frequency different from that of the tone. The presence of a DR can have a significant effect on the perception of speech. People with and without DRs may differ in the benefit obtained from amplification and require different hearing aid settings. The Threshold Equalizing Noise (TEN) test and psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) are two procedures used to identify a DR in adults. Because diagnosing a DR involves measuring masked thresholds, and there are reports in the literature that young children perform poorly compared with adults in background noise, it may be possible that the criteria used with adults may not be appropriate when testing children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the consistency of the fast-PTC and TEN tests in diagnosing a DR in hearing-impaired children. In addition, the masked thresholds for normal-hearing children were measured with different TEN levels to assess whether any age-related effect in children compared with adults may occur. DESIGN Participants were divided into two groups: eight normal-hearing children (16 ears) and 12 hearing-impaired children (21 ears), aged 7 to 13 yr. TEN is based on measuring masked threshold in TEN. For normal-hearing participants, the masked thresholds were measured for five levels of noise (30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 dB per averaged equivalent rectangular bandwidth). For hearing-impaired participants, the level of the TEN was selected separately for each ear based on the highest acceptable level minus 5 dB. The TEN test results in hearing-impaired children were further validated by measuring fast-PTCs. The fast-PTC technique involves measuring the level of the narrowband noise masker needed to mask the signal. The center frequency of the masker sweeps across the required frequency range. RESULTS The masked thresholds in TEN measured for normal-hearing children were usually below and never higher than 5 dB above TEN level per averaged equivalent rectangular bandwidth. This suggests that no age-related effect on masked threshold in children compared with adults was observed. All hearing-impaired children were able to perform the TEN test and fast-PTCs. The results of the two tests were consistent in 17 of 21 ears (81%): eight ears did not show evidence of a DR and nine ears did. In three ears, the criteria for a DR were met on the TEN test, but there was no evidence of a DR on the fast-PTC test. In one ear, the TEN test did not show evidence of DRs at two frequencies, whereas fast-PTCs did. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that DRs can be detected in children using the fast-PTC technique and the TEN test interpreted with the adult criteria, which are the most appropriate in terms of specificity and sensitivity. However, in cases in which the masked threshold is 10 to 15 dB above the TEN level, it is recommended to confirm DR diagnosis with fast-PTC measurement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicja N Malicka
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
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Leibold LJ, Bonino AY. Release from informational masking in children: effect of multiple signal bursts. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2009; 125:2200-8. [PMID: 19354396 PMCID: PMC2736737 DOI: 10.1121/1.3087435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2008] [Revised: 02/02/2009] [Accepted: 02/04/2009] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
This study examined the degree to which increasing the number of signal presentations provides children with a release from informational masking. Listeners were younger children (5-7 years), older children (8-10 years), and adults. Detection thresholds were measured for a sequence of repeating 50-ms bursts of a 1000-Hz pure-tone signal embedded in a sequence of 10- and 50-ms bursts of a random-frequency, two-tone masker. Masker bursts were played at an overall level of 60-dB sound pressure level in each interval of a two-interval, forced choice adaptive procedure. Performance was examined for conditions with two, four, five, and six signal bursts. Regardless of the number of signal bursts, thresholds for most children were higher than thresholds for most adults. Despite developmental effects in informational masking, however, masked threshold decreased with additional signal bursts by a similar amount for younger children, older children, and adults. The magnitude of masking release for both groups of children and for adults was inconsistent with absolute energy detection. Instead, increasing the number of signal bursts appears to aid children in the perceptual segregation of the fixed-frequency signal from the random-frequency masker as has been previously reported for adults [Kidd, G., et al. (2003). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114, 2835-2845].
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Affiliation(s)
- Lori J Leibold
- Department of Allied Health Sciences, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
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Werner LA, Parrish HK, Holmer NM. Effects of temporal uncertainty and temporal expectancy on infants' auditory sensitivity. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2009; 125:1040-1049. [PMID: 19206878 PMCID: PMC2677369 DOI: 10.1121/1.3050254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2007] [Revised: 10/08/2008] [Accepted: 11/13/2008] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Adults are more sensitive to a sound if they know when the sound will occur. In the present experiment, the effects of temporal uncertainty and temporal expectancy on infants' and adults' detection of a 1 kHz tone in a broadband noise were examined. In one experiment, masked sensitivity was measured with an acoustic cue and without an acoustic cue to possible tone presentation times. Adults' sensitivity was greater for the cue than for the no-cue condition, while infants' sensitivity did not differ significantly between the cue and no-cue conditions. In a second experiment, the effect of temporal expectancy was investigated. The detection advantage for sounds occurring at an expected (most frequent) time, over sounds occurring at unexpected (less frequent) times, was examined. Both infants and adults detected a tone better when it occurred before or at an expected time following a cue than when it occurred at a later time. Thus, despite the fact that the auditory cue did not improve infants' sensitivity, it nonetheless provided the basis for temporal expectancies. Infants, like adults, are more sensitive to sounds that are consistent with temporal expectancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynne A Werner
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105-6246, USA.
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Buss E, Hall JW, Grose JH. Psychometric functions for pure tone intensity discrimination: slope differences in school-aged children and adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2009; 125:1050-8. [PMID: 19206879 PMCID: PMC2654578 DOI: 10.1121/1.3050273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Previous work on pure tone intensity discrimination in school-aged children concluded that children might have higher levels of internal noise than adults for this task [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 120, 2777-2788 (2006)]. If true, this would imply that psychometric function slopes are shallower for children than adults, a prediction that was tested in the present experiment. Normal hearing children (5-9 yr) and adults were tested in a two-stage protocol. The first stage used a tracking procedure to estimate 71% correct for intensity discrimination with a gated 500 Hz pure tone and a 65 dB sound pressure level standard level. The mean and standard deviation of these tracks were used to identify a set of five signal levels for each observer. In the second stage of the experiment percent correct was estimated at these five levels. Psychometric functions fitted to these data were significantly shallower for children than adults, as predicted by the internal noise hypothesis. Data from both stages of testing are consistent with a model wherein performance is based on a stable psychometric function, with sensitivity limited by psychometric function slope. Across observers the relationship between slope and threshold conformed closely to predictions of a simple signal detection model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Buss
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
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The effect of amplitude modulation on intelligibility of time-varying sinusoidal speech in children and adults. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008; 69:1140-51. [PMID: 18038952 DOI: 10.3758/bf03193951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Although researchers are currently studying auditory object formation in adults, little is known about the development of this phenomenon in children. Amplitude modulation has been suggested as one of the characteristics of the speech signal that allows auditory grouping. In this experiment, we evaluated children (4 to 13 years of age) and adults to examine whether children's ability to use amplitude modulation (AM) in perception of time-varying sinusoidal (TVS) sentences is different from that of adults, and whether there are developmental changes. We evaluated performance on recognition of TVS sentences (unmodulated, amplitude-comodulated at 25, 50, 100, and 200 Hz, and amplitude-modulated using conflicting frequencies). Overall, the youngest children performed more poorly than did older children and adults. However, difference scores, defined as the percentage of phonemes correct in a given modulation condition minus the percentage correct for the unmodulated condition, showed no significant effects of age. Unlike the findings of previous studies (Carrell & Opie, 1992), these results support the ability of modulation with conflicting frequencies to improve intelligibility. The present study provides evidence that children and adults receive the same benefits (or decrements) from amplitude modulation.
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Leibold LJ, Neff DL. Effects of masker-spectral variability and masker fringes in children and adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2007; 121:3666-76. [PMID: 17552718 DOI: 10.1121/1.2723664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
This study examined the degree to which masker-spectral variability contributes to children's susceptibility to informational masking. Listeners were younger children (5-7 years), older children (8-10 years), and adults (19-34 years). Masked thresholds were measured using a 2IFC, adaptive procedure for a 300-ms, 1000-Hz signal presented simultaneously with (1) broadband noise, (2) a random-frequency ten-tone complex, or (3) a fixed-frequency ten-tone complex. Maskers were presented at an overall level of 60 dB SPL. Thresholds were similar across age for the noise condition. Thresholds for most children were higher than for most adults, however, for both ten-tone conditions. The average difference in threshold between random and fixed ten-tone conditions was comparable across age, suggesting a similar effect of reducing masker-spectral variability in children and adults. Children appear more likely to be susceptible to informational masking than adults, however, both with and in the absence of masker-spectral variability. The addition of a masker fringe (delayed onset of signal relative to masker) provided a release from masking for fixed and random ten-tone conditions in all age groups, suggesting at least part of the masking observed for both ten-tone maskers was informational.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lori J Leibold
- Boys Town National Research Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska 68131, USA.
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26
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Garadat SN, Litovsky RY. Speech intelligibility in free field: spatial unmasking in preschool children. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2007; 121:1047-55. [PMID: 17348527 PMCID: PMC2644456 DOI: 10.1121/1.2409863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
This study introduces a new test (CRISP-Jr.) for measuring speech intelligibility and spatial release from masking (SRM) in young children ages 2.5-4 years. Study 1 examined whether thresholds, masking, and SRM obtained with a test designed for older children (CRISP) and CRISP-Jr. are comparable in 4 to 5-year-old children. Thresholds were measured for target speech in front, in quiet, and with a different-sex masker either in front or on the right. CRISP-Jr. yielded higher speech reception thresholds (SRTs) than CRISP, but the amount of masking and SRM did not differ across the tests. In study 2, CRISP-Jr. was extended to a group of 3-year-old children. Results showed that while SRTs were higher in the younger group, there were no age differences in masking and SRM. These findings indicate that children as young as 3 years old are able to use spatial cues in sound source segregation, which suggests that some of the auditory mechanisms that mediate this ability develop early in life. In addition, the findings suggest that measures of SRM in young children are not limited to a particular set of stimuli. These tests have potentially useful applications in clinical settings, where bilateral fittings of amplification devices are evaluated.
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27
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Buss E, Hall JW, Grose JH. Development and the role of internal noise in detection and discrimination thresholds with narrow band stimuli. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2006; 120:2777-88. [PMID: 17139738 PMCID: PMC1851678 DOI: 10.1121/1.2354024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
The experiments reported here examine the role of internal noise in the detection of a tone in narrow band noise and intensity discrimination for narrow band stimuli in school-aged children as compared to adults. Experiment 1 used 20-Hz wide bands of Gaussian and low-fluctuation noise centered at 500 Hz to assess the role of stimulus fluctuation in detection of a 500-Hz pure tone. Additional conditions tested whether performance was based on level and/or level-independent cues. Children's thresholds were elevated with respect to adults, and whereas adults benefited from the reduced fluctuation of low-fluctuation noise, children did not. Results from both groups were consistent with the use of a level cue. Experiment 2 estimated intensity increment thresholds for a narrow band Gaussian noise or a pure tone, either with or without a presentation-by-presentation level rove, an additional source of level variability. Stimulus variability was found to have a larger effect on performance of adults as compared to children, a rather counterintuitive finding if one thinks of children as more prone to informational masking introduced by stimulus variability. Both tone-in-noise and intensity discrimination data were consistent with the hypothesis that children's performance is limited by greater levels of internal noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Buss
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
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28
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Johnstone PM, Litovsky RY. Effect of masker type and age on speech intelligibility and spatial release from masking in children and adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2006; 120:2177-89. [PMID: 17069314 PMCID: PMC2644459 DOI: 10.1121/1.2225416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Speech recognition in noisy environments improves when the speech signal is spatially separated from the interfering sound. This effect, known as spatial release from masking (SRM), was recently shown in young children. The present study compared SRM in children of ages 5-7 with adults for interferers introducing energetic, informational, and/or linguistic components. Three types of interferers were used: speech, reversed speech, and modulated white noise. Two female voices with different long-term spectra were also used. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were compared for: Quiet (target 0 degrees front, no interferer), Front (target and interferer both 0 degrees front), and Right (interferer 90 degrees right, target 0 degrees front). Children had higher SRTs and greater masking than adults. When spatial cues were not available, adults, but not children, were able to use differences in interferer type to separate the target from the interferer. Both children and adults showed SRM. Children, unlike adults, demonstrated large amounts of SRM for a time-reversed speech interferer. In conclusion, masking and SRM vary with the type of interfering sound, and this variation interacts with age; SRM may not depend on the spectral peculiarities of a particular type of voice when the target speech and interfering speech are different sex talkers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ruth Y. Litovsky
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; electronic mail:
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Leibold LJ, Werner LA. Effect of masker-frequency variability on the detection performance of infants and adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2006; 119:3960-70. [PMID: 16838539 DOI: 10.1121/1.2200150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The effect of masker-frequency variability on the detection performance of 7-9 month-old infants and adults was examined. Listeners detected a 300-ms 1000-Hz pure tone masked by: (1) A random-frequency two-tone complex; (2) a fixed-frequency two-tone complex; or (3) a broadband noise. Maskers repeated at 300-ms intervals throughout testing at 60 dB SPL. The signal was presented simultaneously with one presentation of the masker. Thresholds were determined adaptively using an observer-based method. Infants' thresholds were higher than adults' in all conditions, but infants' and adults' thresholds changed with masker condition in qualitatively similar ways. The fixed two-tone complex produced masking for both age groups, but more masking for infants than for adults. For infants and adults, the random two-tone complex produced more masking than broadband noise, but the difference was greater for infants than for adults. For infants and adults, the random two-tone complex produced more masking than the fixed two-tone complex, and the difference between these conditions was similar for both age groups. These results suggest that infants are more susceptible to informational masking than adults in the absence of spectral variability. Whether infants are more susceptible to the effects of masker-frequency variability than adults remains to be clarified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lori J Leibold
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
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30
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Wightman F, Kistler D, Brungart D. Informational masking of speech in children: auditory-visual integration. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2006; 119:3940-9. [PMID: 16838537 PMCID: PMC2858977 DOI: 10.1121/1.2195121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The focus of this study was the release from informational masking that could be obtained in a speech task by viewing a video of the target talker. A closed-set speech recognition paradigm was used to measure informational masking in 23 children (ages 6-16 years) and 10 adults. An audio-only condition required attention to a monaural target speech message that was presented to the same ear with a time-synchronized distracter message. In an audiovisual condition, a synchronized video of the target talker was also presented to assess the release from informational masking that could be achieved by speechreading. Children required higher target/distracter ratios than adults to reach comparable performance levels in the audio-only condition, reflecting a greater extent of informational masking in these listeners. There was a monotonic age effect, such that even the children in the oldest age group (12-16.9 years) demonstrated performance somewhat poorer than adults. Older children and adults improved significantly in the audiovisual condition, producing a release from informational masking of 15 dB or more in some adult listeners. Audiovisual presentation produced no informational masking release for the youngest children. Across all ages, the benefit of a synchronized video was strongly associated with speechreading ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic Wightman
- Heuser Hearing Institute, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
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Wightman FL, Kistler DJ. Informational masking of speech in children: effects of ipsilateral and contralateral distracters. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2005; 118:3164-76. [PMID: 16334898 PMCID: PMC2819474 DOI: 10.1121/1.2082567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 130] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Using a closed-set speech recognition paradigm thought to be heavily influenced by informational masking, auditory selective attention was measured in 38 children (ages 4-16 years) and 8 adults (ages 20-30 years). The task required attention to a monaural target speech message that was presented with a time-synchronized distracter message in the same ear. In some conditions a second distracter message or a speech-shaped noise was presented to the other ear. Compared to adults, children required higher target/distracter ratios to reach comparable performance levels, reflecting more informational masking in these listeners. Informational masking in most conditions was confirmed by the fact that a large proportion of the errors made by the listeners were contained in the distracter message(s). There was a monotonic age effect, such that even the children in the oldest age group (13.6-16 years) demonstrated poorer performance than adults. For both children and adults, presentation of an additional distracter in the contralateral ear significantly reduced performance, even when the distracter messages were produced by a talker of different sex than the target talker. The results are consistent with earlier reports from pure-tone masking studies that informational masking effects are much larger in children than in adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic L Wightman
- Heuser Hearing Institute, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
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32
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Durlach NI, Mason CR, Gallun FJ, Shinn-Cunningham B, Colburn HS, Kidd G. Informational masking for simultaneous nonspeech stimuli: psychometric functions for fixed and randomly mixed maskers. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2005; 118:2482-97. [PMID: 16266169 DOI: 10.1121/1.2032748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Sensitivity d' and response bias beta were measured as a function of target level for the detection of a 1000-Hz tone in multitone maskers using a one interval, two-alternative forced-choice (1I-2AFC) paradigm. Ten such maskers, each with eight randomly selected components in the region 200-5000 Hz, with 800-1250 Hz excluded to form a protected zone, were presented under two conditions: the fixed condition, in which the same eight-component masker is used throughout an experimental run, and the random condition, in which an eight-component masker is chosen randomly trial-to-trial from the given set of ten such maskers. Differences between the results obtained with these two conditions help characterize the listener's susceptibility to informational masking (IM). The d' results show great intersubject variability, but can be reasonably well fit by simple energy-detector models in which internal noise and filter bandwidth are used as fitting parameters. In contrast, the beta results are not well fit by these models. In addition to presentation of new data and its relation to energy-detector models, this paper provides comments on a variety of issues, problems, and research needs in the IM area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathaniel I Durlach
- Hearing Research Center Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
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Halliday LF, Bishop DVM. Frequency discrimination and literacy skills in children with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2005; 48:1187-203. [PMID: 16411805 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2005/083)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2004] [Revised: 07/04/2004] [Accepted: 02/21/2005] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
It has been suggested that specific reading disability (SRD) may be attributable to an impaired ability to perceive spectral differences between sounds that leads to a deficit in frequency discrimination and subsequent problems with language and literacy. The objective of the present study was three-fold. We aimed to (a) determine whether children with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss were impaired in their ability to discriminate frequency, (b) assess the extent to which any such deficits may be due to an inability to use information derived from phase locking, and (c) examine whether frequency discrimination abilities were predictive of measures of word and nonword reading and nonword repetition. Difference limens for frequency (DLFs) were obtained for 22 children with mild to moderate hearing loss (SNH group) and 22 age-matched controls (CA group) at central frequencies of 1 kHz, where phase-locking information is available, and 6 kHz, where it is not. A battery of standardized tests of language and literacy was also administered. The SNH group exhibited significantly elevated DLFs at both 1 and 6 kHz relative to controls, despite considerable variability of thresholds in both groups. Although no group differences were found for receptive and expressive vocabulary, receptive grammar, and nonword reading, the SNH group performed worse than controls on word reading and nonword repetition, even though word reading scores were age-appropriate. Frequency discrimination abilities were associated with reading and nonword repetition across groups, but these correlations largely disappeared when the two groups were analyzed separately. Together, these results provide evidence for a dissociation between impaired frequency discrimination and relatively "spared" language and literacy in children with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. These results cast doubt on the assertion that a deficit in frequency discrimination necessarily leads to marked deficits in the development of language and literacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- L F Halliday
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, United Kingdom.
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Hall JW, Buss E, Grose JH. Informational masking release in children and adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2005; 118:1605-13. [PMID: 16247871 PMCID: PMC1810353 DOI: 10.1121/1.1992675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
This study assessed informational masking and utilization of cues to reduce that masking in children aged 4-9 years and in adults. The signal was a train of eight consecutive tone bursts, each at 1 kHz and 60 ms in duration. Maskers were comprised of a pair of synchronous tone-burst trains, with randomly chosen frequencies spanning 200-5000 Hz, with a protected region 851-1175 Hz. In the reference condition, maskers were eight bursts in duration, with a fixed frequency within intervals. Experiment 1 tested two monotic masking release conditions: within-interval randomization of masker burst frequency and the introduction of leading masker bursts. Experiment 2 examined masking release in which the signal was presented to one ear and masking components were presented to both ears (masker components in the contralateral ear were 10 dB higher than those in the ipsilateral ear). Both adults and children demonstrated a significant informational masking effect, with children showing a larger effect on average. Both groups also showed significant release from masking in the two monotic conditions, although children received somewhat less benefit from the masking release cues. The binaural condition supported a moderate release from informational masking in adults, but resulted in increased informational masking in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph W Hall
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
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Joliveau E, Smith J, Wolfe J. Vocal tract resonances in singing: the soprano voice. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2004; 116:2234-47. [PMID: 15532674 DOI: 10.1121/1.1784437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
The vocal tract resonances of trained soprano singers were measured while they sang a range of vowels softly at different pitches. The measurements were made by broad band acoustic excitation at the mouth, which allowed the resonances of the tract to be measured simultaneously with and independently from the harmonics of the voice. At low pitch, when the lowest resonance frequency R1 exceeded f0, the values of the first two resonances R1 and R2 varied little with frequency and had values consistent with normal speech. At higher pitches, however, when fo exceeded the value of R1 observed at low pitch, R1 increased with f0 so that R1 was approximately equal to f0. R2 also increased over this high pitch range, probably as an incidental consequence of the tuning of R1. R3 increased slightly but systematically, across the whole pitch range measured. There was no evidence that any resonances are tuned close to harmonics of the pitch frequency except for R1 at high pitch. The variations in R1 and R2 at high pitch mean that vowels move, converge, and overlap their positions on the vocal plane (R2,R1) to an extent that implies loss of intelligibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elodie Joliveau
- School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
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Hill PR, Hartley DEH, Glasberg BR, Moore BCJ, Moore DR. Auditory processing efficiency and temporal resolution in children and adults. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2004; 47:1022-1029. [PMID: 15603460 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2004/076)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Children have higher auditory backward masking (BM) thresholds than adults. One explanation for this is poor temporal resolution, resulting in difficulty separating brief or rapidly presented sounds. This implies that the auditory temporal window is broader in children than in adults. Alternatively, elevated BM thresholds in children may indicate poor processing efficiency. In this case, children would need a higher signal-to-masker ratio than adults to detect the presence of a signal. This would result in poor performance on a number of psychoacoustic tasks but would be particularly marked in BM due to the compressive nonlinearity of the basilar membrane. The objective of the present study was to examine the competing hypotheses of "temporal resolution" and "efficiency" by measuring BM as a function of signal-to-masker interval in children and adults. The children had significantly higher thresholds than the adults at each of the intervals. Subsequent modeling and analyses showed that the data for both children and adults were best fitted using the same, fixed temporal window. Therefore, the differences in BM threshold between adults and children were not due to differences in temporal resolution but to reduced detection efficiency in the children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Penelope R Hill
- University Laboratory of Physiology, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
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Hall JW, Buss E, Grose JH, Dev MB. Developmental effects in the masking-level difference. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2004; 47:13-20. [PMID: 15072524 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2004/002)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Adults and children (aged 5 years 1 month to 10 years 8 months) were tested in a masking-level difference (MLD) paradigm in which detection of brief signals was contrasted for signal placement in masker envelope maxima versus masker envelope minima. Maskers were 50-Hz-wide noise bands centered on 500 Hz, and the signals were So or Sp 30-ms, 500-Hz tones. In agreement with previous studies, it was found that MLDs were greater for masker envelope minima placement than for masker envelope maxima placement. Across the age range of the children tested here, the binaural advantage associated with the masker envelope minima increased with the age of the child. One interpretation of the present results is that there is a developmental improvement in binaural temporal resolution over the age range tested here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph W Hall
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA.
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Lutfi RA, Kistler DJ, Callahan MR, Wightman FL. Psychometric functions for informational masking. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2003; 114:3273-82. [PMID: 14714808 PMCID: PMC2858973 DOI: 10.1121/1.1629303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The term informational masking has traditionally been used to refer to elevations in signal threshold resulting from masker uncertainty. In the present study, the method of constant stimuli was used to obtain complete psychometric functions (PFs) from 44 normal-hearing listeners in conditions known to produce varying amounts of informational masking. The listener's task was to detect a pure-tone signal in the presence of a broadband noise masker (low masker uncertainty) and in the presence of multitone maskers with frequencies and amplitudes that varied at random from one presentation to the next (high masker uncertainty). Relative to the broadband noise condition, significant reductions were observed in both the slope and the upper asymptote of the PF for multitone maskers producing large amounts of informational masking. Slope was affected more for some listeners and conditions while asymptote was affected more for others; consequently, neither parameter alone was highly predictive of individual thresholds or the amount of informational masking. Mean slopes and asymptotes varied nonmonotonically with the number of masker components in a manner similar to mean thresholds, particularly when the estimated effect of energetic masking on thresholds was subtracted out. As in past studies, the threshold data were well described by a model in which trial-by-trial judgments are based on a weighted sum of levels in dB at the output of independent auditory filters. The psychometric data, however, complicated the model's interpretation in two ways: First, they suggested that, depending on the listener and condition, the weights can either reflect a fixed influence of masker components on each trial or the effect of occasionally mistaking a masker component for the signal from trial to trial. Second, they indicated that in either case the variance of the underlying decision variable as estimated from PF slope is not by itself great enough to account for the observed changes in informational masking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert A Lutfi
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA
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Lutfi RA, Kistler DJ, Oh EL, Wightman FL, Callahan MR. One factor underlies individual differences in auditory informational masking within and across age groups. PERCEPTION & PSYCHOPHYSICS 2003; 65:396-406. [PMID: 12785070 PMCID: PMC2819167 DOI: 10.3758/bf03194571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Masked threshold for a pure-tone signal can be substantially elevated whenever the listener is uncertain about the spectral or temporal properties of the masker, an effect referred to as auditory informational masking. Individual differences in the effect are large, with young children being most susceptible. When masker uncertainty is introduced by randomizing the frequencies of a multitone masker on each presentation, the function relating a child's pure-tone signal threshold to the number of masker components is found to be substantially elevated above that of most adults. The age effect and the individual differences among adults are not well understood, though a difference in the shapes of the masking functions suggests that different detection strategies may be involved. The present study reports results from a principal components analysis of informational masking functions obtained from 38 normal-hearing children ranging in age from 4 to 16 years and 46 normal-hearing adults ranging in age from 19 to 38 years. The premise underlying the analysis is that if different detection strategies are involved, they should add independent sources of variance to the masking functions. Hence, more than one principal component (PC) should be required to account for a substantial proportion of the variance in these functions. The results, instead, supported the operation of a single underlying strategy with all but 17% of the variance accounted for by the first PC within and across age groups. An analysis of variance on the first two PCs showed that only the first changed with age, and a cluster analysis of the masking functions showed complete separation of clusters along this PC for all but 1 listener. The results are taken to suggest that large individual differences informational masking at all ages reflect differences in the extent to which masker uncertainty adds variance to the decision variable of an otherwise optimal decision strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert A Lutfi
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53705-2280, USA.
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Hall JW, Grose JH, Buss E, Dev MB. Spondee recognition in a two-talker masker and a speech-shaped noise masker in adults and children. Ear Hear 2002; 23:159-65. [PMID: 11951851 DOI: 10.1097/00003446-200204000-00008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 124] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to examine developmental effects for perceptual masking due a two-talker masker. Both continuous and gated maskers were employed in order to determine the importance of masker continuity for perceptual masking. DESIGN A repeated measures design compared the spondee recognition performance of adults and children using both a speech-shaped noise and a two-talker masker. The masker was either presented continuously, or was gated on and off at about the same time as the target spondee. The ages of the listeners were 19 to 48 yr (adults) and 5 to 10 yr (children). RESULTS The results for the continuous masker indicated higher thresholds for the two-talker masker than for the speech-shaped noise masker. This effect was greater in the children than in the adults. In the gated masking condition, the greater masking effect associated with the two-talker masker was either diminished (children) or eliminated (adults). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest a masking effect for two-talker speech competition that is greater in children than in adults. Perceptual masking is greater for continuous than for gated masking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph W Hall
- Division of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
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Oh EL, Wightman F, Lutfi RA. Children's detection of pure-tone signals with random multitone maskers. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2001; 109:2888-95. [PMID: 11425131 PMCID: PMC2858975 DOI: 10.1121/1.1371764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Preschoolers and adults were asked to detect a 1000-Hz signal, which was masked by a multitone complex. The frequencies and amplitudes of the components in the complex varied randomly and independently on each presentation. A staircase, cued two-interval, forced-choice procedure disguised as a "listening game" was used to obtain signal thresholds in quiet and in the presence of the multitone maskers. The number of components in the masker was fixed within an experimental condition and varied from 2 to 906 across experimental conditions. Thresholds were also measured with a broadband noise masker. Eight preschool children and eight adults were tested. Although individual differences were large, among both adults and children, there was little difference between the groups in the mean amount of masking produced by the maskers with large numbers of components (400 and 906). There was also a small but significant difference between adults and children in the mean amount of masking produced by the broadband noise. The difference between the groups was much larger with smaller numbers of components. Data obtained from the adults were basically similar to that previously reported [cf. Neff and Green, Percept. Psychophys. 41, 409-415 (1987); Oh and Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104, 3489-3499 (1998)]: maskers comprised of 10-40 components produced as much as 30 to 60 dB of masking in some, but not all listeners. Those same maskers produced larger amounts of masking (70-83 dB) in many of the preschool children, although, as in the adult group, individual differences were large. The component-relative-entropy (CoRE) model [Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 94, 748-758 (1993)] was used to describe the differences in performance between the children and adults. According to this model the average child appears to integrate information over a larger number of auditory filters than the average adult.
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Affiliation(s)
- E L Oh
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53705, USA
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Werner LA. Forward masking among infant and adult listeners. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1999; 105:2445-2453. [PMID: 10212425 DOI: 10.1121/1.426849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Psychophysical forward-masked thresholds were estimated for 3- and 6-month-old infants and for adults. Listeners detected a repeated 1000-Hz probe, with 16-ms rise time, no steady-state duration, and 16-ms fall time. Unmasked thresholds were determined for one group of listeners who were trained to respond when they heard the probe but not at other times. In the masking conditions, each tone burst was preceded by a 100-ms broadband noise masker at 65 dB SPL. Listeners were trained to respond when they heard the probe and masker, but not when they heard the masker alone. The masker-probe interval, delta t, was either 5, 10, 25, or 200 ms. Four groups of subjects listened in the masked conditions, each at one value of delta t. Each listener attempted to complete a block of 32 trials including four probe levels chosen to span the range of expected thresholds. "Group" thresholds, based on average psychometric functions, as well as thresholds for individual listeners, were estimated. Both group and individual thresholds declined with delta t, as expected, for both infants and adults. Infants' masked thresholds were higher than those of adults, and comparison of masked to unmasked thresholds suggested that infants demonstrate more forward masking than adults, particularly at short delta t. Forward masking appeared to have greater effects on 3-month-olds' detection than on either 6-month-olds' or adults'. Compared to adults, 6-month-olds demonstrated more forward masking only for delta t of 5 ms. Thus, susceptibility to forward masking may be nearly mature by 6 months of age.
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Affiliation(s)
- L A Werner
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle 98105-6246, USA
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Oh EL, Lutfi RA. Nonmonotonicity of informational masking. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1998; 104:3489-3499. [PMID: 9857508 DOI: 10.1121/1.423932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Neff and Green [Percept. Psychophys. 41, 409-415 (1987)] report that the masking of single tones by random-frequency multitone maskers varies nonmonotonically with number of masker components (peaking at 10-50 components). In this paper it is shown that such results are well predicted by a model (the component-relative-entropy model, CoRE) wherein thresholds increase linearly with the ensemble variance of masker spectra smoothed by peripheral auditory filters [R. A. Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 94, 748-758 (1993)]. Three experiments were conducted. In the first, the nonmonotonic relation was replicated for 9 of 11 listeners in conditions similar to those of Neff and Green. In the second, the frequencies of masker components were fixed and the levels of components were varied randomly across presentations to simulate Gaussian noise. In this case, the nonmonotonicity and the total amount of masking for these listeners were shown to be significantly reduced. In the third experiment, masked thresholds for the signal were found to vary monotonically with the frequency spacing of masker components for a fixed number of masker components. Large individual differences among listeners were obtained in some experimental conditions. Individual as well as mean thresholds were well predicted by the CoRE model with an appropriate selection of the values of the two free parameters of the model for each listener.
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Affiliation(s)
- E L Oh
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53705, USA
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Allen P, Jones R, Slaney P. The role of level, spectral, and temporal cues in children's detection of masked signals. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1998; 104:2997-3005. [PMID: 9821344 DOI: 10.1121/1.423882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Preschool-aged children and adults were asked to detect masked signals in four conditions that evaluated the role of level, spectral, and temporal cues on performance. Psychometric functions fitted to percent correct data at several signal-to-noise ratios showed higher thresholds and shallower slopes for the children in all conditions. Performance was similar in fixed and roving level conditions for both age groups suggesting use of level-invariant cues. When the signal was moved to the spectral edge of the masker the performance of the adults improved but that of the children did not. This suggested that children did not benefit from the additional cues provided by the off-center signal. Children's performance worsened when the signal was a narrow-band noise rather than a pure tone but the adults' did not, suggesting children's reliance on temporal changes in the masker with the introduction of the signal. Analyses of the stimuli suggested that the children's thresholds corresponded to signal-to-noise ratios at which multiple cues were present at magnitudes that were great enough to be discriminable.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Allen
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
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Willihnganz MS, Stellmack MA, Lutfi RA, Wightman FL. Spectral weights in level discrimination by preschool children: synthetic listening conditions. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1997; 101:2803-2810. [PMID: 9165734 DOI: 10.1121/1.419478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
On most auditory discrimination and detection tasks young children perform more poorly than adults. The current experiment applies a technique which potentially can reveal the extent to which the adult-child performance difference results from suboptimal attentional strategies or simply greater internal noise in the children. In this experiment preschool children and adults were asked to discriminate between complex tones comprised of three random-amplitude sinusoidal components. A trial-by-trial correlational analysis [R. A. Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 97, 1333-1334 (1995)] provided an estimate of the weight listeners placed on the level information from individual spectral components in making the discrimination. The patterns of weights were interpreted as measures of "attentional strategy." Both children and adults produced reliable patterns of weights. This is an especially important result since measuring a single weighting pattern requires large numbers of trials and hence multiple sessions with the children. While individual weighting patterns were reliable, weighting patterns differed both within and across groups. Moreover, neither the children nor the adults produced weighting patterns that would maximize percent correct in the task. A substantial proportion of the responses from both children and adults could be predicted from their weighting patterns even when performance was near chance. However, differences in overall performance between children and adults could not be accounted for by differences in their weighting functions.
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Stellmack MA, Willihnganz MS, Wightman FL, Lutfi RA. Spectral weights in level discrimination by preschool children: analytic listening conditions. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1997; 101:2811-2821. [PMID: 9165735 DOI: 10.1121/1.419479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
In this series of experiments, adult and child listeners were required to attend to a target tone in the presence of two distracters and to indicate in which of two intervals the target tone had the higher level. The attentional weight listeners placed on each component was estimated by computing the correlation between the level change of each component across intervals and the listener's response. In the first experiment, weights were obtained as a function of the mean level of the distracters (250 and 4000 Hz) for a 1000-Hz target. No consistent differences between the weighting functions of children and adults were observed. In a second experiment, weights were obtained as a function of the harmonic relationship between the distracters (250 and 4000 Hz, or 270 and 4320 Hz) and the 1000-Hz target. No difference was observed between the weighting functions computed with harmonic and inharmonic complexes. In the final experiment, each component of the complex (250, 1000, and 4000 Hz) was identified as the target in separate blocks of trials. In general, adults were able to weight the target component appropriately regardless of its frequency, while children tended to weight all components equally. The results suggest that preschool listeners may exhibit poorer attentional selectivity than adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- M A Stellmack
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison 53705, USA
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