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Vonck BM, van Heteren JA, Lammers MJ, de Jel DV, Schaake WA, van Zanten GA, Stokroos RJ, Versnel H. Cortical potentials evoked by tone frequency changes can predict speech perception in noise. Hear Res 2022; 420:108508. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Varnet L, Léger AC, Boucher S, Bonnet C, Petit C, Lorenzi C. Contributions of Age-Related and Audibility-Related Deficits to Aided Consonant Identification in Presbycusis: A Causal-Inference Analysis. Front Aging Neurosci 2021; 13:640522. [PMID: 33732140 PMCID: PMC7956988 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.640522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The decline of speech intelligibility in presbycusis can be regarded as resulting from the combined contribution of two main groups of factors: (1) audibility-related factors and (2) age-related factors. In particular, there is now an abundant scientific literature on the crucial role of suprathreshold auditory abilities and cognitive functions, which have been found to decline with age even in the absence of audiometric hearing loss. However, researchers investigating the direct effect of aging in presbycusis have to deal with the methodological issue that age and peripheral hearing loss covary to a large extent. In the present study, we analyzed a dataset of consonant-identification scores measured in quiet and in noise for a large cohort (n = 459, age = 42-92) of hearing-impaired (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. HI listeners were provided with a frequency-dependent amplification adjusted to their audiometric profile. Their scores in the two conditions were predicted from their pure-tone average (PTA) and age, as well as from their Extended Speech Intelligibility Index (ESII), a measure of the impact of audibility loss on speech intelligibility. We relied on a causal-inference approach combined with Bayesian modeling to disentangle the direct causal effects of age and audibility on intelligibility from the indirect effect of age on hearing loss. The analysis revealed that the direct effect of PTA on HI intelligibility scores was 5 times higher than the effect of age. This overwhelming effect of PTA was not due to a residual audibility loss despite amplification, as confirmed by a ESII-based model. More plausibly, the marginal role of age could be a consequence of the relatively little cognitively-demanding task used in this study. Furthermore, the amount of variance in intelligibility scores was smaller for NH than HI listeners, even after accounting for age and audibility, reflecting the presence of additional suprathreshold deficits in the latter group. Although the non-sense-syllable materials and the particular amplification settings used in this study potentially restrict the generalization of the findings, we think that these promising results call for a wider use of causal-inference analysis in audiology, e.g., as a way to disentangle the influence of the various cognitive factors and suprathreshold deficits associated to presbycusis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léo Varnet
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d'Études Cognitives, École normale supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, Paris, France
| | - Agnès C. Léger
- Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, Division of Human Communication, Development & Hearing, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Sophie Boucher
- Complexité du Vivant, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Paris VI, Paris, France
- Institut de l'Audition, Institut Pasteur, INSERM, Paris, France
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Angers, Angers, France
| | - Crystel Bonnet
- Complexité du Vivant, Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Paris VI, Paris, France
- Institut de l'Audition, Institut Pasteur, INSERM, Paris, France
| | - Christine Petit
- Institut de l'Audition, Institut Pasteur, INSERM, Paris, France
- Collège de France, Paris, France
| | - Christian Lorenzi
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d'Études Cognitives, École normale supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, Paris, France
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Wallace D, Cheer J. Design and evaluation of personal audio systems based on speech privacy constraints. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:2271. [PMID: 32359257 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Personal audio refers to the generation of spatially distinct sound zones that allow individuals within a shared space to listen to their own audio material without affecting, or being affected, by others. Recent interest in such systems has focussed on their performance in public spaces where speech privacy is desirable. To achieve this goal, speech is focussed towards the target listener and a masking signal is focussed into the area where the target speech signal could otherwise be overheard. An effective masking signal must substantially reduce the intelligibility in this region without becoming an annoyance to those nearby. To assess these perceptual requirements, listening tests were carried out using two examples of loudspeaker arrays with different spatial aliasing characteristics, to determine the impacts of different masking signal spectra on speech intelligibility and subjective preference. The results of these tests were used, alongside objective and subjective metrics, to form a design specification for private personal audio systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Wallace
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Jordan Cheer
- Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
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Kubiak AM, Rennies J, Ewert SD, Kollmeier B. Prediction of individual speech recognition performance in complex listening conditions. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:1379. [PMID: 32237817 DOI: 10.1121/10.0000759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This study examined how well individual speech recognition thresholds in complex listening scenarios could be predicted by a current binaural speech intelligibility model. Model predictions were compared with experimental data measured for seven normal-hearing and 23 hearing-impaired listeners who differed widely in their degree of hearing loss, age, as well as performance in clinical speech tests. The experimental conditions included two masker types (multi-talker or two-talker maskers), and two spatial conditions (maskers co-located with the frontal target or symmetrically separated from the target). The results showed that interindividual variability could not be well predicted by a model including only individual audiograms. Predictions improved when an additional individual "proficiency factor" was derived from one of the experimental conditions or a standard speech test. Overall, the current model can predict individual performance relatively well (except in conditions high in informational masking), but the inclusion of age-related factors may lead to even further improvements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra M Kubiak
- Fraunhofer IDMT, Project Group Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Jan Rennies
- Fraunhofer IDMT, Project Group Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Stephan D Ewert
- Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Birger Kollmeier
- Fraunhofer IDMT, Project Group Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
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Effect of Audibility and Suprathreshold Deficits on Speech Recognition for Listeners With Unilateral Hearing Loss. Ear Hear 2020; 40:1025-1034. [PMID: 31242137 PMCID: PMC7664706 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Objectives: We examined the influence of impaired processing (audibility and suprathreshold processes) on speech recognition in cases of sensorineural hearing loss. The influence of differences in central, or top-down, processing was reduced by comparing the performance of both ears in participants with a unilateral hearing loss (UHL). We examined the influence of reduced audibility and suprathreshold deficits on speech recognition in quiet and in noise. Design: We measured speech recognition in quiet and stationary speech-shaped noise with consonant–vowel–consonant words and digital triplets in groups of adults with UHL (n = 19), normal hearing (n = 15), and bilateral hearing loss (n = 9). By comparing the scores of the unaffected ear (UHL+) and the affected ear (UHL−) in the UHL group, we were able to isolate the influence of peripheral hearing loss from individual top-down factors such as cognition, linguistic skills, age, and sex. Results: Audibility is a very strong predictor for speech recognition in quiet. Audibility has a less pronounced influence on speech recognition in noise. We found that, for the current sample of listeners, more speech information is required for UHL− than for UHL+ to achieve the same performance. For digit triplets at 80 dBA, the speech recognition threshold in noise (SRT) for UHL− is on average 5.2 dB signal to noise ratio (SNR) poorer than UHL+. Analysis using the speech intelligibility index (SII) indicates that on average 2.1 dB SNR of this decrease can be attributed to suprathreshold deficits and 3.1 dB SNR to audibility. Furthermore, scores for speech recognition in quiet and in noise for UHL+ are comparable to those of normal-hearing listeners. Conclusions: Our data showed that suprathreshold deficits in addition to audibility play a considerable role in speech recognition in noise even at intensities well above hearing threshold.
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Impact of Lexical Parameters and Audibility on the Recognition of the Freiburg Monosyllabic Speech Test. Ear Hear 2020; 41:136-142. [DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Evidence-Based Occupational Hearing Screening I: Modeling the Effects of Real-World Noise Environments on the Likelihood of Effective Speech Communication. Ear Hear 2019; 39:436-448. [PMID: 29697497 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to (1) identify essential hearing-critical job tasks for public safety and law enforcement personnel; (2) determine the locations and real-world noise environments where these tasks are performed; (3) characterize each noise environment in terms of its impact on the likelihood of effective speech communication, considering the effects of different levels of vocal effort, communication distances, and repetition; and (4) use this characterization to define an objective normative reference for evaluating the ability of individuals to perform essential hearing-critical job tasks in noisy real-world environments. DESIGN Data from five occupational hearing studies performed over a 17-year period for various public safety agencies were analyzed. In each study, job task analyses by job content experts identified essential hearing-critical tasks and the real-world noise environments where these tasks are performed. These environments were visited, and calibrated recordings of each noise environment were made. The extended speech intelligibility index (ESII) was calculated for each 4-sec interval in each recording. These data, together with the estimated ESII value required for effective speech communication by individuals with normal hearing, allowed the likelihood of effective speech communication in each noise environment for different levels of vocal effort and communication distances to be determined. These likelihoods provide an objective norm-referenced and standardized means of characterizing the predicted impact of real-world noise on the ability to perform essential hearing-critical tasks. RESULTS A total of 16 noise environments for law enforcement personnel and eight noise environments for corrections personnel were analyzed. Effective speech communication was essential to hearing-critical tasks performed in these environments. Average noise levels, ranged from approximately 70 to 87 dBA in law enforcement environments and 64 to 80 dBA in corrections environments. The likelihood of effective speech communication at communication distances of 0.5 and 1 m was often less than 0.50 for normal vocal effort. Likelihood values often increased to 0.80 or more when raised or loud vocal effort was used. Effective speech communication at and beyond 5 m was often unlikely, regardless of vocal effort. CONCLUSIONS ESII modeling of nonstationary real-world noise environments may prove an objective means of characterizing their impact on the likelihood of effective speech communication. The normative reference provided by these measures predicts the extent to which hearing impairments that increase the ESII value required for effective speech communication also decrease the likelihood of effective speech communication. These predictions may provide an objective evidence-based link between the essential hearing-critical job task requirements of public safety and law enforcement personnel and ESII-based hearing assessment of individuals who seek to perform these jobs.
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Kollmeier B, Schädler MR, Warzybok A, Meyer BT, Brand T. Sentence Recognition Prediction for Hearing-impaired Listeners in Stationary and Fluctuation Noise With FADE: Empowering the Attenuation and Distortion Concept by Plomp With a Quantitative Processing Model. Trends Hear 2016; 20:20/0/2331216516655795. [PMID: 27604782 PMCID: PMC5017573 DOI: 10.1177/2331216516655795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
To characterize the individual patient’s hearing impairment as obtained with the matrix sentence recognition test, a simulation Framework for Auditory Discrimination Experiments (FADE) is extended here using the Attenuation and Distortion (A+D) approach by Plomp as a blueprint for setting the individual processing parameters. FADE has been shown to predict the outcome of both speech recognition tests and psychoacoustic experiments based on simulations using an automatic speech recognition system requiring only few assumptions. It builds on the closed-set matrix sentence recognition test which is advantageous for testing individual speech recognition in a way comparable across languages. Individual predictions of speech recognition thresholds in stationary and in fluctuating noise were derived using the audiogram and an estimate of the internal level uncertainty for modeling the individual Plomp curves fitted to the data with the Attenuation (A-) and Distortion (D-) parameters of the Plomp approach. The “typical” audiogram shapes from Bisgaard et al with or without a “typical” level uncertainty and the individual data were used for individual predictions. As a result, the individualization of the level uncertainty was found to be more important than the exact shape of the individual audiogram to accurately model the outcome of the German Matrix test in stationary or fluctuating noise for listeners with hearing impairment. The prediction accuracy of the individualized approach also outperforms the (modified) Speech Intelligibility Index approach which is based on the individual threshold data only.
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Affiliation(s)
- Birger Kollmeier
- Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Marc René Schädler
- Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Anna Warzybok
- Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Bernd T Meyer
- Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Brand
- Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Universität Oldenburg, Germany
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Léger AC, Ives DT, Lorenzi C. Abnormal intelligibility of speech in competing speech and in noise in a frequency region where audiometric thresholds are near-normal for hearing-impaired listeners. Hear Res 2014; 316:102-9. [PMID: 25124152 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2014.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2013] [Revised: 07/25/2014] [Accepted: 07/31/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The ability to identify syllables in the presence of speech-shaped noise and a single-talker background was measured for 18 normal-hearing (NH) listeners, and for eight hearing-impaired (HI) listeners with near-normal audiometric thresholds for frequencies up to 1.5 kHz and a moderate to severe hearing loss above 2 kHz. The stimulus components were restricted to the low-frequency (≤1.5 kHz) region, where audiometric thresholds were classified clinically as normal or near normal for all listeners. Syllable identification in a speech background was measured as a function of the fundamental-frequency (F0) difference between competing voices (ranging from 1 semitone to ∼1 octave). HI listeners had poorer syllable intelligibility than NH listeners in all conditions. Intelligibility decreased by about the same amount for both groups when the F0 difference between competing voices was reduced. The results suggest that the ability to identify speech against noise or an interfering talker was disrupted in frequency regions of near-normal hearing for HI listeners, but that the ability to benefit from the tested F0 differences was not disrupted. This deficit was not predicted by the elevated absolute thresholds for speech in speech, but it was for speech in noise. It may result from supra-threshold auditory deficits associated with aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnès C Léger
- Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 36-757, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA.
| | - David T Ives
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Institut d'Etude de la Cognition, École normale supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Christian Lorenzi
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, UMR CNRS 8248, Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Institut d'Etude de la Cognition, École normale supérieure, Paris Sciences et Lettres, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France
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Jürgens T, Ewert SD, Kollmeier B, Brand T. Prediction of consonant recognition in quiet for listeners with normal and impaired hearing using an auditory model. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2014; 135:1506-1517. [PMID: 24606286 DOI: 10.1121/1.4864293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Consonant recognition was assessed in normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners in quiet as a function of speech level using a nonsense logatome test. Average recognition scores were analyzed and compared to recognition scores of a speech recognition model. In contrast to commonly used spectral speech recognition models operating on long-term spectra, a "microscopic" model operating in the time domain was used. Variations of the model (accounting for hearing impairment) and different model parameters (reflecting cochlear compression) were tested. Using these model variations this study examined whether speech recognition performance in quiet is affected by changes in cochlear compression, namely, a linearization, which is often observed in HI listeners. Consonant recognition scores for HI listeners were poorer than for NH listeners. The model accurately predicted the speech reception thresholds of the NH and most HI listeners. A partial linearization of the cochlear compression in the auditory model, while keeping audibility constant, produced higher recognition scores and improved the prediction accuracy. However, including listener-specific information about the exact form of the cochlear compression did not improve the prediction further.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Jürgens
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Department für Medizinische Physik und Akustik, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Carl-von Ossietzky-Strasse 9-11, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Stephan D Ewert
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Department für Medizinische Physik und Akustik, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Carl-von Ossietzky-Strasse 9-11, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Birger Kollmeier
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Department für Medizinische Physik und Akustik, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Carl-von Ossietzky-Strasse 9-11, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Brand
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Department für Medizinische Physik und Akustik, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Carl-von Ossietzky-Strasse 9-11, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany
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Rhebergen KS, Pool RE, Dreschler WA. Characterizing the Speech Reception Threshold in hearing-impaired listeners in relation to masker type and masker level. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2014; 135:1491-1505. [PMID: 24606285 DOI: 10.1121/1.4864301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The Speech Reception Threshold [SRT, (dB SNR)] is often used as an outcome measure to quantify the acuity for speech perception in noise. The majority of studies observe speech intelligibility in noise at a fixed noise level. However, the observed SNR might be an ambiguous outcome measure because it is dependent on the sensation level (SL) of the noise in the case of a non-stationary noise. Due to their higher thresholds, hearing-impaired listeners are usually tested at a different SL compared to normal-hearing listeners. Therefore, the observed SNR "itself" might not be a robust outcome measure to characterize the differences in performance between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners, within and between different studies. In this paper, the SRTs are measured at a fixed absolute noise level (80 dBA) and at a fixed SL (25 dB). The results are discussed and described with an extension to the SRT model of Plomp [(1986). "A signal-to-noise ratio model for the speech-receptionthreshold of the hearing-impaired," J. Speech Hear. Res. 29, 146-154] and the Extended Speech Intelligibility Index. In addition, two alternative outcome measures are proposed which are, in contrast to the SNR, independent of the noise level. These outcome measures are able to characterize the SRT performance in fluctuating noise in a more uniform and unambiguous way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koenraad S Rhebergen
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Audiology, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ruben E Pool
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Audiology, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Wouter A Dreschler
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Audiology, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Binaural release from masking in forward-masked intensity discrimination: evidence for effects of selective attention. Hear Res 2012; 294:1-9. [PMID: 23010335 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2012.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2012] [Revised: 09/07/2012] [Accepted: 09/12/2012] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
In a forward-masked intensity discrimination task, we manipulated the perceived lateralization of the masker via variation of the interaural time difference (ITD). The maskers and targets were 500 Hz pure tones with a duration of 30 ms. Standards of 30 and 60 dB SPL were combined with 60 or 90 dB SPL maskers. As expected, the presentation of a forward masker perceived as lateralized to the other side of the head as the target resulted in a significantly smaller elevation of the intensity difference limen than a masker lateralized ipsilaterally. This binaural release from masking in forward-masked intensity discrimination cannot be explained by peripheral mechanisms because varying the ITD leaves the neural representation in the monaural channels (i.e., in the auditory nerve) unaltered. Instead, our results are compatible with the assumption that lateralization differences between masker and target promote object segregation and therefore facilitate object-based selective attention to the target.
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Harlander N, Rosenkranz T, Hohmann V. Evaluation of model-based versus non-parametric monaural noise-reduction approaches for hearing aids. Int J Audiol 2012; 51:627-39. [PMID: 22642311 DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2012.684405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Single channel noise reduction has been well investigated and seems to have reached its limits in terms of speech intelligibility improvement, however, the quality of such schemes can still be advanced. This study tests to what extent novel model-based processing schemes might improve performance in particular for non-stationary noise conditions. DESIGN Two prototype model-based algorithms, a speech-model-based, and a auditory-model-based algorithm were compared to a state-of-the-art non-parametric minimum statistics algorithm. A speech intelligibility test, preference rating, and listening effort scaling were performed. Additionally, three objective quality measures for the signal, background, and overall distortions were applied. For a better comparison of all algorithms, particular attention was given to the usage of the similar Wiener-based gain rule. STUDY SAMPLE The perceptual investigation was performed with fourteen hearing-impaired subjects. RESULTS The results revealed that the non-parametric algorithm and the auditory model-based algorithm did not affect speech intelligibility, whereas the speech-model-based algorithm slightly decreased intelligibility. In terms of subjective quality, both model-based algorithms perform better than the unprocessed condition and the reference in particular for highly non-stationary noise environments. CONCLUSION Data support the hypothesis that model-based algorithms are promising for improving performance in non-stationary noise conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niklas Harlander
- Medizinische Physik, Carl von Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
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Rennies J, Brand T, Kollmeier B. Prediction of the influence of reverberation on binaural speech intelligibility in noise and in quiet. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2011; 130:2999-3012. [PMID: 22087928 DOI: 10.1121/1.3641368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Reverberation usually degrades speech intelligibility for spatially separated speech and noise sources since spatial unmasking is reduced and late reflections decrease the fidelity of the received speech signal. The latter effect could not satisfactorily be predicted by a recently presented binaural speech intelligibility model [Beutelmann et al. (2010). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 127, 2479-2497]. This study therefore evaluated three extensions of the model to improve its predictions: (1) an extension of the speech intelligibility index based on modulation transfer functions, (2) a correction factor based on the room acoustical quantity "definition," and (3) a separation of the speech signal into useful and detrimental parts. The predictions were compared to results of two experiments in which speech reception thresholds were measured in a reverberant room in quiet and in the presence of a noise source for listeners with normal hearing. All extensions yielded better predictions than the original model when the influence of reverberation was strong, while predictions were similar for conditions with less reverberation. Although model (3) differed substantially in the assumed interaction of binaural processing and early reflections, its predictions were very similar to model (2) that achieved the best fit to the data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Rennies
- Project Group Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology, Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT, Marie-Curie-Str. 2, D-26129 Oldenburg, Germany.
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15
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Leensen MCJ, de Laat JAPM, Dreschler WA. Speech-in-noise screening tests by internet, Part 1: Test evaluation for noise-induced hearing loss identification. Int J Audiol 2011; 50:823-34. [DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2011.595016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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Influence of tinnitus sound therapy signals on the intelligibility of speech. The Journal of Laryngology & Otology 2011; 125:795-801. [DOI: 10.1017/s0022215111000867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
AbstractObjective:To assess the influence on speech intelligibility of various signals used in tinnitus sound therapy.Materials and methods:We measured, in normal hearing subjects, the intelligibility of speech in the presence of three different sound therapy signals: wide-band noise, a recording of moving water, and a combination of tones.Results:For a given level of stimulation, speech intelligibility was worst in the presence of wide-band noise, compared with the other sound therapy signals. When the stimulation level of the three different signals was increased, speech intelligibility deteriorated more rapidly with wide-band noise, compared with the other two signals. The combination of tones had the least influence on speech intelligibility.Conclusion:The use of different tinnitus sound therapy signals can lead to significantly different effects on the intelligibility of speech. The use of natural sound recordings or combinations of tones may provide the patient with more flexibility to change the stimulation level during treatment.
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