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Maggu AR, Sharma B. Relationship Between Cognitive Abilities and Basic Auditory Processing in Young Adults. Am J Audiol 2024; 33:422-432. [PMID: 38501921 DOI: 10.1044/2024_aja-23-00261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The diagnosis of auditory processing disorder (APD) is controversial particularly due to the influence of higher order factors of language and cognition on the diagnostic APD testing. As a result, there might be a need for testing for other domains (e.g., cognition) along with conducting the diagnostic APD testing to rule out the influence of other domains. In order to make recommendations on whether cognitive testing is needed along with the auditory processing testing, as a starting point, the current study was conducted to examine the relationship between cognitive abilities and basic auditory processing in young adults. METHOD A total of 38 young adults with normal audiometric thresholds between 250 and 8000 Hz participated in this study. They were tested on their executive function, language, processing speed, working memory, and episodic memory components of cognitive testing and tests for temporal fine structure and spectrotemporal sensitivity for auditory processing testing. RESULTS No significant correlation was found between the cognitive tests and the tests for basic auditory processing in young adults. CONCLUSIONS These findings present contrast to the existing findings in children and older adults where a stronger correlation between cognitive abilities and auditory processing has been found. The current findings suggest that testing for cognitive abilities may not be needed when testing for basic auditory processing in young adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akshay R Maggu
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
- The Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
| | - Bhamini Sharma
- Department of Communication Arts, Sciences, and Disorders, Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, NY
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Lelo de Larrea-Mancera ES, Stavropoulos T, Carrillo AA, Cheung S, He YJ, Eddins DA, Molis MR, Gallun FJ, Seitz AR. Remote auditory assessment using Portable Automated Rapid Testing (PART) and participant-owned devices. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 152:807. [PMID: 36050190 PMCID: PMC9355663 DOI: 10.1121/10.0013221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Remote testing of auditory function can be transformative to both basic research and hearing healthcare; however, historically, many obstacles have limited remote collection of reliable and valid auditory psychometric data. Here, we report performance on a battery of auditory processing tests using a remotely administered system, Portable Automatic Rapid Testing. We compare a previously reported dataset collected in a laboratory setting with the same measures using uncalibrated, participant-owned devices in remote settings (experiment 1, n = 40) remote with and without calibrated hardware (experiment 2, n = 36) and laboratory with and without calibrated hardware (experiment 3, n = 58). Results were well-matched across datasets and had similar reliability, but overall performance was slightly worse than published norms. Analyses of potential nuisance factors such as environmental noise, distraction, or lack of calibration failed to provide reliable evidence that these factors contributed to the observed variance in performance. These data indicate feasibility of remote testing of suprathreshold auditory processing using participants' own devices. Although the current investigation was limited to young participants without hearing difficulties, its outcomes demonstrate the potential for large-scale, remote hearing testing of more hearing-diverse populations both to advance basic science and to establish the clinical viability of auditory remote testing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Trevor Stavropoulos
- Brain Game Center, University of California, Riverside, 1201 University Avenue #204, Riverside, California 92507, USA
| | - Audrey Anna Carrillo
- Brain Game Center, University of California, Riverside, 1201 University Avenue #204, Riverside, California 92507, USA
| | - Sierra Cheung
- Brain Game Center, University of California, Riverside, 1201 University Avenue #204, Riverside, California 92507, USA
| | - Yue J He
- Brain Game Center, University of California, Riverside, 1201 University Avenue #204, Riverside, California 92507, USA
| | - David A Eddins
- University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
| | - Michelle R Molis
- Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 Southwest Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, Oregon 97239-3098, USA
| | - Frederick J Gallun
- Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 Southwest Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, Oregon 97239-3098, USA
| | - Aaron R Seitz
- Psychology Department, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, California 92507, USA
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Gallun FJ, Coco L, Koerner TK, de Larrea-Mancera ESL, Molis MR, Eddins DA, Seitz AR. Relating Suprathreshold Auditory Processing Abilities to Speech Understanding in Competition. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12060695. [PMID: 35741581 PMCID: PMC9221421 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12060695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
(1) Background: Difficulty hearing in noise is exacerbated in older adults. Older adults are more likely to have audiometric hearing loss, although some individuals with normal pure-tone audiograms also have difficulty perceiving speech in noise. Additional variables also likely account for speech understanding in noise. It has been suggested that one important class of variables is the ability to process auditory information once it has been detected. Here, we tested a set of these “suprathreshold” auditory processing abilities and related them to performance on a two-part test of speech understanding in competition with and without spatial separation of the target and masking speech. Testing was administered in the Portable Automated Rapid Testing (PART) application developed by our team; PART facilitates psychoacoustic assessments of auditory processing. (2) Methods: Forty-one individuals (average age 51 years), completed assessments of sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) and spectrotemporal modulation (STM) detection via an iPad running the PART application. Statistical models were used to evaluate the strength of associations between performance on the auditory processing tasks and speech understanding in competition. Age and pure-tone-average (PTA) were also included as potential predictors. (3) Results: The model providing the best fit also included age and a measure of diotic frequency modulation (FM) detection but none of the other potential predictors. However, even the best fitting models accounted for 31% or less of the variance, supporting work suggesting that other variables (e.g., cognitive processing abilities) also contribute significantly to speech understanding in noise. (4) Conclusions: The results of the current study do not provide strong support for previous suggestions that suprathreshold processing abilities alone can be used to explain difficulties in speech understanding in competition among older adults. This discrepancy could be due to the speech tests used, the listeners tested, or the suprathreshold tests chosen. Future work with larger numbers of participants is warranted, including a range of cognitive tests and additional assessments of suprathreshold auditory processing abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick J. Gallun
- Oregon Hearing Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA; (L.C.); (T.K.K.)
- VA RR&D National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR 97239, USA;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-503-494-4331
| | - Laura Coco
- Oregon Hearing Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA; (L.C.); (T.K.K.)
- VA RR&D National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR 97239, USA;
| | - Tess K. Koerner
- Oregon Hearing Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA; (L.C.); (T.K.K.)
- VA RR&D National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR 97239, USA;
| | | | - Michelle R. Molis
- VA RR&D National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR 97239, USA;
| | - David A. Eddins
- Department of Communication Science & Disorders, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA;
| | - Aaron R. Seitz
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; (E.S.L.d.L.-M.); (A.R.S.)
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Lelo de Larrea-Mancera ES, Stavropoulos T, Hoover EC, Eddins DA, Gallun FJ, Seitz AR. Portable Automated Rapid Testing (PART) for auditory assessment: Validation in a young adult normal-hearing population. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:1831. [PMID: 33138479 PMCID: PMC7541091 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2019] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/16/2020] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
This study aims to determine the degree to which Portable Automated Rapid Testing (PART), a freely available program running on a tablet computer, is capable of reproducing standard laboratory results. Undergraduate students were assigned to one of three within-subject conditions that examined repeatability of performance on a battery of psychoacoustical tests of temporal fine structure processing, spectro-temporal amplitude modulation, and targets in competition. The repeatability condition examined test/retest with the same system, the headphones condition examined the effects of varying headphones (passive and active noise-attenuating), and the noise condition examined repeatability in the presence of recorded cafeteria noise. In general, performance on the test battery showed high repeatability, even across manipulated conditions, and was similar to that reported in the literature. These data serve as validation that suprathreshold psychoacoustical tests can be made accessible to run on consumer-grade hardware and perform in less controlled settings. This dataset also provides a distribution of thresholds that can be used as a normative baseline against which auditory dysfunction can be identified in future work.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Trevor Stavropoulos
- Brain Game Center, University of California Riverside, 1201 University Avenue, Riverside California 92521, USA
| | - Eric C Hoover
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
| | | | | | - Aaron R Seitz
- Psychology Department, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, California 92521, USA
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