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Regev J, Relaño-Iborra H, Zaar J, Dau T. Disentangling the effects of hearing loss and age on amplitude modulation frequency selectivity. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 155:2589-2602. [PMID: 38607268 DOI: 10.1121/10.0025541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
The processing and perception of amplitude modulation (AM) in the auditory system reflect a frequency-selective process, often described as a modulation filterbank. Previous studies on perceptual AM masking reported similar results for older listeners with hearing impairment (HI listeners) and young listeners with normal hearing (NH listeners), suggesting no effects of age or hearing loss on AM frequency selectivity. However, recent evidence has shown that age, independently of hearing loss, adversely affects AM frequency selectivity. Hence, this study aimed to disentangle the effects of hearing loss and age. A simultaneous AM masking paradigm was employed, using a sinusoidal carrier at 2.8 kHz, narrowband noise modulation maskers, and target modulation frequencies of 4, 16, 64, and 128 Hz. The results obtained from young (n = 3, 24-30 years of age) and older (n = 10, 63-77 years of age) HI listeners were compared to previously obtained data from young and older NH listeners. Notably, the HI listeners generally exhibited lower (unmasked) AM detection thresholds and greater AM frequency selectivity than their NH counterparts in both age groups. Overall, the results suggest that age negatively affects AM frequency selectivity for both NH and HI listeners, whereas hearing loss improves AM detection and AM selectivity, likely due to the loss of peripheral compression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Regev
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Helia Relaño-Iborra
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Johannes Zaar
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, 3070, Denmark
| | - Torsten Dau
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
- Copenhagen Hearing and Balance Center, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, 2100, Denmark
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Carney LH. Neural Fluctuation Contrast as a Code for Complex Sounds: The Role and Control of Peripheral Nonlinearities. Hear Res 2024; 443:108966. [PMID: 38310710 PMCID: PMC10923127 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2024.108966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
The nonlinearities of the inner ear are often considered to be obstacles that the central nervous system has to overcome to decode neural responses to sounds. This review describes how peripheral nonlinearities, such as saturation of the inner-hair-cell response and of the IHC-auditory-nerve synapse, are instead beneficial to the neural encoding of complex sounds such as speech. These nonlinearities set up contrast in the depth of neural-fluctuations in auditory-nerve responses along the tonotopic axis, referred to here as neural fluctuation contrast (NFC). Physiological support for the NFC coding hypothesis is reviewed, and predictions of several psychophysical phenomena, including masked detection and speech intelligibility, are presented. Lastly, a framework based on the NFC code for understanding how the medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferent system contributes to the coding of complex sounds is presented. By modulating cochlear gain control in response to both sound energy and fluctuations in neural responses, the MOC system is hypothesized to function not as a simple feedback gain-control device, but rather as a mechanism for enhancing NFC along the tonotopic axis, enabling robust encoding of complex sounds across a wide range of sound levels and in the presence of background noise. Effects of sensorineural hearing loss on the NFC code and on the MOC feedback system are presented and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel H Carney
- Depts. of Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, and Electrical & Computer Engineering University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
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Kulasingham JP, Bachmann FL, Eskelund K, Enqvist M, Innes-Brown H, Alickovic E. Predictors for estimating subcortical EEG responses to continuous speech. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0297826. [PMID: 38330068 PMCID: PMC10852227 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Perception of sounds and speech involves structures in the auditory brainstem that rapidly process ongoing auditory stimuli. The role of these structures in speech processing can be investigated by measuring their electrical activity using scalp-mounted electrodes. However, typical analysis methods involve averaging neural responses to many short repetitive stimuli that bear little relevance to daily listening environments. Recently, subcortical responses to more ecologically relevant continuous speech were detected using linear encoding models. These methods estimate the temporal response function (TRF), which is a regression model that minimises the error between the measured neural signal and a predictor derived from the stimulus. Using predictors that model the highly non-linear peripheral auditory system may improve linear TRF estimation accuracy and peak detection. Here, we compare predictors from both simple and complex peripheral auditory models for estimating brainstem TRFs on electroencephalography (EEG) data from 24 participants listening to continuous speech. We also investigate the data length required for estimating subcortical TRFs, and find that around 12 minutes of data is sufficient for clear wave V peaks (>3 dB SNR) to be seen in nearly all participants. Interestingly, predictors derived from simple filterbank-based models of the peripheral auditory system yield TRF wave V peak SNRs that are not significantly different from those estimated using a complex model of the auditory nerve, provided that the nonlinear effects of adaptation in the auditory system are appropriately modelled. Crucially, computing predictors from these simpler models is more than 50 times faster compared to the complex model. This work paves the way for efficient modelling and detection of subcortical processing of continuous speech, which may lead to improved diagnosis metrics for hearing impairment and assistive hearing technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua P. Kulasingham
- Automatic Control, Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | | | | | - Martin Enqvist
- Automatic Control, Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Hamish Innes-Brown
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Emina Alickovic
- Automatic Control, Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, Denmark
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Regev J, Zaar J, Relaño-Iborra H, Dau T. Age-related reduction of amplitude modulation frequency selectivity. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023; 153:2298. [PMID: 37092934 DOI: 10.1121/10.0017835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The perception of amplitude modulations (AMs) has been characterized by a frequency-selective process in the temporal envelope domain and simulated in computational auditory processing and perception models using a modulation filterbank. Such AM frequency-selective processing has been argued to be critical for the perception of complex sounds, including speech. This study aimed at investigating the effects of age on behavioral AM frequency selectivity in young (n = 11, 22-29 years) versus older (n = 10, 57-77 years) listeners with normal hearing, using a simultaneous AM masking paradigm with a sinusoidal carrier (2.8 kHz), target modulation frequencies of 4, 16, 64, and 128 Hz, and narrowband-noise modulation maskers. A reduction of AM frequency selectivity by a factor of up to 2 was found in the older listeners. While the observed AM selectivity co-varied with the unmasked AM detection sensitivity, the age-related broadening of the masked threshold patterns remained stable even when AM sensitivity was similar across groups for an extended stimulus duration. The results from the present study might provide a valuable basis for further investigations exploring the effects of age and reduced AM frequency selectivity on complex sound perception as well as the interaction of age and hearing impairment on AM processing and perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Regev
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Johannes Zaar
- Eriksholm Research Centre, Snekkersten, 3070, Denmark
| | - Helia Relaño-Iborra
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
| | - Torsten Dau
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 2800, Denmark
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Zaar J, Carney LH. Predicting speech intelligibility in hearing-impaired listeners using a physiologically inspired auditory model. Hear Res 2022; 426:108553. [PMID: 35750575 PMCID: PMC10560534 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
This study presents a major update and full evaluation of a speech intelligibility (SI) prediction model previously introduced by Scheidiger, Carney, Dau, and Zaar [(2018), Acta Acust. United Ac. 104, 914-917]. The model predicts SI in speech-in-noise conditions via comparison of the noisy speech and the noise-alone reference. The two signals are processed through a physiologically inspired nonlinear model of the auditory periphery, for a range of characteristic frequencies (CFs), followed by a modulation analysis in the range of the fundamental frequency of speech. The decision metric of the model is the mean of a series of short-term, across-CF correlations between population responses to noisy speech and noise alone, with a sensitivity-limitation process imposed. The decision metric is assumed to be inversely related to SI and is converted to a percent-correct score using a single data-based fitting function. The model performance was evaluated in conditions of stationary, fluctuating, and speech-like interferers using sentence-based speech-reception thresholds (SRTs) previously obtained in 5 normal-hearing (NH) and 13 hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. For the NH listener group, the model accurately predicted SRTs across the different acoustic conditions (apart from a slight overestimation of the masking release observed for fluctuating maskers), as well as plausible effects in response to changes in presentation level. For HI listeners, the model was adjusted to account for the individual audiograms using standard assumptions concerning the amount of HI attributed to inner-hair-cell (IHC) and outer-hair-cell (OHC) impairment. HI model results accounted remarkably well for elevated individual SRTs and reduced masking release. Furthermore, plausible predictions of worsened SI were obtained when the relative contribution of IHC impairment to HI was increased. Overall, the present model provides a useful tool to accurately predict speech-in-noise outcomes in NH and HI listeners, and may yield important insights into auditory processes that are crucial for speech understanding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Zaar
- Eriksholm Research Centre, DK-3070 Snekkersten, Denmark; Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
| | - Laurel H Carney
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA
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Osses Vecchi A, Varnet L, Carney LH, Dau T, Bruce IC, Verhulst S, Majdak P. A comparative study of eight human auditory models of monaural processing. ACTA ACUSTICA. EUROPEAN ACOUSTICS ASSOCIATION 2022; 6:17. [PMID: 36325461 PMCID: PMC9625898 DOI: 10.1051/aacus/2022008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
A number of auditory models have been developed using diverging approaches, either physiological or perceptual, but they share comparable stages of signal processing, as they are inspired by the same constitutive parts of the auditory system. We compare eight monaural models that are openly accessible in the Auditory Modelling Toolbox. We discuss the considerations required to make the model outputs comparable to each other, as well as the results for the following model processing stages or their equivalents: Outer and middle ear, cochlear filter bank, inner hair cell, auditory nerve synapse, cochlear nucleus, and inferior colliculus. The discussion includes a list of recommendations for future applications of auditory models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Osses Vecchi
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
- Corresponding author:
| | - Léo Varnet
- Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs, Département d’études cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Laurel H. Carney
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - Torsten Dau
- Hearing Systems Section, Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Ian C. Bruce
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada
| | - Sarah Verhulst
- Hearing Technology group, WAVES, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Piotr Majdak
- Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1040 Vienna, Austria
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Osses Vecchi A, Kohlrausch A. Perceptual similarity between piano notes: Simulations with a template-based perception model. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:3534. [PMID: 34241098 DOI: 10.1121/10.0004818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2020] [Accepted: 04/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, the auditory model developed by Dau, Kollmeier, and Kohlrausch [(1997). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 102, 2892-2905] was used to simulate the perceptual similarity between complex sounds. As complex sounds, a set of piano recordings was used, whose perceptual similarity has recently been measured by Osses, Kohlrausch, and Chaigne [(2019). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 146, 1024-1035] using a three-alternative forced-choice discrimination task in noise. To simulate this discrimination task, the auditory model required a new back-end stage, the central processor, which is preceded by several processing stages that are to a greater or lesser extent inspired by physiological aspects of the normal-hearing system. Therefore, a comprehensive review of the model parameters as used in the literature is given, indicating the fixed set of parameter values that is used in all simulations. Due to the perceptual relevance of the piano note onsets, this review includes an in-depth description of the auditory adaptation stage, the adaptation loops. A moderate to high correlation was found between the simulation results and existing experimental data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Osses Vecchi
- Human-Technology Interaction Group, Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Armin Kohlrausch
- Human-Technology Interaction Group, Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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Vicente T, Lavandier M, Buchholz JM. A binaural model implementing an internal noise to predict the effect of hearing impairment on speech intelligibility in non-stationary noises. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:3305. [PMID: 33261412 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
A binaural model predicting speech intelligibility in envelope-modulated noise for normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired listeners is proposed. The study shows the importance of considering an internal noise with two components relying on the individual audiogram and the level of the external stimuli. The model was optimized and verified using speech reception thresholds previously measured in three experiments involving NH and hearing-impaired listeners and sharing common methods. The anechoic target, in front of the listener, was presented simultaneously through headphones with two anechoic noise-vocoded speech maskers (VSs) either co-located with the target or spatially separated using an infinite broadband interaural level difference without crosstalk between ears. In experiment 1, two stationary noise maskers were also tested. In experiment 2, the VSs were presented at different sensation levels to vary audibility. In experiment 3, the effects of realistic interaural time and level differences were also tested. The model was applied to two datasets involving NH listeners to verify its backward compatibility. It was optimized to predict the data, leading to a correlation and mean absolute error between data and predictions above 0.93 and below 1.1 dB, respectively. The different internal noise approaches proposed in the literature to describe hearing impairment are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibault Vicente
- Université de Lyon, ENTPE, Laboratoire Génie Civil et Bâtiment, Rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin Cedex, France
| | - Mathieu Lavandier
- Université de Lyon, ENTPE, Laboratoire Génie Civil et Bâtiment, Rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin Cedex, France
| | - Jörg M Buchholz
- Department of Linguistics-Audiology, Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, 2109 New South Wales, Australia
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