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Boncz Á, Szalárdy O, Velősy PK, Béres L, Baumgartner R, Winkler I, Tóth B. The effects of aging and hearing impairment on listening in noise. iScience 2024; 27:109295. [PMID: 38558934 PMCID: PMC10981015 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
The study investigates age-related decline in listening abilities, particularly in noisy environments, where the challenge lies in extracting meaningful information from variable sensory input (figure-ground segregation). The research focuses on peripheral and central factors contributing to this decline using a tone-cloud-based figure detection task. Results based on behavioral measures and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) indicate that, despite delayed perceptual processes and some deterioration in attention and executive functions with aging, the ability to detect sound sources in noise remains relatively intact. However, even mild hearing impairment significantly hampers the segregation of individual sound sources within a complex auditory scene. The severity of the hearing deficit correlates with an increased susceptibility to masking noise. The study underscores the impact of hearing impairment on auditory scene analysis and highlights the need for personalized interventions based on individual abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ádám Boncz
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Orsolya Szalárdy
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Péter Kristóf Velősy
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Luca Béres
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Cognitive Science, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Robert Baumgartner
- Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Brigitta Tóth
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
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2
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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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3
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Berger JI, Billig AJ, Sedley W, Kumar S, Griffiths TD, Gander PE. What is the role of the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus in the persistence of tinnitus? Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26627. [PMID: 38376166 PMCID: PMC10878198 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
The hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus have been implicated as part of a tinnitus network by a number of studies. These structures are usually considered in the context of a "limbic system," a concept typically invoked to explain the emotional response to tinnitus. Despite this common framing, it is not apparent from current literature that this is necessarily the main functional role of these structures in persistent tinnitus. Here, we highlight a different role that encompasses their most commonly implicated functional position within the brain-that is, as a memory system. We consider tinnitus as an auditory object that is held in memory, which may be made persistent by associated activity from the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus. Evidence from animal and human studies implicating these structures in tinnitus is reviewed and used as an anchor for this hypothesis. We highlight the potential for the hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus to facilitate maintenance of the memory of the tinnitus percept via communication with auditory cortex, rather than (or in addition to) mediating emotional responses to this percept.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joel I. Berger
- Department of NeurosurgeryUniversity of IowaIowa CityIowaUSA
| | | | | | | | | | - Phillip E. Gander
- Department of NeurosurgeryUniversity of IowaIowa CityIowaUSA
- Department of RadiologyUniversity of IowaIowa CityIowaUSA
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4
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Sauvé SA, Marozeau J, Rich Zendel B. The effects of aging and musicianship on the use of auditory streaming cues. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0274631. [PMID: 36137151 PMCID: PMC9498935 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Auditory stream segregation, or separating sounds into their respective sources and tracking them over time, is a fundamental auditory ability. Previous research has separately explored the impacts of aging and musicianship on the ability to separate and follow auditory streams. The current study evaluated the simultaneous effects of age and musicianship on auditory streaming induced by three physical features: intensity, spectral envelope and temporal envelope. In the first study, older and younger musicians and non-musicians with normal hearing identified deviants in a four-note melody interleaved with distractors that were more or less similar to the melody in terms of intensity, spectral envelope and temporal envelope. In the second study, older and younger musicians and non-musicians participated in a dissimilarity rating paradigm with pairs of melodies that differed along the same three features. Results suggested that auditory streaming skills are maintained in older adults but that older adults rely on intensity more than younger adults while musicianship is associated with increased sensitivity to spectral and temporal envelope, acoustic features that are typically less effective for stream segregation, particularly in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A. Sauvé
- Division of Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Jeremy Marozeau
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Benjamin Rich Zendel
- Division of Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
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5
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Guo MX. EEG Responses to Auditory Figure-Ground Perception. Hear Res 2022; 422:108524. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108524] [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: 01/02/2022] [Revised: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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6
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Mehrkian S, Moossavi A, Gohari N, Nazari MA, Bakhshi E, Alain C. Long Latency Auditory Evoked Potentials and Object-Related Negativity Based on Harmonicity in Hearing-Impaired Children. Neurosci Res 2022; 178:52-59. [PMID: 35007647 DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2022.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Hearing-impaired children (HIC) have difficulty understanding speech in noise, which may be due to difficulty parsing concurrent sound object based on harmonicity cues. Using long latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEPs) and object-related negativity (ORN), a neural metric of concurrent sound segregation, this study investigated the sensitivity of HIC in processing harmonic relation. The participants were 14 normal-hearing children (NHC) with an average age of 7.82 ± 1.31 years and 17 HIC with an average age of 7.98 ± 1.25 years. They were presented with a sequence of 200 Hz harmonic complex tones that had either all harmonic in tune or the third harmonic mistuned by 2%, 4%, 8%, and 16% of its original value while neuroelectric brain activity was recorded. The analysis of scalp-recorded LLAEPs revealed lower N2 amplitudes elicited by the tuned stimuli in HIC than control. The ORN, isolated in difference wave between LLAEP elicited by tuned and mistuned stimuli, was delayed and smaller in HIC than NHC. This study showed that deficits in processing harmonic relation in HIC, which may contribute to their difficulty in understanding speech in noise. As a result, top-down and bottom-up rehabilitations aiming to improve processing of basic acoustic characteristics, including harmonics are recommended for children with hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saeideh Mehrkian
- Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran
| | - Abdollah Moossavi
- Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nasrin Gohari
- Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Mohammad Ali Nazari
- Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Enayatollah Bakhshi
- Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Claude Alain
- The Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, University of Toronto, Canada, & Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada
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De Garrido L. Conceptual Design of a Creative Artificial Intelligence System Based on the Neurocognitive Bases of Human Creativity in the Brain. CREATIVITY RESEARCH JOURNAL 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/10400419.2021.2005309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Luis De Garrido
- Universitat de València
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid
- National Association of Sustainable Creative Architecture Researh
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8
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Cortical Processing of Binaural Cues as Shown by EEG Responses to Random-Chord Stereograms. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 2021; 23:75-94. [PMID: 34904205 PMCID: PMC8783002 DOI: 10.1007/s10162-021-00820-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial hearing facilitates the perceptual organization of complex soundscapes into accurate mental representations of sound sources in the environment. Yet, the role of binaural cues in auditory scene analysis (ASA) has received relatively little attention in recent neuroscientific studies employing novel, spectro-temporally complex stimuli. This may be because a stimulation paradigm that provides binaurally derived grouping cues of sufficient spectro-temporal complexity has not yet been established for neuroscientific ASA experiments. Random-chord stereograms (RCS) are a class of auditory stimuli that exploit spectro-temporal variations in the interaural envelope correlation of noise-like sounds with interaurally coherent fine structure; they evoke salient auditory percepts that emerge only under binaural listening. Here, our aim was to assess the usability of the RCS paradigm for indexing binaural processing in the human brain. To this end, we recorded EEG responses to RCS stimuli from 12 normal-hearing subjects. The stimuli consisted of an initial 3-s noise segment with interaurally uncorrelated envelopes, followed by another 3-s segment, where envelope correlation was modulated periodically according to the RCS paradigm. Modulations were applied either across the entire stimulus bandwidth (wideband stimuli) or in temporally shifting frequency bands (ripple stimulus). Event-related potentials and inter-trial phase coherence analyses of the EEG responses showed that the introduction of the 3- or 5-Hz wideband modulations produced a prominent change-onset complex and ongoing synchronized responses to the RCS modulations. In contrast, the ripple stimulus elicited a change-onset response but no response to ongoing RCS modulation. Frequency-domain analyses revealed increased spectral power at the fundamental frequency and the first harmonic of wideband RCS modulations. RCS stimulation yields robust EEG measures of binaurally driven auditory reorganization and has potential to provide a flexible stimulation paradigm suitable for isolating binaural effects in ASA experiments.
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The effect of harmonic training on speech perception in noise in hearing-impaired children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2021; 149:110845. [PMID: 34293627 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2021.110845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 05/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Speech perception in noise is a highly challenging situation experienced by hearing-impaired children (HIC). Despite advances in hearing aid technologies, speech perception in noise still poses challenges. Pitch-based training improves pitch discrimination and speech perception and may facilitate concurrent sound segregation. Considering the role of harmonics in the analysis of concurrent sounds, we performed a harmonic assessment, examined the role of harmonic training in the rehabilitation of moderate-to-severe HIC, and investigated its effect on their speech perception in noise. METHODS The participants were 57 normally hearing children (NHC) with a mean age of 7.73 ± 1.57 years and 18 HIC with a mean age of 7.94 ± 1.47 years. The two groups were compared in terms of harmonic assessment, the Pitch Pattern Sequence Test (PPST), the Consonant-Vowel in Noise (CV in noise) test, and the Bamford-Kowal Bench (BKB) test. Subsequently, the HIC underwent harmonic training, and the results of the pre- and post-harmonic training assessments were compared. RESULTS HIC displayed poorer harmonic discrimination than NHC at all harmonics (P < 0.05). They also showed lower scores in PPST, CV in noise, and BKB tests compared to NHC (P < 0.05). Harmonic training led to HIC's better performance in harmonic assessment, PPST, and CV in noise test (P < 0.05). However, the BKB test results pre- and post-training did not significantly differ (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION Harmonic training plays a significant role in improving the HIC's temporal processing of the PPST and CV in noise test; therefore, it can serve as a rehabilitation method to enhance temporal processing and auditory scene analysis.
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10
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Geravanchizadeh M, Roushan H. Dynamic selective auditory attention detection using RNN and reinforcement learning. Sci Rep 2021; 11:15497. [PMID: 34326401 PMCID: PMC8322190 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94876-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The cocktail party phenomenon describes the ability of the human brain to focus auditory attention on a particular stimulus while ignoring other acoustic events. Selective auditory attention detection (SAAD) is an important issue in the development of brain-computer interface systems and cocktail party processors. This paper proposes a new dynamic attention detection system to process the temporal evolution of the input signal. The proposed dynamic SAAD is modeled as a sequential decision-making problem, which is solved by recurrent neural network (RNN) and reinforcement learning methods of Q-learning and deep Q-learning. Among different dynamic learning approaches, the evaluation results show that the deep Q-learning approach with RNN as agent provides the highest classification accuracy (94.2%) with the least detection delay. The proposed SAAD system is advantageous, in the sense that the detection of attention is performed dynamically for the sequential inputs. Also, the system has the potential to be used in scenarios, where the attention of the listener might be switched in time in the presence of various acoustic events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masoud Geravanchizadeh
- Faculty of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, 51666-15813, Tabriz, Iran.
| | - Hossein Roushan
- Faculty of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, 51666-15813, Tabriz, Iran
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11
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Eklund R, Gerdfeldter B, Wiens S. The early but not the late neural correlate of auditory awareness reflects lateralized experiences. Neuropsychologia 2021; 158:107910. [PMID: 34090867 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Theories disagree as to whether it is the early or the late neural correlate of awareness that plays a critical role in phenomenal awareness. According to recurrent processing theory, early activity in primary sensory areas corresponds closely to phenomenal awareness. In support, research with electroencephalography found that in the visual and somatosensory modality, an early neural correlate of awareness is contralateral to the perceived side of stimulation. Thus, early activity is sensitive to the perceived side of visual and somatosensory stimulation. Critically, it is unresolved whether this is true also for hearing. In the present study (N = 26 students), Bayesian analyses showed that the early neural correlate of awareness (auditory awareness negativity, AAN) was stronger for contralateral than ipsilateral electrodes whereas the late correlate of auditory awareness (late positivity, LP) was not lateralized. These findings demonstrate that the early but not the late neural correlate of auditory awareness reflects lateralized experiences. Thus, these findings imply that AAN is a more suitable NCC than LP because it correlates more closely with lateralized experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rasmus Eklund
- Gösta Ekmans Laboratorium, Stockholm University, Sweden.
| | | | - Stefan Wiens
- Gösta Ekmans Laboratorium, Stockholm University, Sweden
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12
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Bidelman GM, Bush LC, Boudreaux AM. Effects of Noise on the Behavioral and Neural Categorization of Speech. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:153. [PMID: 32180700 PMCID: PMC7057933 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether the categorical perception (CP) of speech might also provide a mechanism that aids its perception in noise. We varied signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) [clear, 0 dB, -5 dB] while listeners classified an acoustic-phonetic continuum (/u/ to /a/). Noise-related changes in behavioral categorization were only observed at the lowest SNR. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) differentiated category vs. category-ambiguous speech by the P2 wave (~180-320 ms). Paralleling behavior, neural responses to speech with clear phonetic status (i.e., continuum endpoints) were robust to noise down to -5 dB SNR, whereas responses to ambiguous tokens declined with decreasing SNR. Results demonstrate that phonetic speech representations are more resistant to degradation than corresponding acoustic representations. Findings suggest the mere process of binning speech sounds into categories provides a robust mechanism to aid figure-ground speech perception by fortifying abstract categories from the acoustic signal and making the speech code more resistant to external interferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M Bidelman
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.,School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Lauren C Bush
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Alex M Boudreaux
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
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Lanzilotti C, Dumas R, Grassi M, Schön D. Prolonged exposure to highly rhythmic music affects brain dynamics and perception. Neuropsychologia 2019; 129:191-199. [PMID: 31015025 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Rhythmic stimulation is a powerful tool to improve temporal prediction and parsing of the auditory signal. However, for long duration of stimulation, the rhythmic and repetitive aspects of music have often been associated to a trance state. In this study we conceived an auditory monitoring task that allows tracking changes of psychophysical auditory thresholds. Participants performed the task while listening to rhythmically regular and an irregular (scrambled but spectrally identical) music that were presented with an intermittent (short) and continuous (long) type of stimulation. Results show that psychophysical auditory thresholds increase following a Continuous versus Intermittent stimulation and this is accompanied by a reduction of the amplitude of two event-related potentials to target stimuli. These effects are larger with regular music, thus do not simply derive from the duration of stimulation. Interestingly, they seem to be related to a frequency selective neural coupling as well as an increase of network connectivity in the alpha band between frontal and central regions. Our study shows that the idea that rhythmic presentation of sensory stimuli facilitates perception might be limited to short streams, while long, highly regular, repetitive and strongly engaging streams may have an opposite perceptual impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cosima Lanzilotti
- Aix Marseille Univ, Inserm, INS, Inst Neurosci Syst, Marseille, France
| | | | - Massimo Grassi
- Università di Padova, Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Padova, Italy
| | - Daniele Schön
- Aix Marseille Univ, Inserm, INS, Inst Neurosci Syst, Marseille, France.
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14
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Stuckenberg MV, Nayak CV, Meyer BT, Völker C, Hohmann V, Bendixen A. Age Effects on Concurrent Speech Segregation by Onset Asynchrony. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2019; 62:177-189. [PMID: 30534994 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-h-18-0064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Purpose For elderly listeners, it is more challenging to listen to 1 voice surrounded by other voices than for young listeners. This could be caused by a reduced ability to use acoustic cues-such as slight differences in onset time-for the segregation of concurrent speech signals. Here, we study whether the ability to benefit from onset asynchrony differs between young (18-33 years) and elderly (55-74 years) listeners. Method We investigated young (normal hearing, N = 20) and elderly (mildly hearing impaired, N = 26) listeners' ability to segregate 2 vowels with onset asynchronies ranging from 20 to 100 ms. Behavioral measures were complemented by a specific event-related brain potential component, the object-related negativity, indicating the perception of 2 distinct auditory objects. Results Elderly listeners' behavioral performance (identification accuracy of the 2 vowels) was considerably poorer than young listeners'. However, both age groups showed the same amount of improvement with increasing onset asynchrony. Object-related negativity amplitude also increased similarly in both age groups. Conclusion Both age groups benefit to a similar extent from onset asynchrony as a cue for concurrent speech segregation during active (behavioral measurement) and during passive (electroencephalographic measurement) listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria V Stuckenberg
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Chaitra V Nayak
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Bernd T Meyer
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Christoph Völker
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Volker Hohmann
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Alexandra Bendixen
- Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all," Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany
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15
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Lau-Zhu A, Fritz A, McLoughlin G. Overlaps and distinctions between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder in young adulthood: Systematic review and guiding framework for EEG-imaging research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 96:93-115. [PMID: 30367918 PMCID: PMC6331660 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2018] [Revised: 06/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently co-occur. However, we know little about the neural basis of the overlaps and distinctions between these disorders, particularly in young adulthood - a critical time window for brain plasticity across executive and socioemotional domains. Here, we systematically review 75 articles investigating ADHD and ASD in young adult samples (mean ages 16-26) using cognitive tasks, with neural activity concurrently measured via electroencephalography (EEG) - the most accessible neuroimaging technology. The majority of studies focused on event-related potentials (ERPs), with some beginning to capitalise on oscillatory approaches. Overlapping and specific profiles for ASD and ADHD were found mainly for four neurocognitive domains: attention processing, performance monitoring, face processing and sensory processing. No studies in this age group directly compared both disorders or considered dual diagnosis with both disorders. Moving forward, understanding of ADHD, ASD and their overlap in young adulthood would benefit from an increased focus on cross-disorder comparisons, using similar paradigms and in well-powered samples and longitudinal cohorts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Lau-Zhu
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Anne Fritz
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gráinne McLoughlin
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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16
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Abstract
Cochlear implants restore hearing in deaf individuals, but speech perception remains challenging. Poor discrimination of spectral components is thought to account for limitations of speech recognition in cochlear implant users. We investigated how combined variations of spectral components along two orthogonal dimensions can maximize neural discrimination between two vowels, as measured by mismatch negativity. Adult cochlear implant users and matched normal-hearing listeners underwent electroencephalographic event-related potentials recordings in an optimum-1 oddball paradigm. A standard /a/ vowel was delivered in an acoustic free field along with stimuli having a deviant fundamental frequency (+3 and +6 semitones), a deviant first formant making it a /i/ vowel or combined deviant fundamental frequency and first formant (+3 and +6 semitones /i/ vowels). Speech recognition was assessed with a word repetition task. An analysis of variance between both amplitude and latency of mismatch negativity elicited by each deviant vowel was performed. The strength of correlations between these parameters of mismatch negativity and speech recognition as well as participants' age was assessed. Amplitude of mismatch negativity was weaker in cochlear implant users but was maximized by variations of vowels' first formant. Latency of mismatch negativity was later in cochlear implant users and was particularly extended by variations of the fundamental frequency. Speech recognition correlated with parameters of mismatch negativity elicited by the specific variation of the first formant. This nonlinear effect of acoustic parameters on neural discrimination of vowels has implications for implant processor programming and aural rehabilitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- François Prévost
- 1 Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,2 International Laboratory for Brain, Music & Sound Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Alexandre Lehmann
- 2 International Laboratory for Brain, Music & Sound Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,3 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,4 Centre for Research on Brain, Language & Music, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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17
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Cognitive Load Changes during Music Listening and its Implication in Earcon Design in Public Environments: An fNIRS Study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2018; 15:ijerph15102075. [PMID: 30248908 PMCID: PMC6210363 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15102075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Revised: 09/13/2018] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
A key for earcon design in public environments is to incorporate an individual’s perceived level of cognitive load for better communication. This study aimed to examine the cognitive load changes required to perform a melodic contour identification task (CIT). While healthy college students (N = 16) were presented with five CITs, behavioral (reaction time and accuracy) and cerebral hemodynamic responses were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Our behavioral findings showed a gradual increase in cognitive load from CIT1 to CIT3 followed by an abrupt increase between CIT4 (i.e., listening to two concurrent melodic contours in an alternating manner and identifying the direction of the target contour, p < 0.001) and CIT5 (i.e., listening to two concurrent melodic contours in a divided manner and identifying the directions of both contours, p < 0.001). Cerebral hemodynamic responses showed a congruent trend with behavioral findings. Specific to the frontopolar area (Brodmann’s area 10), oxygenated hemoglobin increased significantly between CIT4 and CIT5 (p < 0.05) while the level of deoxygenated hemoglobin decreased. Altogether, the findings indicate that the cognitive threshold for young adults (CIT5) and appropriate tuning of the relationship between timbre and pitch contour can lower the perceived cognitive load and, thus, can be an effective design strategy for earcon in a public environment.
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18
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Zinchenko A, Kanske P, Obermeier C, Schröger E, Villringer A, Kotz SA. Modulation of Cognitive and Emotional Control in Age-Related Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss. Front Neurol 2018; 9:783. [PMID: 30283398 PMCID: PMC6156531 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Accepted: 08/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Progressive hearing loss is a common phenomenon in healthy aging and may affect the perception of emotions expressed in speech. Elderly with mild to moderate hearing loss often rate emotional expressions as less emotional and display reduced activity in emotion-sensitive brain areas (e.g., amygdala). However, it is not clear how hearing loss affects cognitive and emotional control mechanisms engaged in multimodal speech processing. In previous work we showed that negative, task-relevant and -irrelevant emotion modulates the two types of control in younger and older adults without hearing loss. To further explore how reduced hearing capacity affects emotional and cognitive control, we tested whether moderate hearing loss (>30 dB) at frequencies relevant for speech impacts cognitive and emotional control. We tested two groups of older adults with hearing loss (HL; N = 21; mean age = 70.5) and without hearing loss (NH; N = 21; mean age = 68.4). In two EEG experiments participants observed multimodal video clips and either categorized pronounced vowels (cognitive conflict) or their emotions (emotional conflict). Importantly, the facial expressions were either matched or mismatched with the corresponding vocalizations. In both conflict tasks, we found that negative stimuli modulated behavioral conflict processing in the NH but not the HL group, while the HL group performed at chance level in the emotional conflict task. Further, we found that the amplitude difference between congruent and incongruent stimuli was larger in negative relative to neutral N100 responses across tasks and groups. Lastly, in the emotional conflict task, neutral stimuli elicited a smaller N200 response than emotional stimuli primarily in the HL group. Consequently, age-related hearing loss not only affects the processing of emotional acoustic cues but also alters the behavioral benefits of emotional stimuli on cognitive and emotional control, despite preserved early neural responses. The resulting difficulties in the multimodal integration of incongruent emotional stimuli may lead to problems in processing complex social information (irony, sarcasm) and impact emotion processing in the limbic network. This could be related to social isolation and depression observed in the elderly with age-related hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artyom Zinchenko
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication (IMPRS NeuroCom), Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Chair of Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.,Department of Social Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christian Obermeier
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Erich Schröger
- Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sonja A Kotz
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
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19
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Da Costa S, Clarke S, Crottaz-Herbette S. Keeping track of sound objects in space: The contribution of early-stage auditory areas. Hear Res 2018; 366:17-31. [PMID: 29643021 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.03.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Revised: 03/21/2018] [Accepted: 03/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The influential dual-stream model of auditory processing stipulates that information pertaining to the meaning and to the position of a given sound object is processed in parallel along two distinct pathways, the ventral and dorsal auditory streams. Functional independence of the two processing pathways is well documented by conscious experience of patients with focal hemispheric lesions. On the other hand there is growing evidence that the meaning and the position of a sound are combined early in the processing pathway, possibly already at the level of early-stage auditory areas. Here, we investigated how early auditory areas integrate sound object meaning and space (simulated by interaural time differences) using a repetition suppression fMRI paradigm at 7 T. Subjects listen passively to environmental sounds presented in blocks of repetitions of the same sound object (same category) or different sounds objects (different categories), perceived either in the left or right space (no change within block) or shifted left-to-right or right-to-left halfway in the block (change within block). Environmental sounds activated bilaterally the superior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and right precentral cortex. Repetitions suppression effects were measured within bilateral early-stage auditory areas in the lateral portion of the Heschl's gyrus and posterior superior temporal plane. Left lateral early-stages areas showed significant effects for position and change, interactions Category x Initial Position and Category x Change in Position, while right lateral areas showed main effect of category and interaction Category x Change in Position. The combined evidence from our study and from previous studies speaks in favour of a position-linked representation of sound objects, which is independent from semantic encoding within the ventral stream and from spatial encoding within the dorsal stream. We argue for a third auditory stream, which has its origin in lateral belt areas and tracks sound objects across space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Da Costa
- Centre d'Imagerie BioMédicale (CIBM), EPFL et Universités de Lausanne et de Genève, Bâtiment CH, Station 6, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Stephanie Clarke
- Service de Neuropsychologie et de Neuroréhabilitation, CHUV, Université de Lausanne, Avenue Pierre Decker 5, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sonia Crottaz-Herbette
- Service de Neuropsychologie et de Neuroréhabilitation, CHUV, Université de Lausanne, Avenue Pierre Decker 5, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
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20
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Yusuf PA, Hubka P, Tillein J, Kral A. Induced cortical responses require developmental sensory experience. Brain 2017; 140:3153-3165. [PMID: 29155975 PMCID: PMC5841147 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awx286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2017] [Accepted: 09/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensory areas of the cerebral cortex integrate the sensory inputs with the ongoing activity. We studied how complete absence of auditory experience affects this process in a higher mammal model of complete sensory deprivation, the congenitally deaf cat. Cortical responses were elicited by intracochlear electric stimulation using cochlear implants in adult hearing controls and deaf cats. Additionally, in hearing controls, acoustic stimuli were used to assess the effect of stimulus mode (electric versus acoustic) on the cortical responses. We evaluated time-frequency representations of local field potential recorded simultaneously in the primary auditory cortex and a higher-order area, the posterior auditory field, known to be differentially involved in cross-modal (visual) reorganization in deaf cats. The results showed the appearance of evoked (phase-locked) responses at early latencies (<100 ms post-stimulus) and more abundant induced (non-phase-locked) responses at later latencies (>150 ms post-stimulus). In deaf cats, substantially reduced induced responses were observed in overall power as well as duration in both investigated fields. Additionally, a reduction of ongoing alpha band activity was found in the posterior auditory field (but not in primary auditory cortex) of deaf cats. The present study demonstrates that induced activity requires developmental experience and suggests that higher-order areas involved in the cross-modal reorganization show more auditory deficits than primary areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prasandhya Astagiri Yusuf
- Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology, ENT Clinics, Hannover Medical School, Germany
| | - Peter Hubka
- Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology, ENT Clinics, Hannover Medical School, Germany
| | - Jochen Tillein
- Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology, ENT Clinics, Hannover Medical School, Germany.,ENT Clinics, J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Andrej Kral
- Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology and Department of Experimental Otology, ENT Clinics, Hannover Medical School, Germany.,School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, USA
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21
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Auditory sequential accumulation of spectral information. Hear Res 2017; 356:118-126. [PMID: 29042121 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2017.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2017] [Revised: 10/03/2017] [Accepted: 10/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
In many listening situations, information about the spectral content of a target sound may be distributed over time, and estimating the target spectrum requires efficient sequential processing. Listeners' ability to estimate the spectrum of a random-frequency, six-tone complex was investigated and the spectral content of the complex was revealed using a sequence of bursts. Whether each of the six tones was presented within each burst was determined at random according to a presentation probability. In separate conditions, the presentation probabilities (p) ranged from 0.2 to 1, the total number of bursts varied from 1 to 16, and the inter-burst interval was either 0 or 200 ms. To evaluate the information acquired by the listener, the burst sequence was followed, after a 500-ms silent interval, by the six-tone complex acting as an informational masker and the listener was required to detect a pure-tone target presented simultaneously with the masker. Greater performance in this task indicates more accurate estimation of the spectrum of the complex by the listener. Evidence for integration of information across bursts was observed, and the integration process did not significantly depend on inter-burst interval.
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22
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Cui Z, Wang Q, Gao Y, Wang J, Wang M, Teng P, Guan Y, Zhou J, Li T, Luan G, Li L. Dynamic Correlations between Intrinsic Connectivity and Extrinsic Connectivity of the Auditory Cortex in Humans. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:407. [PMID: 28848415 PMCID: PMC5554526 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/25/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The arrival of sound signals in the auditory cortex (AC) triggers both local and inter-regional signal propagations over time up to hundreds of milliseconds and builds up both intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) and extrinsic functional connectivity (eFC) of the AC. However, interactions between iFC and eFC are largely unknown. Using intracranial stereo-electroencephalographic recordings in people with drug-refractory epilepsy, this study mainly investigated the temporal dynamic of the relationships between iFC and eFC of the AC. The results showed that a Gaussian wideband-noise burst markedly elicited potentials in both the AC and numerous higher-order cortical regions outside the AC (non-auditory cortices). Granger causality analyses revealed that in the earlier time window, iFC of the AC was positively correlated with both eFC from the AC to the inferior temporal gyrus and that to the inferior parietal lobule. While in later periods, the iFC of the AC was positively correlated with eFC from the precentral gyrus to the AC and that from the insula to the AC. In conclusion, dual-directional interactions occur between iFC and eFC of the AC at different time windows following the sound stimulation and may form the foundation underlying various central auditory processes, including auditory sensory memory, object formation, integrations between sensory, perceptional, attentional, motor, emotional, and executive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuang Cui
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China.,Beijing HospitalBeijing, China
| | - Qian Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China.,School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Yayue Gao
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Jing Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Mengyang Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Pengfei Teng
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Yuguang Guan
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Jian Zhou
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Tianfu Li
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China.,Beijing Institute for Brain DisordersBeijing, China
| | - Guoming Luan
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityBeijing, China.,Beijing Institute for Brain DisordersBeijing, China
| | - Liang Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking UniversityBeijing, China.,Beijing Institute for Brain DisordersBeijing, China
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23
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Bidelman GM, Yellamsetty A. Noise and pitch interact during the cortical segregation of concurrent speech. Hear Res 2017; 351:34-44. [PMID: 28578876 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2017.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2017] [Revised: 05/09/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral studies reveal listeners exploit intrinsic differences in voice fundamental frequency (F0) to segregate concurrent speech sounds-the so-called "F0-benefit." More favorable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the environment, an extrinsic acoustic factor, similarly benefits the parsing of simultaneous speech. Here, we examined the neurobiological substrates of these two cues in the perceptual segregation of concurrent speech mixtures. We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while listeners performed a speeded double-vowel identification task. Listeners heard two concurrent vowels whose F0 differed by zero or four semitones presented in either clean (no noise) or noise-degraded (+5 dB SNR) conditions. Behaviorally, listeners were more accurate in correctly identifying both vowels for larger F0 separations but F0-benefit was more pronounced at more favorable SNRs (i.e., pitch × SNR interaction). Analysis of the ERPs revealed that only the P2 wave (∼200 ms) showed a similar F0 x SNR interaction as behavior and was correlated with listeners' perceptual F0-benefit. Neural classifiers applied to the ERPs further suggested that speech sounds are segregated neurally within 200 ms based on SNR whereas segregation based on pitch occurs later in time (400-700 ms). The earlier timing of extrinsic SNR compared to intrinsic F0-based segregation implies that the cortical extraction of speech from noise is more efficient than differentiating speech based on pitch cues alone, which may recruit additional cortical processes. Findings indicate that noise and pitch differences interact relatively early in cerebral cortex and that the brain arrives at the identities of concurrent speech mixtures as early as ∼200 ms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M Bidelman
- School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA; Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA; Univeristy of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA.
| | - Anusha Yellamsetty
- School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA
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24
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Snyder JS, Elhilali M. Recent advances in exploring the neural underpinnings of auditory scene perception. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2017; 1396:39-55. [PMID: 28199022 PMCID: PMC5446279 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2016] [Revised: 12/21/2016] [Accepted: 01/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Studies of auditory scene analysis have traditionally relied on paradigms using artificial sounds-and conventional behavioral techniques-to elucidate how we perceptually segregate auditory objects or streams from each other. In the past few decades, however, there has been growing interest in uncovering the neural underpinnings of auditory segregation using human and animal neuroscience techniques, as well as computational modeling. This largely reflects the growth in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and computational neuroscience and has led to new theories of how the auditory system segregates sounds in complex arrays. The current review focuses on neural and computational studies of auditory scene perception published in the last few years. Following the progress that has been made in these studies, we describe (1) theoretical advances in our understanding of the most well-studied aspects of auditory scene perception, namely segregation of sequential patterns of sounds and concurrently presented sounds; (2) the diversification of topics and paradigms that have been investigated; and (3) how new neuroscience techniques (including invasive neurophysiology in awake humans, genotyping, and brain stimulation) have been used in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joel S. Snyder
- Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
| | - Mounya Elhilali
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
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25
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Shrem T, Deouell LY. Hierarchies of Attention and Experimental Designs: Effects of Spatial and Intermodal Attention Revisited. J Cogn Neurosci 2017; 29:203-219. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
When attention is directed to stimuli in a given modality and location, information processing in other irrelevant modalities at this location is affected too. This spread of attention to irrelevant stimuli is often interpreted as superiority of location selection over modality selection. However, this conclusion is based on experimental paradigms in which spatial attention was transient whereas intermodal attention was sustained. Furthermore, whether modality selection affects processing in the task-relevant modality at irrelevant locations remains an open question. Here, we addressed effects of simultaneous spatial and intermodal attention in an EEG study using a balanced design where spatial attention was transient and intermodal attention sustained or vice versa. Effects of spatial attention were not affected by which modality was attended and effects of intermodal attention were not affected by whether the stimuli were at the attended location or not. This suggests not only spread of spatial attention to task-irrelevant modalities but also spread of intermodal attention to task-irrelevant locations. Whether spatial attention was transient or sustained did not alter the effect of spatial attention on visual N1 and Nd1 responses. Prestimulus preparatory occipital alpha band responses were affected by both transient and sustained spatial cueing, whereas late post-stimulus responses were more strongly affected by sustained than by transient spatial attention. Sustained but not transient intermodal attention affected late responses (>200 msec) to visual stimuli. Together, the results undermine the universal superiority of spatial attention and suggest that the mode of attention manipulation is an important factor determining attention effects.
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26
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Gerhold MM, Jacobson SW, Jacobson JL, Molteno CD, Meintjes EM, Andrew CM. An ERP Study of Response Inhibition in the Auditory Domain in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2016; 41:96-106. [PMID: 27925227 DOI: 10.1111/acer.13263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2016] [Accepted: 10/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous event-related potential (ERP) studies of response inhibition in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) have used a visual Go/NoGo task to study the impact of prenatal alcohol exposure on response inhibition. No studies exist using auditory versions of the task; thus, it is unclear how the deficits observed in visual tasks translate into the auditory domain. METHODS This study examined ERPs using an auditory Go/NoGo paradigm in a sample of 35 school-age children-18 with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and 17 normally developing controls. RESULTS Alcohol-exposed children performed as well as controls in terms of inhibiting their responses; however, their reaction times were significantly slower under the Go condition. As in the ERP visual Go/NoGo task previously administered to these children, group differences were seen in early perceptual processing, specifically related to stimulus discrimination, with a decrease in P2 amplitude in the alcohol-exposed group. The control group exhibited greater N2 amplitude in the NoGo compared to the Go condition while the alcohol-exposed group did not, suggesting a group difference in the neural substrates underlying conflict monitoring. The alcohol-exposed group demonstrated longer latency P3 with reduced amplitude, suggesting poorer allocation of attention. The alcohol-exposed group also exhibited a late positive component (LPC) similar to the one observed in the previous visual ERP study. This LPC may indicate compensatory neurophysiological function related to resetting of attentional control networks in preparation for the next trial. None of the ERP outcomes in this study were related to potential confounders which included cognitive and socioeconomic measures as well as ADHD diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS The observed ERP group differences point to elements of perceptual and attentional processing likely to be involved in the performance deficits often observed in children with FASD. We also observed changes in ERPs related to conflict monitoring/response inhibition, highlighting fetal alcohol-related effects on how the brain responds when there is need to identify and respond to environmental cues by switching away from a prepotent motor response to an inhibited state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew M Gerhold
- MRC/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Sandra W Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan.,Departments of Human Biology and Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Joseph L Jacobson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan.,Departments of Human Biology and Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Christopher D Molteno
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ernesta M Meintjes
- MRC/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Colin M Andrew
- MRC/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit, Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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27
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Carlyon RP, Plack CJ, Fantini DA, Cusack R. Cross-Modal and Non-Sensory Influences on Auditory Streaming. Perception 2016; 32:1393-402. [PMID: 14959799 DOI: 10.1068/p5035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Carlyon et al (2001 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance27 115–127) have reported that the buildup of auditory streaming is reduced when attention is diverted to a competing auditory stimulus. Here, we demonstrate that a reduction in streaming can also be obtained by attention to a visual task or by the requirement to count backwards in threes. In all conditions participants heard a 13 s sequence of tones, and, during the first 10 s saw a sequence of visual stimuli containing three, four, or five targets. The tone sequence consisted of twenty repeating triplets in an ABA–ABA … order, where A and B represent tones of two different frequencies. In each sequence, three, four, or five tones were amplitude modulated. During the first 10 s of the sequence, participants either counted the number of visual targets, counted the number of (modulated) auditory targets, or counted backwards in threes from a specified number. They then made an auditory-streaming judgment about the last 3 s of the tone sequence: whether one or two streams were heard. The results showed more streaming when participants counted the auditory targets (and hence were attending to the tones throughout) than in either the ‘visual’ or ‘counting-backwards’ conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert P Carlyon
- Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 3EF, UK.
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28
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Tóth B, Kocsis Z, Háden GP, Szerafin Á, Shinn-Cunningham BG, Winkler I. EEG signatures accompanying auditory figure-ground segregation. Neuroimage 2016; 141:108-119. [PMID: 27421185 PMCID: PMC5656226 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.07.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2016] [Revised: 07/06/2016] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In everyday acoustic scenes, figure-ground segregation typically requires one to group together sound elements over both time and frequency. Electroencephalogram was recorded while listeners detected repeating tonal complexes composed of a random set of pure tones within stimuli consisting of randomly varying tonal elements. The repeating pattern was perceived as a figure over the randomly changing background. It was found that detection performance improved both as the number of pure tones making up each repeated complex (figure coherence) increased, and as the number of repeated complexes (duration) increased - i.e., detection was easier when either the spectral or temporal structure of the figure was enhanced. Figure detection was accompanied by the elicitation of the object related negativity (ORN) and the P400 event-related potentials (ERPs), which have been previously shown to be evoked by the presence of two concurrent sounds. Both ERP components had generators within and outside of auditory cortex. The amplitudes of the ORN and the P400 increased with both figure coherence and figure duration. However, only the P400 amplitude correlated with detection performance. These results suggest that 1) the ORN and P400 reflect processes involved in detecting the emergence of a new auditory object in the presence of other concurrent auditory objects; 2) the ORN corresponds to the likelihood of the presence of two or more concurrent sound objects, whereas the P400 reflects the perceptual recognition of the presence of multiple auditory objects and/or preparation for reporting the detection of a target object.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitta Tóth
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary; Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, Boston, USA.
| | - Zsuzsanna Kocsis
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gábor P Háden
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ágnes Szerafin
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary; Department of Cognitive and Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
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29
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Mehta AH, Yasin I, Oxenham AJ, Shamma S. Neural correlates of attention and streaming in a perceptually multistable auditory illusion. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 140:2225. [PMID: 27794350 PMCID: PMC5849028 DOI: 10.1121/1.4963902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2016] [Revised: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 09/20/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
In a complex acoustic environment, acoustic cues and attention interact in the formation of streams within the auditory scene. In this study, a variant of the "octave illusion" [Deutsch (1974). Nature 251, 307-309] was used to investigate the neural correlates of auditory streaming, and to elucidate the effects of attention on the interaction between sequential and concurrent sound segregation in humans. By directing subjects' attention to different frequencies and ears, it was possible to elicit several different illusory percepts with the identical stimulus. The first experiment tested the hypothesis that the illusion depends on the ability of listeners to perceptually stream the target tones from within the alternating sound sequences. In the second experiment, concurrent psychophysical measures and electroencephalography recordings provided neural correlates of the various percepts elicited by the multistable stimulus. The results show that the perception and neural correlates of the auditory illusion can be manipulated robustly by attentional focus and that the illusion is constrained in much the same way as auditory stream segregation, suggesting common underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anahita H Mehta
- Ear Institute, University College London, 332 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom
| | - Ifat Yasin
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, 66-72 Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew J Oxenham
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| | - Shihab Shamma
- Institute for Systems Research, 2203 A.V. Williams Building, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
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30
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Edwards B. A Model of Auditory-Cognitive Processing and Relevance to Clinical Applicability. Ear Hear 2016; 37 Suppl 1:85S-91S. [DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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31
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Jeong E, Ryu H. Melodic Contour Identification Reflects the Cognitive Threshold of Aging. Front Aging Neurosci 2016; 8:134. [PMID: 27378907 PMCID: PMC4904015 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2016] [Accepted: 05/27/2016] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive decline is a natural phenomenon of aging. Although there exists a consensus that sensitivity to acoustic features of music is associated with such decline, no solid evidence has yet shown that structural elements and contexts of music explain this loss of cognitive performance. This study examined the extent and the type of cognitive decline that is related to the contour identification task (CIT) using tones with different pitches (i.e., melodic contours). Both younger and older adult groups participated in the CIT given in three listening conditions (i.e., focused, selective, and alternating). Behavioral data (accuracy and response times) and hemodynamic reactions were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Our findings showed cognitive declines in the older adult group but with a subtle difference from the younger adult group. The accuracy of the melodic CITs given in the target-like distraction task (CIT2) was significantly lower than that in the environmental noise (CIT1) condition in the older adult group, indicating that CIT2 may be a benchmark test for age-specific cognitive decline. The fNIRS findings also agreed with this interpretation, revealing significant increases in oxygenated hemoglobin (oxyHb) concentration in the younger (p < 0.05 for Δpre - on task; p < 0.01 for Δon – post task) rather than the older adult group (n.s for Δpre - on task; n.s for Δon – post task). We further concluded that the oxyHb difference was present in the brain regions near the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Taken together, these findings suggest that CIT2 (i.e., the melodic contour task in the target-like distraction) is an optimized task that could indicate the degree and type of age-related cognitive decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunju Jeong
- Department of Arts and Technology, Hanyang University Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hokyoung Ryu
- Department of Arts and Technology, Hanyang University Seoul, South Korea
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32
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Ramage EM, Klimas N, Vogel SJ, Vertinski M, Yerkes BD, Flores A, Sutton GP, Ringdahl EN, Allen DN, Snyder JS. Concurrent sound segregation impairments in schizophrenia: The contribution of auditory-specific and general cognitive factors. Schizophr Res 2016; 170:95-101. [PMID: 26644302 PMCID: PMC4707099 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.11.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2015] [Revised: 11/19/2015] [Accepted: 11/22/2015] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
The present study sought to test whether perceptual segregation of concurrently played sounds is impaired in schizophrenia (SZ), whether impairment in sound segregation predicts difficulties with a real-world speech-in-noise task, and whether auditory-specific or general cognitive processing accounts for sound segregation problems. Participants with SZ and healthy controls (HCs) performed a mistuned harmonic segregation task during recording of event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants also performed a brief speech-in-noise task. Participants with SZ showed deficits in the mistuned harmonic task and the speech-in-noise task, compared to HCs. No deficit in SZ was found in the ERP component related to mistuned harmonic segregation at around 150ms (the object-related negativity or ORN), but instead showed a deficit in processing at around 400ms (the P4 response). However, regression analyses showed that indexes of education level and general cognitive function were the best predictors of sound segregation difficulties, suggesting non-auditory specific causes of concurrent sound segregation problems in SZ.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Joel S. Snyder
- Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, MS 5030, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5030, USA. (J.S. Snyder)
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33
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Brogaard B, Gatzia DE. Is the auditory system cognitively penetrable? Front Psychol 2015; 6:1166. [PMID: 26321985 PMCID: PMC4531219 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2015] [Accepted: 07/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Berit Brogaard
- The Brogaard Lab for Multisensory Research, University of MiamiMiami, FL, USA
- Department of Philosophy, University of OsloOslo, Norway
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34
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Salminen NH, Takanen M, Santala O, Alku P, Pulkki V. Neural realignment of spatially separated sound components. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2015; 137:3356-3365. [PMID: 26093425 DOI: 10.1121/1.4921605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Natural auditory scenes often consist of several sound sources overlapping in time, but separated in space. Yet, location is not fully exploited in auditory grouping: spatially separated sounds can get perceptually fused into a single auditory object and this leads to difficulties in the identification and localization of concurrent sounds. Here, the brain mechanisms responsible for grouping across spatial locations were explored in magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings. The results show that the cortical representation of a vowel spatially separated into two locations reflects the perceived location of the speech sound rather than the physical locations of the individual components. In other words, the auditory scene is neurally rearranged to bring components into spatial alignment when they were deemed to belong to the same object. This renders the original spatial information unavailable at the level of the auditory cortex and may contribute to difficulties in concurrent sound segregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nelli H Salminen
- Brain and Mind Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 12200, Aalto, FI-00076, Finland
| | - Marko Takanen
- Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, P.O. Box 13000, Aalto, FI-00076, Finland
| | - Olli Santala
- Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, P.O. Box 13000, Aalto, FI-00076, Finland
| | - Paavo Alku
- Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, P.O. Box 13000, Aalto, FI-00076, Finland
| | - Ville Pulkki
- Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering, P.O. Box 13000, Aalto, FI-00076, Finland
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Bendixen A, Háden GP, Németh R, Farkas D, Török M, Winkler I. Newborn Infants Detect Cues of Concurrent Sound Segregation. Dev Neurosci 2015; 37:172-81. [DOI: 10.1159/000370237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2014] [Accepted: 11/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Separating concurrent sounds is fundamental for a veridical perception of one's auditory surroundings. Sound components that are harmonically related and start at the same time are usually grouped into a common perceptual object, whereas components that are not in harmonic relation or have different onset times are more likely to be perceived in terms of separate objects. Here we tested whether neonates are able to pick up the cues supporting this sound organization principle. We presented newborn infants with a series of complex tones with their harmonics in tune (creating the percept of a unitary sound object) and with manipulated variants, which gave the impression of two concurrently active sound sources. The manipulated variant had either one mistuned partial (single-cue condition) or the onset of this mistuned partial was also delayed (double-cue condition). Tuned and manipulated sounds were presented in random order with equal probabilities. Recording the neonates' electroencephalographic responses allowed us to evaluate their processing of the sounds. Results show that, in both conditions, mistuned sounds elicited a negative displacement of the event-related potential (ERP) relative to tuned sounds from 360 to 400 ms after sound onset. The mistuning-related ERP component resembles the object-related negativity (ORN) component in adults, which is associated with concurrent sound segregation. Delayed onset additionally led to a negative displacement from 160 to 200 ms, which was probably more related to the physical parameters of the sounds than to their perceptual segregation. The elicitation of an ORN-like response in newborn infants suggests that neonates possess the basic capabilities of segregating concurrent sounds by detecting inharmonic relations between the co-occurring sounds.
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36
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Brown AD, Stecker GC, Tollin DJ. The precedence effect in sound localization. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 2015; 16:1-28. [PMID: 25479823 PMCID: PMC4310855 DOI: 10.1007/s10162-014-0496-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2014] [Accepted: 10/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
In ordinary listening environments, acoustic signals reaching the ears directly from real sound sources are followed after a few milliseconds by early reflections arriving from nearby surfaces. Early reflections are spectrotemporally similar to their source signals but commonly carry spatial acoustic cues unrelated to the source location. Humans and many other animals, including nonmammalian and even invertebrate animals, are nonetheless able to effectively localize sound sources in such environments, even in the absence of disambiguating visual cues. Robust source localization despite concurrent or nearly concurrent spurious spatial acoustic information is commonly attributed to an assortment of perceptual phenomena collectively termed "the precedence effect," characterizing the perceptual dominance of spatial information carried by the first-arriving signal. Here, we highlight recent progress and changes in the understanding of the precedence effect and related phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew D. Brown
- />Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045 USA
| | - G. Christopher Stecker
- />Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232 USA
| | - Daniel J. Tollin
- />Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045 USA
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Bressler S, Masud S, Bharadwaj H, Shinn-Cunningham B. Bottom-up influences of voice continuity in focusing selective auditory attention. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2014; 78:349-60. [PMID: 24633644 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-014-0555-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2013] [Accepted: 02/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Selective auditory attention causes a relative enhancement of the neural representation of important information and suppression of the neural representation of distracting sound, which enables a listener to analyze and interpret information of interest. Some studies suggest that in both vision and in audition, the "unit" on which attention operates is an object: an estimate of the information coming from a particular external source out in the world. In this view, which object ends up in the attentional foreground depends on the interplay of top-down, volitional attention and stimulus-driven, involuntary attention. Here, we test the idea that auditory attention is object based by exploring whether continuity of a non-spatial feature (talker identity, a feature that helps acoustic elements bind into one perceptual object) also influences selective attention performance. In Experiment 1, we show that perceptual continuity of target talker voice helps listeners report a sequence of spoken target digits embedded in competing reversed digits spoken by different talkers. In Experiment 2, we provide evidence that this benefit of voice continuity is obligatory and automatic, as if voice continuity biases listeners by making it easier to focus on a subsequent target digit when it is perceptually linked to what was already in the attentional foreground. Our results support the idea that feature continuity enhances streaming automatically, thereby influencing the dynamic processes that allow listeners to successfully attend to objects through time in the cacophony that assails our ears in many everyday settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Bressler
- Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, 677 Beacon St., Boston, MA, 02421, USA
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38
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Alain C, Zendel BR, Hutka S, Bidelman GM. Turning down the noise: The benefit of musical training on the aging auditory brain. Hear Res 2014. [DOI: 10.10.1016/j.heares.2013.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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39
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Alain C, Roye A, Salloum C. Effects of age-related hearing loss and background noise on neuromagnetic activity from auditory cortex. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:8. [PMID: 24550790 PMCID: PMC3907769 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2013] [Accepted: 01/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging is often accompanied by hearing loss, which impacts how sounds are processed and represented along the ascending auditory pathways and within the auditory cortices. Here, we assess the impact of mild binaural hearing loss on the older adults’ ability to both process complex sounds embedded in noise and to segregate a mistuned harmonic in an otherwise periodic stimulus. We measured auditory evoked fields (AEFs) using magnetoencephalography while participants were presented with complex tones that had either all harmonics in tune or had the third harmonic mistuned by 4 or 16% of its original value. The tones (75 dB sound pressure level, SPL) were presented without, with low (45 dBA SPL), or with moderate (65 dBA SPL) Gaussian noise. For each participant, we modeled the AEFs with a pair of dipoles in the superior temporal plane. We then examined the effects of hearing loss and noise on the amplitude and latency of the resulting source waveforms. In the present study, results revealed that similar noise-induced increases in N1m were present in older adults with and without hearing loss. Our results also showed that the P1m amplitude was larger in the hearing impaired than in the normal-hearing adults. In addition, the object-related negativity (ORN) elicited by the mistuned harmonic was larger in hearing impaired listeners. The enhanced P1m and ORN amplitude in the hearing impaired older adults suggests that hearing loss increased neural excitability in auditory cortices, which could be related to deficits in inhibitory control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claude Alain
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care Toronto, ON, Canada ; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada ; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Anja Roye
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Claire Salloum
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care Toronto, ON, Canada
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40
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Gutschalk A, Dykstra AR. Functional imaging of auditory scene analysis. Hear Res 2013; 307:98-110. [PMID: 23968821 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2013.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2013] [Revised: 07/26/2013] [Accepted: 08/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Our auditory system is constantly faced with the task of decomposing the complex mixture of sound arriving at the ears into perceptually independent streams constituting accurate representations of individual sound sources. This decomposition, termed auditory scene analysis, is critical for both survival and communication, and is thought to underlie both speech and music perception. The neural underpinnings of auditory scene analysis have been studied utilizing invasive experiments with animal models as well as non-invasive (MEG, EEG, and fMRI) and invasive (intracranial EEG) studies conducted with human listeners. The present article reviews human neurophysiological research investigating the neural basis of auditory scene analysis, with emphasis on two classical paradigms termed streaming and informational masking. Other paradigms - such as the continuity illusion, mistuned harmonics, and multi-speaker environments - are briefly addressed thereafter. We conclude by discussing the emerging evidence for the role of auditory cortex in remapping incoming acoustic signals into a perceptual representation of auditory streams, which are then available for selective attention and further conscious processing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Human Auditory Neuroimaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Gutschalk
- Department of Neurology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
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41
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Alain C, Zendel BR, Hutka S, Bidelman GM. Turning down the noise: the benefit of musical training on the aging auditory brain. Hear Res 2013; 308:162-73. [PMID: 23831039 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2013.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2013] [Revised: 06/19/2013] [Accepted: 06/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Age-related decline in hearing abilities is a ubiquitous part of aging, and commonly impacts speech understanding, especially when there are competing sound sources. While such age effects are partially due to changes within the cochlea, difficulties typically exist beyond measurable hearing loss, suggesting that central brain processes, as opposed to simple peripheral mechanisms (e.g., hearing sensitivity), play a critical role in governing hearing abilities late into life. Current training regimens aimed to improve central auditory processing abilities have experienced limited success in promoting listening benefits. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that in young adults, musical training positively modifies neural mechanisms, providing robust, long-lasting improvements to hearing abilities as well as to non-auditory tasks that engage cognitive control. These results offer the encouraging possibility that musical training might be used to counteract age-related changes in auditory cognition commonly observed in older adults. Here, we reviewed studies that have examined the effects of age and musical experience on auditory cognition with an emphasis on auditory scene analysis. We infer that musical training may offer potential benefits to complex listening and might be utilized as a means to delay or even attenuate declines in auditory perception and cognition that often emerge later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claude Alain
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.
| | - Benjamin Rich Zendel
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada; Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Stefanie Hutka
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada
| | - Gavin M Bidelman
- Institute for Intelligent Systems & School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis, USA
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42
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Puschmann S, Sandmann P, Ahrens J, Thorne J, Weerda R, Klump G, Debener S, Thiel CM. Electrophysiological correlates of auditory change detection and change deafness in complex auditory scenes. Neuroimage 2013; 75:155-164. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.02.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2012] [Revised: 02/18/2013] [Accepted: 02/20/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
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Mill RW, Bőhm TM, Bendixen A, Winkler I, Denham SL. Modelling the emergence and dynamics of perceptual organisation in auditory streaming. PLoS Comput Biol 2013; 9:e1002925. [PMID: 23516340 PMCID: PMC3597549 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2012] [Accepted: 12/31/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Many sound sources can only be recognised from the pattern of sounds they emit, and not from the individual sound events that make up their emission sequences. Auditory scene analysis addresses the difficult task of interpreting the sound world in terms of an unknown number of discrete sound sources (causes) with possibly overlapping signals, and therefore of associating each event with the appropriate source. There are potentially many different ways in which incoming events can be assigned to different causes, which means that the auditory system has to choose between them. This problem has been studied for many years using the auditory streaming paradigm, and recently it has become apparent that instead of making one fixed perceptual decision, given sufficient time, auditory perception switches back and forth between the alternatives—a phenomenon known as perceptual bi- or multi-stability. We propose a new model of auditory scene analysis at the core of which is a process that seeks to discover predictable patterns in the ongoing sound sequence. Representations of predictable fragments are created on the fly, and are maintained, strengthened or weakened on the basis of their predictive success, and conflict with other representations. Auditory perceptual organisation emerges spontaneously from the nature of the competition between these representations. We present detailed comparisons between the model simulations and data from an auditory streaming experiment, and show that the model accounts for many important findings, including: the emergence of, and switching between, alternative organisations; the influence of stimulus parameters on perceptual dominance, switching rate and perceptual phase durations; and the build-up of auditory streaming. The principal contribution of the model is to show that a two-stage process of pattern discovery and competition between incompatible patterns can account for both the contents (perceptual organisations) and the dynamics of human perception in auditory streaming. The sound waves produced by objects in the environment mix together before reaching the ears. Before we can make sense of an auditory scene, our brains must solve the puzzle of how to disassemble the sound waveform into groupings that correspond to the original source signals. How is this feat accomplished? We propose that the auditory system continually scans the structure of incoming signals in search of clues to indicate which pieces belong together. For instance, sound events may belong together if they have similar features, or form part of a clear temporal pattern. However this process is complicated by lack of knowledge of future events and the many possible ways in which even a simple sound sequence can be decomposed. The biological solution is multistability: one possible interpretation of a sound is perceived initially, which then gives way to another interpretation, and so on. We propose a model of auditory multistability, in which fragmental descriptions of the signal compete and cooperate to explain the sound scene. We demonstrate, using simplified experimental stimuli, that the model can account for both the contents (perceptual organisations) and the dynamics of human perception in auditory streaming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert W. Mill
- MRC Institute of Hearing Research, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Tamás M. Bőhm
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, MTA, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Telecommunications and Media Informatics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
- * E-mail:
| | | | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, MTA, Budapest, Hungary
- Institute for Psychology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Susan L. Denham
- Cognition Institute and School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
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44
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Alain C, Roye A, Arnott SR. Middle- and long-latency auditory evoked potentials. DISORDERS OF PERIPHERAL AND CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-7020-5310-8.00009-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/13/2023]
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45
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Bishop CW, London S, Miller LM. Neural time course of visually enhanced echo suppression. J Neurophysiol 2012; 108:1869-83. [PMID: 22786953 PMCID: PMC3545000 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00175.2012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2012] [Accepted: 07/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Auditory spatial perception plays a critical role in day-to-day communication. For instance, listeners utilize acoustic spatial information to segregate individual talkers into distinct auditory "streams" to improve speech intelligibility. However, spatial localization is an exceedingly difficult task in everyday listening environments with numerous distracting echoes from nearby surfaces, such as walls. Listeners' brains overcome this unique challenge by relying on acoustic timing and, quite surprisingly, visual spatial information to suppress short-latency (1-10 ms) echoes through a process known as "the precedence effect" or "echo suppression." In the present study, we employed electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the neural time course of echo suppression both with and without the aid of coincident visual stimulation in human listeners. We find that echo suppression is a multistage process initialized during the auditory N1 (70-100 ms) and followed by space-specific suppression mechanisms from 150 to 250 ms. Additionally, we find a robust correlate of listeners' spatial perception (i.e., suppressing or not suppressing the echo) over central electrode sites from 300 to 500 ms. Contrary to our hypothesis, vision's powerful contribution to echo suppression occurs late in processing (250-400 ms), suggesting that vision contributes primarily during late sensory or decision making processes. Together, our findings support growing evidence that echo suppression is a slow, progressive mechanism modifiable by visual influences during late sensory and decision making stages. Furthermore, our findings suggest that audiovisual interactions are not limited to early, sensory-level modulations but extend well into late stages of cortical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher W Bishop
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California 95618, USA.
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46
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Ben-David BM, Tse VY, Schneider BA. Does it take older adults longer than younger adults to perceptually segregate a speech target from a background masker? Hear Res 2012; 290:55-63. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2012.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2011] [Revised: 04/18/2012] [Accepted: 04/24/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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47
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Kashino M, Kondo HM. Functional brain networks underlying perceptual switching: auditory streaming and verbal transformations. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2012; 367:977-87. [PMID: 22371619 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that auditory scene analysis involves distributed neural sites below, in, and beyond the auditory cortex (AC). However, it remains unclear what role each site plays and how they interact in the formation and selection of auditory percepts. We addressed this issue through perceptual multistability phenomena, namely, spontaneous perceptual switching in auditory streaming (AS) for a sequence of repeated triplet tones, and perceptual changes for a repeated word, known as verbal transformations (VTs). An event-related fMRI analysis revealed brain activity timelocked to perceptual switching in the cerebellum for AS, in frontal areas for VT, and the AC and thalamus for both. The results suggest that motor-based prediction, produced by neural networks outside the auditory system, plays essential roles in the segmentation of acoustic sequences both in AS and VT. The frequency of perceptual switching was determined by a balance between the activation of two sites, which are proposed to be involved in exploring novel perceptual organization and stabilizing current perceptual organization. The effect of the gene polymorphism of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) on individual variations in switching frequency suggests that the balance of exploration and stabilization is modulated by catecholamines such as dopamine and noradrenalin. These mechanisms would support the noteworthy flexibility of auditory scene analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makio Kashino
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, 3-1 Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan.
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48
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Power AJ, Foxe JJ, Forde EJ, Reilly RB, Lalor EC. At what time is the cocktail party? A late locus of selective attention to natural speech. Eur J Neurosci 2012; 35:1497-503. [PMID: 22462504 DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08060.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Distinguishing between speakers and focusing attention on one speaker in multi-speaker environments is extremely important in everyday life. Exactly how the brain accomplishes this feat and, in particular, the precise temporal dynamics of this attentional deployment are as yet unknown. A long history of behavioral research using dichotic listening paradigms has debated whether selective attention to speech operates at an early stage of processing based on the physical characteristics of the stimulus or at a later stage during semantic processing. With its poor temporal resolution fMRI has contributed little to the debate, while EEG-ERP paradigms have been hampered by the need to average the EEG in response to discrete stimuli which are superimposed onto ongoing speech. This presents a number of problems, foremost among which is that early attention effects in the form of endogenously generated potentials can be so temporally broad as to mask later attention effects based on the higher level processing of the speech stream. Here we overcome this issue by utilizing the AESPA (auditory evoked spread spectrum analysis) method which allows us to extract temporally detailed responses to two concurrently presented speech streams in natural cocktail-party-like attentional conditions without the need for superimposed probes. We show attentional effects on exogenous stimulus processing in the 200-220 ms range in the left hemisphere. We discuss these effects within the context of research on auditory scene analysis and in terms of a flexible locus of attention that can be deployed at a particular processing stage depending on the task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan J Power
- School of Engineering, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
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49
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McLachlan N, Adams R, Burvill C. Tuning natural modes of vibration by prestress in the design of a harmonic gong. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2012; 131:926-934. [PMID: 22280715 DOI: 10.1121/1.3651255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Prestresses are purposefully added to an object to improve its performance, such as tuning a guitar string by adding tension. This paper reports how the normal modes of a sheet metal component can be tuned through the prestresses generated by cold-forging small dimples. Finite element analysis showed that the frequencies of specific mode shapes were differentially affected by the location of residual stress fields due to dimple formation in relation to modal stress fields. The frequencies of overtones were most sensitive to the depth of the dimples located near the maxima of modal stresses. Using this approach a series of musical gongs were designed with up to the first five overtones tuned to within 5% of the harmonic series. The balance of harmonic and inharmonic overtones in these gongs that are well resolved by the human cochlea may constitute a set of recognizable musical timbres with sufficient harmonicity to produce an unambiguous pitch for most listeners. Since many other mechanical properties of sheet metal components are affected by residual stresses this manufacturing technique may have broader application in design engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil McLachlan
- Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
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50
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Folland NA, Butler BE, Smith NA, Trainor LJ. Processing simultaneous auditory objects: infants' ability to detect mistuning in harmonic complexes. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2012; 131:993-997. [PMID: 22280722 DOI: 10.1121/1.3651254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The ability to separate simultaneous auditory objects is crucial to infant auditory development. Music in particular relies on the ability to separate musical notes, chords, and melodic lines. Little research addresses how infants process simultaneous sounds. The present study used a conditioned head-turn procedure to examine whether 6-month-old infants are able to discriminate a complex tone (240 Hz, 500 ms, six harmonics in random phase with a 6 dB roll-off per octave) from a version with the third harmonic mistuned. Adults perceive such stimuli as containing two auditory objects, one with the pitch of the mistuned harmonic and the other with pitch corresponding to the fundamental of the complex tone. Adult thresholds were between 1% and 2% mistuning. Infants performed above chance levels for 8%, 6%, and 4% mistunings, with no significant difference between conditions. However, performance was not significantly different from chance for 2% mistuning and significantly worse for 2% compared to all larger mistunings. These results indicate that 6-month-old infants are sensitive to violations of harmonic structure and suggest that they are able to separate two simultaneously sounding objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole A Folland
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada
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