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Burkhardt P, Müller V, Meister H, Weglage A, Lang-Roth R, Walger M, Sandmann P. Age effects on cognitive functions and speech-in-noise processing: An event-related potential study with cochlear-implant users and normal-hearing listeners. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1005859. [PMID: 36620447 PMCID: PMC9815545 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1005859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
A cochlear implant (CI) can partially restore hearing in individuals with profound sensorineural hearing loss. However, electrical hearing with a CI is limited and highly variable. The current study aimed to better understand the different factors contributing to this variability by examining how age affects cognitive functions and cortical speech processing in CI users. Electroencephalography (EEG) was applied while two groups of CI users (young and elderly; N = 13 each) and normal-hearing (NH) listeners (young and elderly; N = 13 each) performed an auditory sentence categorization task, including semantically correct and incorrect sentences presented either with or without background noise. Event-related potentials (ERPs) representing earlier, sensory-driven processes (N1-P2 complex to sentence onset) and later, cognitive-linguistic integration processes (N400 to semantically correct/incorrect sentence-final words) were compared between the different groups and speech conditions. The results revealed reduced amplitudes and prolonged latencies of auditory ERPs in CI users compared to NH listeners, both at earlier (N1, P2) and later processing stages (N400 effect). In addition to this hearing-group effect, CI users and NH listeners showed a comparable background-noise effect, as indicated by reduced hit rates and reduced (P2) and delayed (N1/P2) ERPs in conditions with background noise. Moreover, we observed an age effect in CI users and NH listeners, with young individuals showing improved specific cognitive functions (working memory capacity, cognitive flexibility and verbal learning/retrieval), reduced latencies (N1/P2), decreased N1 amplitudes and an increased N400 effect when compared to the elderly. In sum, our findings extend previous research by showing that the CI users' speech processing is impaired not only at earlier (sensory) but also at later (semantic integration) processing stages, both in conditions with and without background noise. Using objective ERP measures, our study provides further evidence of strong age effects on cortical speech processing, which can be observed in both the NH listeners and the CI users. We conclude that elderly individuals require more effortful processing at sensory stages of speech processing, which however seems to be at the cost of the limited resources available for the later semantic integration processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pauline Burkhardt
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology and Pediatric Audiology, Cochlear Implant Center, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany,*Correspondence: Pauline Burkhardt, ; orcid.org/0000-0001-9850-9881
| | - Verena Müller
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology and Pediatric Audiology, Cochlear Implant Center, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Hartmut Meister
- Jean-Uhrmacher-Institute for Clinical ENT-Research, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Anna Weglage
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology and Pediatric Audiology, Cochlear Implant Center, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Ruth Lang-Roth
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology and Pediatric Audiology, Cochlear Implant Center, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Martin Walger
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology and Pediatric Audiology, Cochlear Implant Center, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany,Jean-Uhrmacher-Institute for Clinical ENT-Research, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Pascale Sandmann
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Audiology and Pediatric Audiology, Cochlear Implant Center, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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Raghavendra S, Lee S, Chun H, Martin BA, Tan CT. Cortical entrainment to speech produced by cochlear implant talkers and normal-hearing talkers. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:927872. [PMID: 36017176 PMCID: PMC9396306 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.927872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cochlear implants (CIs) are commonly used to restore the ability to hear in those with severe or profound hearing loss. CIs provide the necessary auditory feedback for them to monitor and control speech production. However, the speech produced by CI users may not be fully restored to achieve similar perceived sound quality to that produced by normal-hearing talkers and this difference is easily noticeable in their daily conversation. In this study, we attempt to address this difference as perceived by normal-hearing listeners, when listening to continuous speech produced by CI talkers and normal-hearing talkers. We used a regenerative model to decode and reconstruct the speech envelope from the single-trial electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded on the scalp of the normal-hearing listeners. Bootstrap Spearman correlation between the actual speech envelope and the envelope reconstructed from the EEG was computed as a metric to quantify the difference in response to the speech produced by the two talker groups. The same listeners were asked to rate the perceived sound quality of the speech produced by the two talker groups as a behavioral sound quality assessment. The results show that both the perceived sound quality ratings and the computed metric, which can be seen as the degree of cortical entrainment to the actual speech envelope across the normal-hearing listeners, were higher in value for speech produced by normal hearing talkers than that for CI talkers. The first purpose of the study was to determine how well the envelope of speech is represented neurophysiologically via its similarity to the envelope reconstructed from EEG. The second purpose was to show how well this representation of speech for both CI and normal hearing talker groups differentiates in term of perceived sound quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shruthi Raghavendra
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
- *Correspondence: Shruthi Raghavendra,
| | - Sungmin Lee
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Tongmyong University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Hyungi Chun
- Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York City, NY, United States
| | - Brett A. Martin
- Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York City, NY, United States
| | - Chin-Tuan Tan
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, United States
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Raghavendra S, Lee S, Chen F, Martin BA, Tan CT. Cortical Entrainment to Speech Produced by Cochlear Implant Users and Normal-Hearing Talkers. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2022; 2022:3577-3581. [PMID: 36085647 DOI: 10.1109/embc48229.2022.9871276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The perceived sound quality of speech produced by hard-of-hearing individuals greatly depends on the degree and configuration of their hearing loss. A cochlear implant (CI) may provide some compensation and auditory feedback to monitor/control speech production. However, to date, the speech produced by CI users is still different in quality from that produced by normal-hearing (NH) talkers. In this study, we attempted to address this difference by examining the cortical activity of NH listeners when listening to continuous speech produced by 8 CI talkers and 8 NH talkers. We utilized a discriminative model to decode and reconstruct the speech envelope from the single-trial electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded from scalp electrode in NH listeners when listening to continuous speech. The correlation coefficient between the reconstructed envelope and original speech envelope was computed as a metric to quantify the difference in response to the speech produced by CI and NH talkers. The same listeners were asked to rate the perceived sound quality of the speech as a behavioral sound quality assessment. Both behavioral perceived sound quality ratings and the cortical entrainment to speech envelope were higher for the speech set produced by NH talkers than for the speech set produced by CI talkers.
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Karawani H, Jenkins K, Anderson S. Neural Plasticity Induced by Hearing Aid Use. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:884917. [PMID: 35663566 PMCID: PMC9160992 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.884917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Age-related hearing loss is one of the most prevalent health conditions in older adults. Although hearing aid technology has advanced dramatically, a large percentage of older adults do not use hearing aids. This untreated hearing loss may accelerate declines in cognitive and neural function and dramatically affect the quality of life. Our previous findings have shown that the use of hearing aids improves cortical and cognitive function and offsets subcortical physiological decline. The current study tested the time course of neural adaptation to hearing aids over the course of 6 months and aimed to determine whether early measures of cortical processing predict the capacity for neural plasticity. Seventeen (9 females) older adults (mean age = 75 years) with age-related hearing loss with no history of hearing aid use were fit with bilateral hearing aids and tested in six testing sessions. Neural changes were observed as early as 2 weeks following the initial fitting of hearing aids. Increases in N1 amplitudes were observed as early as 2 weeks following the hearing aid fitting, whereas changes in P2 amplitudes were not observed until 12 weeks of hearing aid use. The findings suggest that increased audibility through hearing aids may facilitate rapid increases in cortical detection, but a longer time period of exposure to amplified sound may be required to integrate features of the signal and form auditory object representations. The results also showed a relationship between neural responses in earlier sessions and the change predicted after 6 months of the use of hearing aids. This study demonstrates rapid cortical adaptation to increased auditory input. Knowledge of the time course of neural adaptation may aid audiologists in counseling their patients, especially those who are struggling to adjust to amplification. A future comparison of a control group with no use of hearing aids that undergoes the same testing sessions as the study's group will validate these findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanin Karawani
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Kimberly Jenkins
- Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Samira Anderson
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, United States
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Manning Franke L, Perera RA, Aygemang AA, Marquardt CA, Teich C, Sponheim SR, Duncan CC, Walker WC. Auditory evoked brain potentials as markers of chronic effects of mild traumatic brain injury in mid-life. Clin Neurophysiol 2021; 132:2979-2988. [PMID: 34715422 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Auditory event-related potential (ERP) correlates of pre-dementia in late-life may also be sensitive to chronic effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in mid-life. In addition to mTBI history, other clinical factors may also influence ERP measures of brain function. This study's objective was to evaluate the relationship between mTBI history, auditory ERP metrics, and common comorbidities. METHODS ERPs elicited during an auditory target detection task, psychological symptoms, and hearing sensitivity were collected in 152 combat-exposed veterans and service members, as part of a prospective observational cohort study. Participants, with an average age of 43.6 years, were grouped according to positive (n = 110) or negative (n = 42) mTBI history. Positive histories were subcategorized into repetitive mTBI (3 + ) (n = 40) or non-repetitive (1-2) (n = 70). RESULTS Positive history of mTBI was associated with reduced N200 amplitude to targets and novel distractors. In participants with repetitive mTBI compared to non-repetitive and no mTBI, P50 was larger in response to nontargets and N100 was smaller in response to nontargets and targets. Changes in N200 were mediated by depression and anxiety symptoms and hearing loss, with no evidence of a supplementary direct mTBI pathway. CONCLUSIONS Auditory brain function differed between the positive and negative mTBI groups, especially for repetitive injury, which implicated more basic, early auditory processing than did any mTBI exposure. Symptoms of internalizing psychopathology (depression and anxiety) and hearing loss are implicated in mTBI's diminished brain responses to behaviorally relevant and novel stimuli. SIGNIFICANCE A mid-life neurologic vulnerability conferred by mTBI, particularly repetitive mTBI, may be detectable using auditory brain potentials, and so auditory ERPs are a target for study of dementia risk in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Manning Franke
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA; Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, USA.
| | - Robert A Perera
- Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.
| | - Amma A Aygemang
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA.
| | - Craig A Marquardt
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, USA.
| | | | - Scott R Sponheim
- Minneapolis VA Health Care System, USA; Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, USA.
| | - Connie C Duncan
- Departments of Psychiatry and Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, USA.
| | - William C Walker
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA; Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, USA.
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Faucette SP, Stuart A. An examination of electrophysiological release from masking in young and older adults. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:1786. [PMID: 33138490 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The effect of age on release from masking (RFM) was examined using cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs). Two speech-in-noise paradigms [i.e., fixed speech with varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and fixed noise with varying speech levels], similar to those used in behavioral measures of RFM, were employed with competing continuous and interrupted noises. Young and older normal-hearing adults participated (N = 36). Cortical responses were evoked in the fixed speech paradigm at SNRs of -10, 0, and 10 dB. In the fixed noise paradigm, the CAEP SNR threshold was determined in both noises as the lowest SNR that yielded a measurable response. RFM was demonstrated in the fixed speech paradigm with a significant amount of missing responses, longer P1 and N1 latencies, and smaller N1 response amplitudes in continuous noise at the poorest -10 dB SNR. In the fixed noise paradigm, RFM was demonstrated with significantly lower CAEP SNR thresholds in interrupted noise. Older participants demonstrated significantly longer P2 latencies and reduced P1 and N1 amplitudes. There was no evidence of a group difference in RFM in either paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah P Faucette
- Department of Otolaryngology and Communicative Sciences, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39216-4505, USA
| | - Andrew Stuart
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353, USA
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Huen M, Lee J, Westerberg BD. Use of auditory evoked potentials with electrical stimulation at the round window niche pre-operatively on a brain-injured patient: A case study. Cochlear Implants Int 2020; 22:49-55. [PMID: 32985389 DOI: 10.1080/14670100.2020.1822643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To highlight the effectiveness of using PS testing in conjunction with electrically evoked auditory evoked potentials (eAEPs) to help guide treatment plans in patients with limited behavioural responses. METHODS Case report on a 59-year-old male with traumatic brain injury. Electrophysiological measurements in conjunction with PS were performed. RESULTS eAEPs were obtained up to the thalamo-cortical region, supporting the viability of a CI in the non-implanted ear. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION Use of PS in conjunction with electrically evoked auditory evoked potentials can provide valuable information to guide clinical decisions regarding implantation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Myron Huen
- Department of Audiology, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Jowan Lee
- Department of Audiology, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Brian D Westerberg
- Division of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, B.C. Rotary Hearing and Balance Centre, St. Paul's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Christensen RK, Lindén H, Nakamura M, Barkat TR. White Noise Background Improves Tone Discrimination by Suppressing Cortical Tuning Curves. Cell Rep 2020; 29:2041-2053.e4. [PMID: 31722216 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.10.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2018] [Revised: 07/25/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain faces the difficult task of maintaining a stable representation of key features of the outside world in noisy sensory surroundings. How does the sensory representation change with noise, and how does the brain make sense of it? We investigated the effect of background white noise (WN) on tuning properties of neurons in mouse A1 and its impact on discrimination performance in a go/no-go task. We find that WN suppresses the activity of A1 neurons, which surprisingly increases the discriminability of tones spectrally close to each other. To confirm the involvement of A1, we optogenetically excited parvalbumin-positive (PV+) neurons in A1, which have similar effects as WN on both tuning properties and frequency discrimination. A population model suggests that the suppression of A1 tuning curves increases frequency selectivity and thereby improves discrimination. Our findings demonstrate that the cortical representation of pure tones adapts during noise to improve sensory acuity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rasmus Kordt Christensen
- Department of Biomedicine, Basel University, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Henrik Lindén
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mari Nakamura
- Department of Biomedicine, Basel University, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
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Uhrig S, Perkis A, Behne DM. Effects of speech transmission quality on sensory processing indicated by the cortical auditory evoked potential. J Neural Eng 2020; 17:046021. [PMID: 32422617 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab93e1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Degradations of transmitted speech have been shown to affect perceptual and cognitive processing in human listeners, as indicated by the P3 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP). However, research suggests that previously observed P3 modulations might actually be traced back to earlier neural modulations in the time range of the P1-N1-P2 complex of the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP). This study investigates whether auditory sensory processing, as reflected by the P1-N1-P2 complex, is already systematically altered by speech quality degradations. APPROACH Electrophysiological data from two studies were analyzed to examine effects of speech transmission quality (high-quality, noisy, bandpass-filtered) for spoken words on amplitude and latency parameters of individual P1, N1 and P2 components. MAIN RESULTS In the resultant ERP waveforms, an initial P1-N1-P2 manifested at stimulus onset, while a second N1-P2 occurred within the ongoing stimulus. Bandpass-filtered versus high-quality word stimuli evoked a faster and larger initial N1 as well as a reduced initial P2, hence exhibiting effects as early as the sensory stage of auditory information processing. SIGNIFICANCE The results corroborate the existence of systematic quality-related modulations in the initial N1-P2, which may potentially have carried over into P3 modulations demonstrated by previous studies. In future psychophysiological speech quality assessments, rigorous control procedures are needed to ensure the validity of P3-based indication of speech transmission quality. An alternative CAEP-based assessment approach is discussed, which promises to be more efficient and less constrained than the established approach based on P3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Uhrig
- Quality and Usability Lab, Technische Universität Berlin, D-10587 Berlin, Germany. Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed
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Calcus A, Tuomainen O, Campos A, Rosen S, Halliday LF. Functional brain alterations following mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss in children. eLife 2019; 8:e46965. [PMID: 31570117 PMCID: PMC6828531 DOI: 10.7554/elife.46965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 09/07/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Auditory deprivation in the form of deafness during development leads to lasting changes in central auditory system function. However, less is known about the effects of mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss (MMHL) during development. Here, we used a longitudinal design to examine late auditory evoked responses and mismatch responses to nonspeech and speech sounds for children with MMHL. At Time 1, younger children with MMHL (8-12 years; n = 23) showed age-appropriate mismatch negativities (MMNs) to sounds, but older children (12-16 years; n = 23) did not. Six years later, we re-tested a subset of the younger (now older) children with MMHL (n = 13). Children who had shown significant MMNs at Time 1 showed MMNs that were reduced and, for nonspeech, absent at Time 2. Our findings demonstrate that even a mild-to-moderate hearing loss during early-to-mid childhood can lead to changes in the neural processing of sounds in late childhood/adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Axelle Calcus
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, Département d’Etudes CognitivesEcole Normale Supérieure, PSL University, CNRSParisFrance
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic SciencesUniversity College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Outi Tuomainen
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic SciencesUniversity College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Ana Campos
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic SciencesUniversity College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Stuart Rosen
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic SciencesUniversity College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Lorna F Halliday
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic SciencesUniversity College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences UnitUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
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Zendel BR, West GL, Belleville S, Peretz I. Musical training improves the ability to understand speech-in-noise in older adults. Neurobiol Aging 2019; 81:102-115. [PMID: 31280114 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2017] [Revised: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
It is well known that hearing abilities decline with age, and one of the most commonly reported hearing difficulties reported in older adults is a reduced ability to understand speech in noisy environments. Older adult musicians have an enhanced ability to understand speech in noise, and this has been associated with enhanced brain responses related to both speech processing and the deployment of attention; however, the causal impact of music lessons in older adults has not yet been demonstrated. To investigate whether a causal relationship exists between short-term musical training and performance on auditory tests in older adults and to determine if musical training can be used to improve hearing in older adult nonmusicians, we conducted a longitudinal training study with random assignment. A sample of older adults was randomly assigned to learn to play piano (Music), to learn to play a visuospatially demanding video game (Video), or to serve as a no-contact control (No-contact). After 6 months, the Music group improved their ability to understand a word presented in loud background noise, whereas the other 2 groups did not. This improvement was related to an increase in positive-going electrical brain activity at fronto-left electrodes 200-1000 ms after the presentation of a word in noise. Source analyses suggest that this activity was due to sources located in the left inferior frontal gyrus and other regions involved in the speech-motor system. These findings support the idea that musical training provides a causal benefit to hearing abilities. Importantly, these findings suggest that musical training could be used as a foundation to develop auditory rehabilitation programs for older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Rich Zendel
- Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, Québec, Canada; Aging Research Centre-Newfoundland and Labrador, Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Aging Research Centre-Newfoundland and Labrador, Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
| | - Greg L West
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Sylvie Belleville
- Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, Québec, Canada; Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Isabelle Peretz
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Zhang C, Tao R, Zhao H. Auditory spatial attention modulates the unmasking effect of perceptual separation in a "cocktail party" environment. Neuropsychologia 2019; 124:108-116. [PMID: 30659864 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2018] [Revised: 11/01/2018] [Accepted: 01/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The perceptual separation between a signal speech and a competing speech (masker), induced by the precedence effect, plays an important role in releasing the signal speech from the masker, especially in a reverberant environment. The perceptual-separation-induced unmasking effect has been suggested to involve multiple cognitive processes, such as selective attention. However, whether listeners' spatial attention modulate the perceptual-separation-induced unmasking effect is not clear. The present study investigated how perceptual separation and auditory spatial attention interact with each other to facilitate speech perception under a simulated noisy and reverberant environment by analyzing the cortical auditory evoked potentials to the signal speech. The results showed that the N1 wave was significantly enhanced by perceptual separation between the signal and masker regardless of whether the participants' spatial attention was directed to the signal or not. However, the P2 wave was significantly enhanced by perceptual separation only when the participants attended to the signal speech. The results indicate that the perceptual-separation-induced facilitation of P2 needs more attentional resource than that of N1. The results also showed that the signal speech caused an enhanced N1 in the contralateral hemisphere regardless of whether participants' attention was directed to the signal or not. In contrast, the signal speech caused an enhanced P2 in the contralateral hemisphere only when the participant attended to the signal. The results indicate that the hemispheric distribution of N1 is mainly affected by the perceptual features of the acoustic stimuli, while that of P2 is affected by the listeners' attentional status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changxin Zhang
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Speech and Hearing Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Renxia Tao
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Speech and Hearing Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hang Zhao
- Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Speech and Hearing Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
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14
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Koerner TK, Zhang Y. Differential effects of hearing impairment and age on electrophysiological and behavioral measures of speech in noise. Hear Res 2018; 370:130-142. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2018.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2018] [Revised: 10/06/2018] [Accepted: 10/14/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Behavioral and electrophysiological investigation of speech perception deficits in silence, noise and envelope conditions in developmental dyslexia. Neuropsychologia 2018; 130:3-12. [PMID: 30075216 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2017] [Revised: 07/15/2018] [Accepted: 07/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The present study investigated whether children with developmental dyslexia showed specific deficits in the perception of three phonetic features (voicing, place, and manner of articulation) in optimal (silence) and degraded listening conditions (envelope-coded speech versus noise), using both standard behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Performance of children with dyslexia was compared to that of younger typically developing children who were matched in terms of reading age. Results showed no significant group differences in response accuracy except for the reception of place-of-articulation in noise. However, dyslexic children responded more slowly than typically developing children across all conditions with larger deficits in noise than in envelope than in silence. At the neural level, dyslexic children exhibited reduced N1 components in silence and the reduction of N1 amplitude was more pronounced for voicing than for the other phonetic features. In the envelope condition, the N1 was localized over the right hemisphere and it was larger for typically developing readers than for dyslexic children. Finally, in stationary noise, the N1 to place of articulation was clearly delayed in children with dyslexia, which suggests a temporal de-organization in the most adverse listening conditions. The results clearly show abnormal neural processing to speech sounds in all conditions. They are discussed in the context of recent theories on perceptual noise exclusion, neural noise and temporal sampling.
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Neural mechanisms of mismatch negativity dysfunction in schizophrenia. Mol Psychiatry 2017; 22:1585-1593. [PMID: 28167837 PMCID: PMC5547016 DOI: 10.1038/mp.2017.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2016] [Revised: 10/26/2016] [Accepted: 12/06/2016] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is associated with cognitive deficits that reflect impaired cortical information processing. Mismatch negativity (MMN) indexes pre-attentive information processing dysfunction at the level of primary auditory cortex. This study investigates mechanisms underlying MMN impairments in schizophrenia using event-related potential, event-related spectral decomposition (ERSP) and resting state functional connectivity (rsfcMRI) approaches. For this study, MMN data to frequency, intensity and duration-deviants were analyzed from 69 schizophrenia patients and 38 healthy controls. rsfcMRI was obtained from a subsample of 38 patients and 23 controls. As expected, schizophrenia patients showed highly significant, large effect size (P=0.0004, d=1.0) deficits in MMN generation across deviant types. In ERSP analyses, responses to deviants occurred primarily the theta (4-7 Hz) frequency range consistent with distributed corticocortical processing, whereas responses to standards occurred primarily in alpha (8-12 Hz) range consistent with known frequencies of thalamocortical activation. Independent deficits in schizophrenia were observed in both the theta response to deviants (P=0.021) and the alpha-response to standards (P=0.003). At the single-trial level, differential patterns of response were observed for frequency vs duration/intensity deviants, along with At the network level, MMN deficits engaged canonical somatomotor, ventral attention and default networks, with a differential pattern of engagement across deviant types (P<0.0001). Findings indicate that deficits in thalamocortical, as well as corticocortical, connectivity contribute to auditory dysfunction in schizophrenia. In addition, differences in ERSP and rsfcMRI profiles across deviant types suggest potential differential engagement of underlying generator mechanisms.
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Koerner TK, Zhang Y, Nelson PB, Wang B, Zou H. Neural indices of phonemic discrimination and sentence-level speech intelligibility in quiet and noise: A P3 study. Hear Res 2017; 350:58-67. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2017.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2016] [Revised: 04/12/2017] [Accepted: 04/16/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Electrophysiology and Perception of Speech in Noise in Older Listeners: Effects of Hearing Impairment and Age. Ear Hear 2016; 36:710-22. [PMID: 26502191 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Speech perception in background noise is difficult for many individuals, and there is considerable performance variability across listeners. The combination of physiological and behavioral measures may help to understand sources of this variability for individuals and groups and prove useful clinically with hard-to-test populations. The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) determine the effect of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and signal level on cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) and sentence-level perception in older normal-hearing (ONH) and older hearing-impaired (OHI) individuals, (2) determine the effects of hearing impairment and age on CAEPs and perception, and (3) explore how well CAEPs correlate with and predict speech perception in noise. DESIGN Two groups of older participants (15 ONH and 15 OHI) were tested using speech-in-noise stimuli to measure CAEPs and sentence-level perception of speech. The syllable /ba/, used to evoke CAEPs, and sentences were presented in speech-spectrum background noise at four signal levels (50, 60, 70, and 80 dB SPL) and up to seven SNRs (-10, -5, 0, 5, 15, 25, and 35 dB). These data were compared between groups to reveal the hearing impairment effect and then combined with previously published data for 15 young normal-hearing individuals to determine the aging effect. RESULTS Robust effects of SNR were found for perception and CAEPs. Small but significant effects of signal level were found for perception, primarily at poor SNRs and high signal levels, and in some limited instances for CAEPs. Significant effects of age were seen for both CAEPs and perception, while hearing impairment effects were only found with perception measures. CAEPs correlate well with perception and can predict SNR50s to within 2 dB for ONH. However, prediction error is much larger for OHI and varies widely (from 6 to 12 dB) depending on the model that was used for prediction. CONCLUSIONS When background noise is present, SNR dominates both perception-in-noise testing and cortical electrophysiological testing, with smaller and sometimes significant contributions from signal level. A mismatch between behavioral and electrophysiological results was found (hearing impairment effects were primarily only seen for behavioral data), illustrating the possible contributions of higher order cognitive processes on behavior. It is interesting that the hearing impairment effect size was more than five times larger than the aging effect size for CAEPs and perception. Sentence-level perception can be predicted well in normal-hearing individuals; however, additional research is needed to explore improved prediction methods for older individuals with hearing impairment.
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Koerner TK, Zhang Y, Nelson PB, Wang B, Zou H. Neural indices of phonemic discrimination and sentence-level speech intelligibility in quiet and noise: A mismatch negativity study. Hear Res 2016; 339:40-9. [PMID: 27267705 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2016.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2016] [Revised: 05/16/2016] [Accepted: 06/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Successful speech communication requires the extraction of important acoustic cues from irrelevant background noise. In order to better understand this process, this study examined the effects of background noise on mismatch negativity (MMN) latency, amplitude, and spectral power measures as well as behavioral speech intelligibility tasks. Auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) were obtained from 15 normal-hearing participants to determine whether pre-attentive MMN measures recorded in response to a consonant (from /ba/ to /bu/) and vowel change (from /ba/ to /da/) in a double-oddball paradigm can predict sentence-level speech perception. The results showed that background noise increased MMN latencies and decreased MMN amplitudes with a reduction in the theta frequency band power. Differential noise-induced effects were observed for the pre-attentive processing of consonant and vowel changes due to different degrees of signal degradation by noise. Linear mixed-effects models further revealed significant correlations between the MMN measures and speech intelligibility scores across conditions and stimuli. These results confirm the utility of MMN as an objective neural marker for understanding noise-induced variations as well as individual differences in speech perception, which has important implications for potential clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tess K Koerner
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Center for Applied Translational Sensory Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
| | - Peggy B Nelson
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Center for Applied Translational Sensory Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Boxiang Wang
- School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Hui Zou
- School of Statistics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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Attentional modulation of informational masking on early cortical representations of speech signals. Hear Res 2016; 331:119-30. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2015.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2013] [Revised: 10/27/2015] [Accepted: 11/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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21
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Effects of background noise on inter-trial phase coherence and auditory N1-P2 responses to speech stimuli. Hear Res 2015; 328:113-9. [PMID: 26276419 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2015.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2015] [Revised: 07/23/2015] [Accepted: 08/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of a speech-babble background noise on inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC, also referred to as phase locking value (PLV)) and auditory event-related responses (AERP) to speech sounds. Specifically, we analyzed EEG data from 11 normal hearing subjects to examine whether ITPC can predict noise-induced variations in the obligatory N1-P2 complex response. N1-P2 amplitude and latency data were obtained for the /bu/syllable in quiet and noise listening conditions. ITPC data in delta, theta, and alpha frequency bands were calculated for the N1-P2 responses in the two passive listening conditions. Consistent with previous studies, background noise produced significant amplitude reduction and latency increase in N1 and P2, which were accompanied by significant ITPC decreases in all the three frequency bands. Correlation analyses further revealed that variations in ITPC were able to predict the amplitude and latency variations in N1-P2. The results suggest that trial-by-trial analysis of cortical neural synchrony is a valuable tool in understanding the modulatory effects of background noise on AERP measures.
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Leung AWS, Jolicoeur P, Alain C. Attentional Capacity Limits Gap Detection during Concurrent Sound Segregation. J Cogn Neurosci 2015. [PMID: 26226073 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Detecting a brief silent interval (i.e., a gap) is more difficult when listeners perceive two concurrent sounds rather than one in a sound containing a mistuned harmonic in otherwise in-tune harmonics. This impairment in gap detection may reflect the interaction of low-level encoding or the division of attention between two sound objects, both of which could interfere with signal detection. To distinguish between these two alternatives, we compared ERPs during active and passive listening with complex harmonic tones that could include a gap, a mistuned harmonic, both features, or neither. During active listening, participants indicated whether they heard a gap irrespective of mistuning. During passive listening, participants watched a subtitled muted movie of their choice while the same sounds were presented. Gap detection was impaired when the complex sounds included a mistuned harmonic that popped out as a separate object. The ERP analysis revealed an early gap-related activity that was little affected by mistuning during the active or passive listening condition. However, during active listening, there was a marked decrease in the late positive wave that was thought to index attention and response-related processes. These results suggest that the limitation in detecting the gap is related to attentional processing, possibly divided attention induced by the concurrent sound objects, rather than deficits in preattentional sensory encoding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ada W S Leung
- University of Alberta.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada
| | - Pierre Jolicoeur
- Université de Montréal.,Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC), Montréal, Canada.,BRAMS (International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research), Montréal, Canada.,Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM)
| | - Claude Alain
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada.,University of Toronto
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Sleep-dependent neuroplastic changes during auditory perceptual learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2014; 118:133-42. [PMID: 25490057 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2014.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2014] [Revised: 10/26/2014] [Accepted: 12/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Auditory perceptual learning is accompanied by a significant increase in the amplitude of sensory evoked responses on the second day of training. This is thought to reflect memory consolidation after the first practice session. However, it is unclear whether the changes in sensory evoked responses depend on sleep per se or whether a break between training sessions would sufficiently yield similar changes. To assess the relative contributions of sleep and passage of time (wakefulness) on the sensory evoked responses, we recorded auditory evoked fields using magnetoencephalography while participants performed a vowel segregation task in three different sessions separated by 12h over two consecutive days. The first two practice sessions were scheduled in the morning and evening of the same day for one group and the evening and morning of subsequent days for the other group. For each participant, we modeled the auditory evoked magnetic field with single dipoles in bilateral superior temporal planes. We then examined the amplitudes and latencies of the resulting source waveforms as a function of sleep and passage of time. In both groups, performance gradually improved with repeated testing. Auditory learning was paralleled by increased sustained field between 250 and 350ms after sound onset as well as sensory evoked fields around 200ms after sound onset (i.e., P2m amplitude) for sessions taking place on the same and different days, respectively. These neuromagnetic changes suggest that auditory learning involves a consolidation phase that occurs during the wake state, which is followed by a sleep-dependent consolidation stage indexed by the P2m amplitude.
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Zendel BR, Tremblay CD, Belleville S, Peretz I. The impact of musicianship on the cortical mechanisms related to separating speech from background noise. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 27:1044-59. [PMID: 25390195 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Musicians have enhanced auditory processing abilities. In some studies, these abilities are paralleled by an improved understanding of speech in noisy environments, partially due to more robust encoding of speech signals in noise at the level of the brainstem. Little is known about the impact of musicianship on attention-dependent cortical activity related to lexical access during a speech-in-noise task. To address this issue, we presented musicians and nonmusicians with single words mixed with three levels of background noise, across two conditions, while monitoring electrical brain activity. In the active condition, listeners repeated the words aloud, and in the passive condition, they ignored the words and watched a silent film. When background noise was most intense, musicians repeated more words correctly compared with nonmusicians. Auditory evoked responses were attenuated and delayed with the addition of background noise. In musicians, P1 amplitude was marginally enhanced during active listening and was related to task performance in the most difficult listening condition. By comparing ERPs from the active and passive conditions, we isolated an N400 related to lexical access. The amplitude of the N400 was not influenced by the level of background noise in musicians, whereas N400 amplitude increased with the level of background noise in nonmusicians. In nonmusicians, the increase in N400 amplitude was related to a reduction in task performance. In musicians only, there was a rightward shift of the sources contributing to the N400 as the level of background noise increased. This pattern of results supports the hypothesis that encoding of speech in noise is more robust in musicians and suggests that this facilitates lexical access. Moreover, the shift in sources suggests that musicians, to a greater extent than nonmusicians, may increasingly rely on acoustic cues to understand speech in noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Rich Zendel
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Liang F, Bai L, Tao HW, Zhang LI, Xiao Z. Thresholding of auditory cortical representation by background noise. Front Neural Circuits 2014; 8:133. [PMID: 25426029 PMCID: PMC4226155 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2014.00133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2014] [Accepted: 10/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It is generally thought that background noise can mask auditory information. However, how the noise specifically transforms neuronal auditory processing in a level-dependent manner remains to be carefully determined. Here, with in vivo loose-patch cell-attached recordings in layer 4 of the rat primary auditory cortex (A1), we systematically examined how continuous wideband noise of different levels affected receptive field properties of individual neurons. We found that the background noise, when above a certain critical/effective level, resulted in an elevation of intensity threshold for tone-evoked responses. This increase of threshold was linearly dependent on the noise intensity above the critical level. As such, the tonal receptive field (TRF) of individual neurons was translated upward as an entirety toward high intensities along the intensity domain. This resulted in preserved preferred characteristic frequency (CF) and the overall shape of TRF, but reduced frequency responding range and an enhanced frequency selectivity for the same stimulus intensity. Such translational effects on intensity threshold were observed in both excitatory and fast-spiking inhibitory neurons, as well as in both monotonic and nonmonotonic (intensity-tuned) A1 neurons. Our results suggest that in a noise background, fundamental auditory representations are modulated through a background level-dependent linear shifting along intensity domain, which is equivalent to reducing stimulus intensity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feixue Liang
- Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou Guangdong, China ; Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Lin Bai
- Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou Guangdong, China ; Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Huizhong W Tao
- Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Li I Zhang
- Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Zhongju Xiao
- Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou Guangdong, China
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Soshi T, Hisanaga S, Kodama N, Kanekama Y, Samejima Y, Yumoto E, Sekiyama K. Event-related potentials for better speech perception in noise by cochlear implant users. Hear Res 2014; 316:110-21. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2014.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2013] [Revised: 07/25/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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27
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Gay JD, Voytenko SV, Galazyuk AV, Rosen MJ. Developmental hearing loss impairs signal detection in noise: putative central mechanisms. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:162. [PMID: 25249949 PMCID: PMC4158805 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2014] [Accepted: 08/21/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Listeners with hearing loss have difficulty processing sounds in noisy environments. This is most noticeable for speech perception, but is reflected in a basic auditory processing task: detecting a tonal signal in a noise background, i.e., simultaneous masking. It is unresolved whether the mechanisms underlying simultaneous masking arise from the auditory periphery or from the central auditory system. Poor detection in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is attributed to cochlear hair cell damage. However, hearing loss alters neural processing in the central auditory system. Additionally, both psychophysical and neurophysiological data from normally hearing and impaired listeners suggest that there are additional contributions to simultaneous masking that arise centrally. With SNHL, it is difficult to separate peripheral from central contributions to signal detection deficits. We have thus excluded peripheral contributions by using an animal model of early conductive hearing loss (CHL) that provides auditory deprivation but does not induce cochlear damage. When tested as adults, animals raised with CHL had increased thresholds for detecting tones in simultaneous noise. Furthermore, intracellular in vivo recordings in control animals revealed a cortical correlate of simultaneous masking: local cortical processing reduced tone-evoked responses in the presence of noise. This raises the possibility that altered cortical responses which occur with early CHL can influence even simple signal detection in noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer D. Gay
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical UniversityRootstown, OH, USA
- Biomedical Sciences Program, Kent State UniversityKent, OH, USA
| | - Sergiy V. Voytenko
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical UniversityRootstown, OH, USA
| | - Alexander V. Galazyuk
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical UniversityRootstown, OH, USA
| | - Merri J. Rosen
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical UniversityRootstown, OH, USA
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Zhang C, Lu L, Wu X, Li L. Attentional modulation of the early cortical representation of speech signals in informational or energetic masking. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2014; 135:85-95. [PMID: 24992572 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2014.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2013] [Revised: 06/04/2014] [Accepted: 06/05/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
It is easier to recognize a masked speech when the speech and its masker are perceived as spatially segregated. Using event-related potentials, this study examined how the early cortical representation of speech is affected by different masker types and perceptual locations, when the listener is either passively or actively listening to the target speech syllable. The results showed that the two-talker-speech masker induced a much larger masking effect on the N1/P2 complex than either the steady-state-noise masker or the amplitude-modulated speech-spectrum-noise masker did. Also, a switch from the passive- to active-listening condition enhanced the N1/P2 complex only when the masker was speech. Moreover, under the active-listening condition, perceived separation between target and masker enhanced the N1/P2 complex only when the masker was speech. Thus, when a masker is present, the effect of selective attention to the target-speech signal on the early cortical representation of the speech signal is masker-type dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changxin Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Speech and Hearing Research Center, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Lingxi Lu
- Department of Psychology, Speech and Hearing Research Center, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xihong Wu
- Department of Psychology, Speech and Hearing Research Center, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Liang Li
- Department of Psychology, Speech and Hearing Research Center, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at PKU, Key Laboratory on Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
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Talebi H, Moossavi A, Lotfi Y, Faghihzadeh S. Effects of vowel auditory training on concurrent speech segregation in hearing impaired children. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 2014; 124:13-20. [PMID: 24973337 DOI: 10.1177/0003489414540604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This clinical trial investigated the ability of concurrent speech segregation in hearing impaired children. The auditory behavioral responses and auditory late responses (ALRs) were compared between test and control groups prior to vowel auditory training and after 3 and 6 months of vowel auditory training to find the effects of bottom-up training on concurrent speech segregation in hearing impaired children. METHODS Auditory behavioral responses for 5 vowels and ALRs for double synthetic vowels, with special physical properties, were recorded in a timetable in 30 hearing impaired children (test group = 15 and control group = 15). RESULTS Identification score and reaction time data showed that the test group was approximately proficient for some vowels (P < .05 for vowels /æ/, /e/, and /u:/) and took less time to process after 6 months of training. N1-P2 amplitude indexing of the vowel change detection and reflecting central auditory speech representation without active client participation has been increased in the test group (P < .05). CONCLUSION The present study showed training-related improvements in concurrent speech segregation. This information provided evidence for bottom-up training based on F0, its differences in auditory scene analysis, and neural underpinnings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hossein Talebi
- Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Abdollah Moossavi
- Department of Audiology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Yones Lotfi
- Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Soghrat Faghihzadeh
- Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran
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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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Abstract
Neuroanatomical models hypothesize a role for the dorsal auditory pathway in phonological processing as a feedforward efferent system (Davis and Johnsrude, 2007; Rauschecker and Scott, 2009; Hickok et al., 2011). But the functional organization of the pathway, in terms of time course of interactions between auditory, somatosensory, and motor regions, and the hemispheric lateralization pattern is largely unknown. Here, ambiguous duplex syllables, with elements presented dichotically at varying interaural asynchronies, were used to parametrically modulate phonological processing and associated neural activity in the human dorsal auditory stream. Subjects performed syllable and chirp identification tasks, while event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance images were concurrently collected. Joint independent component analysis was applied to fuse the neuroimaging data and study the neural dynamics of brain regions involved in phonological processing with high spatiotemporal resolution. Results revealed a highly interactive neural network associated with phonological processing, composed of functional fields in posterior temporal gyrus (pSTG), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and ventral central sulcus (vCS) that were engaged early and almost simultaneously (at 80-100 ms), consistent with a direct influence of articulatory somatomotor areas on phonemic perception. Left hemispheric lateralization was observed 250 ms earlier in IPL and vCS than pSTG, suggesting that functional specialization of somatomotor (and not auditory) areas determined lateralization in the dorsal auditory pathway. The temporal dynamics of the dorsal auditory pathway described here offer a new understanding of its functional organization and demonstrate that temporal information is essential to resolve neural circuits underlying complex behaviors.
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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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Slow cortical potentials and amplification-part I: n1-p2 measures. Int J Otolaryngol 2012; 2012:921513. [PMID: 23118756 PMCID: PMC3483828 DOI: 10.1155/2012/921513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2012] [Accepted: 09/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Slow cortical potentials (SCPs) are currently of great interest in the hearing aid fitting process for infants; however, there is conflicting evidence in the literature concerning the use of SCPs for this purpose. The current study investigated SCP amplitudes and latencies in young normal-hearing listeners in response to a 60 ms duration tonal stimulus (1000 Hz) presented at three intensities (30, 50, and 70 dB SPL) in aided and unaided conditions using three hearing aids (Analog, DigitalA, and DigitalB) with two gain settings (20 and 40 dB). Results showed that SCP amplitudes were smaller for the digital hearing aids compared with the analog hearing aid, and none of the hearing aids resulted in a reliable increase in response amplitude relative to the unaided across conditions. SCP latencies in analog conditions were not significantly different from latencies in the unaided conditions; however, both digital hearing aids resulted in significantly delayed SCP latencies. The results of the current study (as well as several previous studies) indicate that the SCP may not accurately reflect the amplified stimulus expected from the prescribed hearing aids. Thus, “aided-SCP” results must be interpreted with caution, and more research is required concerning possible clinical use of this technique.
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Goslin J, Duffy H, Floccia C. An ERP investigation of regional and foreign accent processing. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2012; 122:92-102. [PMID: 22694999 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2011] [Revised: 04/19/2012] [Accepted: 04/30/2012] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine whether we employ the same normalisation mechanisms when processing words spoken with a regional accent or foreign accent. Our results showed that the Phonological Mapping Negativity (PMN) following the onset of the final word of sentences spoken with an unfamiliar regional accent was greater than for those produced in the listener's own accent, whilst PMN for foreign accented speech was reduced. Foreign accents also resulted in a reduction in N400 amplitude when compared to both unfamiliar regional accents and the listener's own accent, with no significant difference found between the N400 of the regional and home accents. These results suggest that regional accent related variations are normalised at the earliest stages of spoken word recognition, requiring less top-down lexical intervention than foreign accents.
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Swink S, Stuart A. The effect of gender on the N1-P2 auditory complex while listening and speaking with altered auditory feedback. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2012; 122:25-33. [PMID: 22564750 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2011] [Revised: 04/10/2012] [Accepted: 04/11/2012] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The effect of gender on the N1-P2 auditory complex was examined while listening and speaking with altered auditory feedback. Fifteen normal hearing adult males and 15 females participated. N1-P2 components were evoked while listening to self-produced nonaltered and frequency shifted /a/ tokens and during production of /a/ tokens during nonaltered auditory feedback (NAF), frequency altered feedback (FAF), and delayed auditory feedback (DAF; 50 and 200 ms). During speech production, females exhibited earlier N1 latencies during 50 ms DAF and earlier P2 latencies during 50 ms DAF and FAF. There were no significant differences in N1-P2 amplitudes across all conditions. Comparing listening to active speaking, N1 and P2 latencies were earlier among females, with speaking, and under NAF. N1-P2 amplitudes were significantly reduced during speech production. These findings are consistent with the notions that speech production suppresses auditory cortex responsiveness and males and females process altered auditory feedback differently while speaking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon Swink
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
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Swink S, Stuart A. Auditory long latency responses to tonal and speech stimuli. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2012; 55:447-459. [PMID: 22199192 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0364)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The effects of type of stimuli (i.e., nonspeech vs. speech), speech (i.e., natural vs. synthetic), gender of speaker and listener, speaker (i.e., self vs. other), and frequency alteration in self-produced speech on the late auditory cortical evoked potential were examined. METHOD Young adult men (n = 15) and women (n = 15), all with normal hearing, participated. P1-N1-P2 components were evoked with the following stimuli: 723-Hz tone bursts; naturally produced male and female /a/ tokens; synthetic male and female /a/ tokens; an /a/ token self-produced by each participant; and the same /a/ token produced by the participant but with a shift in frequency. RESULTS In general, P1-N1-P2 component latencies were significantly shorter when evoked with the tonal stimulus versus speech stimuli and natural versus synthetic speech (p < .05). Women had significantly shorter latencies for only the P2 component (p < .05). For the tonal versus speech stimuli, P1 amplitudes were significantly smaller, and N1 and P2 amplitudes were significantly larger (p < .05). There was no significant effect of gender on the P1, N1, or P2 amplitude (p > .05). CONCLUSION These findings are consistent with the notion that spectrotemporal characteristics of nonspeech and speech stimuli affect P1-N1-P2 latency and amplitude components.
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Miettinen I, Alku P, Yrttiaho S, May PJ, Tiitinen H. Cortical processing of degraded speech sounds: Effects of distortion type and continuity. Neuroimage 2012; 60:1036-45. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.01.085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2011] [Revised: 01/09/2012] [Accepted: 01/11/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
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Bennett KO, Billings CJ, Molis MR, Leek MR. Neural encoding and perception of speech signals in informational masking. Ear Hear 2012; 33:231-8. [PMID: 22367094 PMCID: PMC3292743 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0b013e31823173fd] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the contributions of energetic and informational masking to neural encoding and perception in noise, using oddball discrimination and sentence recognition tasks. DESIGN P3 auditory evoked potential, behavioral discrimination, and sentence recognition data were recorded in response to speech and tonal signals presented to nine normal-hearing adults. Stimuli were presented at a signal to noise ratio of -3 dB in four background conditions: quiet, continuous noise, intermittent noise, and four-talker babble. RESULTS Responses to tonal signals were not significantly different for the three maskers. However, responses to speech signals in the four-talker babble resulted in longer P3 latencies, smaller P3 amplitudes, poorer discrimination accuracy, and longer reaction times than in any of the other conditions. Results also demonstrate significant correlations between physiological and behavioral data. As latency of the P3 increased, reaction times also increased and sentence recognition scores decreased. CONCLUSION The data confirm a differential effect of masker type on the P3 and behavioral responses and present evidence of interference by an informational masker to speech understanding at the level of the cortex. Results also validate the use of the P3 as a useful measure to demonstrate physiological correlates of informational masking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keri O'Connell Bennett
- National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon OR 97239 , USA.
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Lee TW, Yu YWY, Wu HC, Chen TJ. Do resting brain dynamics predict oddball evoked-potential? BMC Neurosci 2011; 12:121. [PMID: 22114868 PMCID: PMC3259052 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-12-121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2011] [Accepted: 11/24/2011] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The oddball paradigm is widely applied to the investigation of cognitive function in neuroscience and in neuropsychiatry. Whether cortical oscillation in the resting state can predict the elicited oddball event-related potential (ERP) is still not clear. This study explored the relationship between resting electroencephalography (EEG) and oddball ERPs. The regional powers of 18 electrodes across delta, theta, alpha and beta frequencies were correlated with the amplitude and latency of N1, P2, N2 and P3 components of oddball ERPs. A multivariate analysis based on partial least squares (PLS) was applied to further examine the spatial pattern revealed by multiple correlations. Results Higher synchronization in the resting state, especially at the alpha spectrum, is associated with higher neural responsiveness and faster neural propagation, as indicated by the higher amplitude change of N1/N2 and shorter latency of P2. None of the resting quantitative EEG indices predict P3 latency and amplitude. The PLS analysis confirms that the resting cortical dynamics which explains N1/N2 amplitude and P2 latency does not show regional specificity, indicating a global property of the brain. Conclusions This study differs from previous approaches by relating dynamics in the resting state to neural responsiveness in the activation state. Our analyses suggest that the neural characteristics carried by resting brain dynamics modulate the earlier/automatic stage of target detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tien-Wen Lee
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
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Renvall H, Formisano E, Parviainen T, Bonte M, Vihla M, Salmelin R. Parametric Merging of MEG and fMRI Reveals Spatiotemporal Differences in Cortical Processing of Spoken Words and Environmental Sounds in Background Noise. Cereb Cortex 2011; 22:132-43. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhr095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Romei L, Wambacq IJA, Besing J, Koehnke J, Jerger J. Neural indices of spoken word processing in background multi-talker babble. Int J Audiol 2011; 50:321-33. [DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2010.547875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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Miettinen I, Alku P, Salminen N, May PJ, Tiitinen H. Responsiveness of the human auditory cortex to degraded speech sounds: Reduction of amplitude resolution vs. additive noise. Brain Res 2011; 1367:298-309. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.10.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2010] [Revised: 10/07/2010] [Accepted: 10/12/2010] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Deguchi C, Chobert J, Brunellière A, Nguyen N, Colombo L, Besson M. Pre-attentive and attentive processing of French vowels. Brain Res 2010; 1366:149-61. [PMID: 20920484 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.09.104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2010] [Revised: 09/27/2010] [Accepted: 09/28/2010] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed at investigating the effects of acoustic distance and of speaker variability on the pre-attentive and attentive perception of French vowels by French adult speakers. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded while participants watched a silent movie (Passive condition) and discriminated deviant vowels (Active condition). The auditory sequence included 4 French vowels, /u/ (standard) and /o/, /y/ and /ø/ as deviants, produced by 3 different speakers. As the vowel /o/ is closer to /u/ than the other deviants in acoustic distance, we predicted smaller mismatch negativity (MMN) and smaller N1 component, as well as higher error rate and longer reaction times. Results were in line with these predictions. Moreover, the MMN was elicited by all deviant vowels independently of speaker variability. By contrast, the Vowel by Speaker interaction was significant in the Active listening condition thereby showing that subtle within-category differences are processed at the attentive level. These results suggest that while vowels are categorized pre-attentively according to phonemic representations and independently of speaker variability, participants are sensitive to between-speaker differences when they focus attention on vowel processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chizuru Deguchi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
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Effects of various articulatory features of speech on cortical event-related potentials and behavioral measures of speech-sound processing. Ear Hear 2010; 31:491-504. [PMID: 20453651 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0b013e3181d8683d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of three articulatory features of speech (i.e., vowel-space contrast, place of articulation of stop consonants, and voiced/voiceless distinctions) on cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) (waves N1, mismatch negativity, N2b, and P3b) and their related behavioral measures of discrimination (d-prime sensitivity and reaction time [RT]) in normal-hearing adults to increase our knowledge regarding how the brain responds to acoustical differences that occur within an articulatory speech feature and across articulatory features of speech. DESIGN Cortical ERPs were recorded to three sets of consonant-vowel speech stimuli (/bi versus /bu/, /ba/ versus /da/, /da/ versus /ta/) presented at 65 and 80 dB peak-to-peak equivalent SPL from 20 normal-hearing adults. All speech stimuli were presented in an oddball paradigm. Cortical ERPs were recorded from 10 individuals in the active-listening condition and another 10 individuals in the passive-listening condition. All listeners were tested at both stimulus intensities. RESULTS Mean amplitudes for all ERP components were considerably larger for the responses to the vowel contrast in comparison with the responses to the two consonant contrasts. Similarly, the mean mismatch negativity, P3b, and RT latencies were significantly shorter for the responses to the vowel versus consonant contrasts. For the majority of ERP components, only small nonsignificant differences occurred in either the ERP amplitude or the latency response measurements for stimuli within a particular articulatory feature of speech. CONCLUSIONS The larger response amplitudes and earlier latencies for the cortical ERPs to the vowel versus consonant stimuli are likely related, in part, to the large spectral differences present in these speech contrasts. The measurements of response strength (amplitudes and d-prime scores) and response timing (ERP and RT latencies) for the various cortical ERPs suggest that the brain may have an easier task processing the steady state information present in the vowel stimuli in comparison with the rapidly changing formant transitions in the consonant stimuli.
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Miettinen I, Tiitinen H, Alku P, May PJC. Sensitivity of the human auditory cortex to acoustic degradation of speech and non-speech sounds. BMC Neurosci 2010; 11:24. [PMID: 20175890 PMCID: PMC2837048 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-11-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2009] [Accepted: 02/22/2010] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Recent studies have shown that the human right-hemispheric auditory cortex is particularly sensitive to reduction in sound quality, with an increase in distortion resulting in an amplification of the auditory N1m response measured in the magnetoencephalography (MEG). Here, we examined whether this sensitivity is specific to the processing of acoustic properties of speech or whether it can be observed also in the processing of sounds with a simple spectral structure. We degraded speech stimuli (vowel /a/), complex non-speech stimuli (a composite of five sinusoidals), and sinusoidal tones by decreasing the amplitude resolution of the signal waveform. The amplitude resolution was impoverished by reducing the number of bits to represent the signal samples. Auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs) were measured in the left and right hemisphere of sixteen healthy subjects. Results We found that the AEF amplitudes increased significantly with stimulus distortion for all stimulus types, which indicates that the right-hemispheric N1m sensitivity is not related exclusively to degradation of acoustic properties of speech. In addition, the P1m and P2m responses were amplified with increasing distortion similarly in both hemispheres. The AEF latencies were not systematically affected by the distortion. Conclusions We propose that the increased activity of AEFs reflects cortical processing of acoustic properties common to both speech and non-speech stimuli. More specifically, the enhancement is most likely caused by spectral changes brought about by the decrease of amplitude resolution, in particular the introduction of periodic, signal-dependent distortion to the original sound. Converging evidence suggests that the observed AEF amplification could reflect cortical sensitivity to periodic sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ismo Miettinen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science, Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Espoo, Finland.
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Barutchu A, Danaher J, Crewther SG, Innes-Brown H, Shivdasani MN, Paolini AG. Audiovisual integration in noise by children and adults. J Exp Child Psychol 2010; 105:38-50. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2009.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2008] [Revised: 08/31/2009] [Accepted: 08/31/2009] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Preattentive Cortical-Evoked Responses to Pure Tones, Harmonic Tones, and Speech: Influence of Music Training. Ear Hear 2009; 30:432-46. [DOI: 10.1097/aud.0b013e3181a61bf2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Kujala T, Brattico E. Detrimental noise effects on brain's speech functions. Biol Psychol 2009; 81:135-43. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2008] [Revised: 12/12/2008] [Accepted: 03/30/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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