scholarly journals The effect of presentation level on spectrotemporal modulation detection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Magits ◽  
Arturo Moncada-Torres ◽  
Lieselot Van Deun ◽  
Jan Wouters ◽  
Astrid van Wieringen ◽  
...  

AbstractThe understanding of speech in noise relies (at least partially) on spectrotemporal modulation sensitivity. This sensitivity can be measured by spectral ripple tests, which can be administered at different presentation levels. However, it is not known how presentation level affects spectrotemporal modulation thresholds. In this work, we present behavioral data for normal-hearing adults which show that at higher ripple densities (2 and 4 ripples/oct), increasing presentation level led to worse discrimination thresholds. Results of a computational model suggested that the higher thresholds could be explained by a worsening of the spectrotemporal representation in the auditory nerve due to broadening of cochlear filters and neural activity saturation. Our results demonstrate the importance of taking presentation level into account when administering spectrotemporal modulation detection tests.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satyabrata Parida ◽  
Michael G. Heinz

SUMMARYListeners with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) struggle to understand speech, especially in noise, despite audibility compensation. These real-world suprathreshold deficits are hypothesized to arise from degraded frequency tuning and reduced temporal-coding precision; however, peripheral neurophysiological studies testing these hypotheses have been largely limited to in-quiet artificial vowels. Here, we measured single auditory-nerve-fiber responses to a natural speech sentence in noise from anesthetized chinchillas with normal hearing (NH) or noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Our results demonstrate that temporal precision was not degraded, and broader tuning was not the major factor affecting peripheral coding of natural speech in noise. Rather, the loss of cochlear tonotopy, a hallmark of normal hearing, had the most significant effects (both on vowels and consonants). Because distorted tonotopy varies in degree across etiologies (e.g., noise exposure, age), these results have important implications for understanding and treating individual differences in speech perception for people suffering from SNHL.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 2376-2385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erol J. Ozmeral ◽  
Ann C. Eddins ◽  
David A. Eddins

Purpose The goal was to evaluate the potential effects of increasing hearing loss and advancing age on spectral envelope perception. Method Spectral modulation detection was measured as a function of spectral modulation frequency from 0.5 to 8.0 cycles/octave. The spectral modulation task involved discrimination of a noise carrier (3 octaves wide from 400 to 3200 Hz) with a flat spectral envelope from a noise having a sinusoidal spectral envelope across a logarithmic audio frequency scale. Spectral modulation transfer functions (SMTFs; modulation threshold vs. modulation frequency) were computed and compared 4 listener groups: young normal hearing, older normal hearing, older with mild hearing loss, and older with moderate hearing loss. Estimates of the internal spectral contrast were obtained by computing excitation patterns. Results SMTFs for young listeners with normal hearing were bandpass with a minimum modulation detection threshold at 2 cycles/octave, and older listeners with normal hearing were remarkably similar to those of the young listeners. SMTFs for older listeners with mild and moderate hearing loss had a low-pass rather than a bandpass shape. Excitation patterns revealed that limited spectral resolution dictated modulation detection thresholds at high but not low spectral modulation frequencies. Even when factoring out (presumed) differences in frequency resolution among groups, the spectral envelope perception was worse for the group with moderate hearing loss than the other 3 groups. Conclusions The spectral envelope perception as measured by spectral modulation detection thresholds is compromised by hearing loss at higher spectral modulation frequencies, consistent with predictions of reduced spectral resolution known to accompany sensorineural hearing loss. Spectral envelope perception is not negatively impacted by advancing age at any spectral modulation frequency between 0.5 and 8.0 cycles/octave.


2003 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 2413-2413
Author(s):  
Andrea M. Simmons ◽  
Kyler Eastman

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651985831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Williges ◽  
Thomas Wesarg ◽  
Lorenz Jung ◽  
Leontien I. Geven ◽  
Andreas Radeloff ◽  
...  

This study compared spatial speech-in-noise performance in two cochlear implant (CI) patient groups: bimodal listeners, who use a hearing aid contralaterally to support their impaired acoustic hearing, and listeners with contralateral normal hearing, i.e., who were single-sided deaf before implantation. Using a laboratory setting that controls for head movements and that simulates spatial acoustic scenes, speech reception thresholds were measured for frontal speech-in-stationary noise from the front, the left, or the right side. Spatial release from masking (SRM) was then extracted from speech reception thresholds for monaural and binaural listening. SRM was found to be significantly lower in bimodal CI than in CI single-sided deaf listeners. Within each listener group, the SRM extracted from monaural listening did not differ from the SRM extracted from binaural listening. In contrast, a normal-hearing control group showed a significant improvement in SRM when using two ears in comparison to one. Neither CI group showed a binaural summation effect; that is, their performance was not improved by using two devices instead of the best monaural device in each spatial scenario. The results confirm a “listening with the better ear” strategy in the two CI patient groups, where patients benefited from using two ears/devices instead of one by selectively attending to the better one. Which one is the better ear, however, depends on the spatial scenario and on the individual configuration of hearing loss.


2004 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 2395-2405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mead C. Killion ◽  
Patricia A. Niquette ◽  
Gail I. Gudmundsen ◽  
Lawrence J. Revit ◽  
Shilpi Banerjee

Author(s):  
Lucille P. Dickens ◽  
Callum M. Delaney

The effects of presentation level and signal-to-babble ratio (S/B) on SPIN performance were investigated for eighty normal hearing listeners. Both intensity and S/B had a significant effect on scores. Performance improved at the more favourable S/B regardless of presentation level, and scores were better at the lower presentation level regardless of S/B. Possible clinical applications of the SPIN test are discussed.


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