Aging and lexical neighborhood effects in competing speech perception

2014 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 2161-2161
Author(s):  
Karen S. Helfer ◽  
Angela Costanzi ◽  
Sarah Laakso
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Neighborhood Effects ◽  
Competing Speech

scholarly journals Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Pediatric Spanish–English Speech Perception Task

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Calandruccio ◽  
Bianca Gomez ◽  
Emily Buss ◽  
Lori J. Leibold
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Noise Masker ◽  
Conventional Measure ◽  
Speech Reception Thresholds ◽  
Competing Speech

Purpose The purpose of this study was to develop a task to evaluate children's English and Spanish speech perception abilities in either noise or competing speech maskers. Method Eight bilingual Spanish–English and 8 age-matched monolingual English children (ages 4.9–16.4 years) were tested. A forced-choice, picture-pointing paradigm was selected for adaptively estimating masked speech reception thresholds. Speech stimuli were spoken by simultaneous bilingual Spanish–English talkers. The target stimuli were 30 disyllabic English and Spanish words, familiar to 5-year-olds and easily illustrated. Competing stimuli included either 2-talker English or 2-talker Spanish speech (corresponding to target language) and spectrally matched noise. Results For both groups of children, regardless of test language, performance was significantly worse for the 2-talker than for the noise masker condition. No difference in performance was found between bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingual children performed significantly better in English than in Spanish in competing speech. For all listening conditions, performance improved with increasing age. Conclusions Results indicated that the stimuli and task were appropriate for speech recognition testing in both languages, providing a more conventional measure of speech-in-noise perception as well as a measure of complex listening. Further research is needed to determine performance for Spanish-dominant listeners and to evaluate the feasibility of implementation into routine clinical use.

scholarly journals Competing Speech Perception in Older and Younger Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen S. Helfer ◽  
Adrian Staub
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Competing Speech

scholarly journals Central Presbycusis: A Review and Evaluation of the Evidence

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (08) ◽  
pp. 635-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry E. Humes ◽  
Judy R. Dubno ◽  
Sandra Gordon-Salant ◽  
Jennifer J. Lister ◽  
Anthony T. Cacace ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Compressed Speech ◽  
Competing Speech

Background: The authors reviewed the evidence regarding the existence of age-related declines in central auditory processes and the consequences of any such declines for everyday communication. Purpose: This report summarizes the review process and presents its findings. Data Collection and Analysis: The authors reviewed 165 articles germane to central presbycusis. Of the 165 articles, 132 articles with a focus on human behavioral measures for either speech or nonspeech stimuli were selected for further analysis. Results: For 76 smaller-scale studies of speech understanding in older adults reviewed, the following findings emerged: (1) the three most commonly studied behavioral measures were speech in competition, temporally distorted speech, and binaural speech perception (especially dichotic listening); (2) for speech in competition and temporally degraded speech, hearing loss proved to have a significant negative effect on performance in most of the laboratory studies; (3) significant negative effects of age, unconfounded by hearing loss, were observed in most of the studies of speech in competing speech, time-compressed speech, and binaural speech perception; and (4) the influence of cognitive processing on speech understanding has been examined much less frequently, but when included, significant positive associations with speech understanding were observed.For 36 smaller-scale studies of the perception of nonspeech stimuli by older adults reviewed, the following findings emerged: (1) the three most frequently studied behavioral measures were gap detection, temporal discrimination, and temporal-order discrimination or identification; (2) hearing loss was seldom a significant factor; and (3) negative effects of age were almost always observed.For 18 studies reviewed that made use of test batteries and medium-to-large sample sizes, the following findings emerged: (1) all studies included speech-based measures of auditory processing; (2) 4 of the 18 studies included nonspeech stimuli; (3) for the speech-based measures, monaural speech in a competing-speech background, dichotic speech, and monaural time-compressed speech were investigated most frequently; (4) the most frequently used tests were the Synthetic Sentence Identification (SSI) test with Ipsilateral Competing Message (ICM), the Dichotic Sentence Identification (DSI) test, and time-compressed speech; (5) many of these studies using speech-based measures reported significant effects of age, but most of these studies were confounded by declines in hearing, cognition, or both; (6) for nonspeech auditory-processing measures, the focus was on measures of temporal processing in all four studies; (7) effects of cognition on nonspeech measures of auditory processing have been studied less frequently, with mixed results, whereas the effects of hearing loss on performance were minimal due to judicious selection of stimuli; and (8) there is a paucity of observational studies using test batteries and longitudinal designs. Conclusions: Based on this review of the scientific literature, there is insufficient evidence to confirm the existence of central presbycusis as an isolated entity. On the other hand, recent evidence has been accumulating in support of the existence of central presbycusis as a multifactorial condition that involves age- and/or disease-related changes in the auditory system and in the brain. Moreover, there is a clear need for additional research in this area.

scholarly journals Speech Understanding in Modulated Noise and Speech Maskers as a Function of Cognitive Status in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Sara K. Mamo ◽  
Karen S. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Mild Dementia ◽  
Perception Task ◽  
Hearing Status ◽  
Competing Speech

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of different types of maskers on speech understanding as a function of cognitive status in older adults. The hypothesis tested was that individuals with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia would perform like their age- and hearing status–matched control counterparts in modulated noise but would perform more poorly in the presence of competing speech. Design Participants ( n = 39; age range: 55–77 years old) performed a speech-in-noise task and completed two cognitive screening tests and a measure of working memory. Sentences were presented in the presence of two types of maskers (i.e., speech envelope–modulated noise and two-talker, same-sex competing speech). Two analyses were undertaken: (a) a between-groups comparison of individuals diagnosed with MCI/dementia, individuals who failed both cognitive screeners (possible MCI), and age- and hearing status–matched neurologically healthy control individuals and (b) a mixed-model analysis of variance of speech perception performance as a function of working memory capacity. Results The between-groups comparison yielded significant group differences for speech understanding in both masking conditions, with the MCI/dementia group performing more poorly than the neurologically healthy controls and possible MCI groups. A single measure of working memory (Size Comparison Span [SICSPAN]) was correlated with performance on the speech perception task in the competing speech conditions. Conclusions Adults with a diagnosis of MCI or mild dementia performed more poorly on a speech perception task than their age- and hearing status–matched control counterparts in the presence of both maskers, with larger group mean differences when the target speech was presented in a two-talker masker. This suggests increased difficulty understanding speech in the presence of distracting backgrounds for people with MCI/dementia. Future studies should consider how to target this potentially vulnerable population as they may be experiencing increased difficulty communicating in challenging environments.

scholarly journals Competing Speech Perception in Middle Age

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen S. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Aging Process ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Listening Environments ◽  
Middle Aged Adults ◽  
Competing Speech

Purpose This research forum article summarizes research from our laboratory that assessed middle-aged adults' ability to understand speech in the presence of competing talkers. Method The performance of middle-aged adults on laboratory-based speech understanding tasks was compared to that of younger and older adults. Results Decline in the ability to understand speech in complex listening environments can be demonstrated in midlife. The specific auditory and cognitive contributors to these problems have yet to be established. Conclusion There is evidence that the ability to understand a target speech message in the presence of competing speech messages changes relatively early in the aging process. The nature and impact of these changes warrant further investigation.

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