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19 pages, 3261 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Neural Delays in Processing Speech in Background Noise Minimized after Short-Term Auditory Training

by Erika Skoe and Nina Kraus

Biology 2024, 13(7), 509; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13070509 (registering DOI) - 8 Jul 2024

Background noise disrupts the neural processing of sound, resulting in delayed and diminished far-field auditory-evoked responses. In young adults, we previously provided evidence that cognitively based short-term auditory training can ameliorate the impact of background noise on the frequency-following response (FFR), leading to [...] Read more.

Background noise disrupts the neural processing of sound, resulting in delayed and diminished far-field auditory-evoked responses. In young adults, we previously provided evidence that cognitively based short-term auditory training can ameliorate the impact of background noise on the frequency-following response (FFR), leading to greater neural synchrony to the speech fundamental frequency(F0) in noisy listening conditions. In this same dataset (55 healthy young adults), we now examine whether training-related changes extend to the latency of the FFR, with the prediction of faster neural timing after training. FFRs were measured on two days separated by ~8 weeks. FFRs were elicited by the syllable “da” presented at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of +10 dB SPL relative to a background of multi-talker noise. Half of the participants participated in 20 sessions of computerized training (Listening and Communication Enhancement Program, LACE) between test sessions, while the other half served as Controls. In both groups, half of the participants were non-native speakers of English. In the Control Group, response latencies were unchanged at retest, but for the training group, response latencies were earlier. Findings suggest that auditory training can improve how the adult nervous system responds in noisy listening conditions, as demonstrated by decreased response latencies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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18 pages, 4144 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Auditory Sensory Gating: Effects of Noise

by Fan-Yin Cheng, Julia Campbell and Chang Liu

Biology 2024, 13(6), 443; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13060443 - 18 Jun 2024

Viewed by 407

Abstract

Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) indicate that noise degrades auditory neural encoding, causing decreased peak amplitude and increased peak latency. Different types of noise affect CAEP responses, with greater informational masking causing additional degradation. In noisy conditions, attention can improve target signals’ neural [...] Read more.

Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) indicate that noise degrades auditory neural encoding, causing decreased peak amplitude and increased peak latency. Different types of noise affect CAEP responses, with greater informational masking causing additional degradation. In noisy conditions, attention can improve target signals’ neural encoding, reflected by an increased CAEP amplitude, which may be facilitated through various inhibitory mechanisms at both pre-attentive and attentive levels. While previous research has mainly focused on inhibition effects during attentive auditory processing in noise, the impact of noise on the neural response during the pre-attentive phase remains unclear. Therefore, this preliminary study aimed to assess the auditory gating response, reflective of the sensory inhibitory stage, to repeated vowel pairs presented in background noise. CAEPs were recorded via high-density EEG in fifteen normal-hearing adults in quiet and noise conditions with low and high informational masking. The difference between the average CAEP peak amplitude evoked by each vowel in the pair was compared across conditions. Scalp maps were generated to observe general cortical inhibitory networks in each condition. Significant gating occurred in quiet, while noise conditions resulted in a significantly decreased gating response. The gating function was significantly degraded in noise with less informational masking content, coinciding with a reduced activation of inhibitory gating networks. These findings illustrate the adverse effect of noise on pre-attentive inhibition related to speech perception. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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28 pages, 7415 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predictors of Speech-in-Noise Understanding in a Population of Occupationally Noise-Exposed Individuals

by Guillaume Andéol, Nihaad Paraouty, Fabrice Giraudet, Nicolas Wallaert, Vincent Isnard, Annie Moulin and Clara Suied

Biology 2024, 13(6), 416; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13060416 - 5 Jun 2024

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Abstract

Understanding speech in noise is particularly difficult for individuals occupationally exposed to noise due to a mix of noise-induced auditory lesions and the energetic masking of speech signals. For years, the monitoring of conventional audiometric thresholds has been the usual method to check [...] Read more.

Understanding speech in noise is particularly difficult for individuals occupationally exposed to noise due to a mix of noise-induced auditory lesions and the energetic masking of speech signals. For years, the monitoring of conventional audiometric thresholds has been the usual method to check and preserve auditory function. Recently, suprathreshold deficits, notably, difficulties in understanding speech in noise, has pointed out the need for new monitoring tools. The present study aims to identify the most important variables that predict speech in noise understanding in order to suggest a new method of hearing status monitoring. Physiological (distortion products of otoacoustic emissions, electrocochleography) and behavioral (amplitude and frequency modulation detection thresholds, conventional and extended high-frequency audiometric thresholds) variables were collected in a population of individuals presenting a relatively homogeneous occupational noise exposure. Those variables were used as predictors in a statistical model (random forest) to predict the scores of three different speech-in-noise tests and a self-report of speech-in-noise ability. The extended high-frequency threshold appears to be the best predictor and therefore an interesting candidate for a new way of monitoring noise-exposed professionals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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15 pages, 2006 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Temporal Processing on Speech-in-Noise Perception in Middle-Aged Adults

by Kailyn A. McFarlane and Jason Tait Sanchez

Biology 2024, 13(6), 371; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13060371 - 23 May 2024

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Abstract

Auditory temporal processing is a vital component of auditory stream segregation, or the process in which complex sounds are separated and organized into perceptually meaningful objects. Temporal processing can degrade prior to hearing loss, and is suggested to be a contributing factor to [...] Read more.

Auditory temporal processing is a vital component of auditory stream segregation, or the process in which complex sounds are separated and organized into perceptually meaningful objects. Temporal processing can degrade prior to hearing loss, and is suggested to be a contributing factor to difficulties with speech-in-noise perception in normal-hearing listeners. The current study tested this hypothesis in middle-aged adults—an under-investigated cohort, despite being the age group where speech-in-noise difficulties are first reported. In 76 participants, three mechanisms of temporal processing were measured: peripheral auditory nerve function using electrocochleography, subcortical encoding of periodic speech cues (i.e., fundamental frequency; F0) using the frequency following response, and binaural sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) using a dichotic frequency modulation detection task. Two measures of speech-in-noise perception were administered to explore how contributions of temporal processing may be mediated by different sensory demands present in the speech perception task. This study supported the hypothesis that temporal coding deficits contribute to speech-in-noise difficulties in middle-aged listeners. Poorer speech-in-noise perception was associated with weaker subcortical F0 encoding and binaural TFS sensitivity, but in different contexts, highlighting that diverse aspects of temporal processing are differentially utilized based on speech-in-noise task characteristics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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16 pages, 2018 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Extensive Training Transform a Mouse into a Guinea Pig? An Evaluation Based on the Discriminative Abilities of Inferior Colliculus Neurons

by Alexandra Martin, Samira Souffi, Chloé Huetz and Jean-Marc Edeline

Biology 2024, 13(2), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13020092 - 2 Feb 2024

Viewed by 1317

Abstract

Humans and animals maintain accurate discrimination between communication sounds in the presence of loud sources of background noise. In previous studies performed in anesthetized guinea pigs, we showed that, in the auditory pathway, the highest discriminative abilities between conspecific vocalizations were found in [...] Read more.

Humans and animals maintain accurate discrimination between communication sounds in the presence of loud sources of background noise. In previous studies performed in anesthetized guinea pigs, we showed that, in the auditory pathway, the highest discriminative abilities between conspecific vocalizations were found in the inferior colliculus. Here, we trained CBA/J mice in a Go/No-Go task to discriminate between two similar guinea pig whistles, first in quiet conditions, then in two types of noise, a stationary noise and a chorus noise at three SNRs. Control mice were passively exposed to the same number of whistles as trained mice. After three months of extensive training, inferior colliculus (IC) neurons were recorded under anesthesia and the responses were quantified as in our previous studies. In quiet, the mean values of the firing rate, the temporal reliability and mutual information obtained from trained mice were higher than from the exposed mice and the guinea pigs. In stationary and chorus noise, there were only a few differences between the trained mice and the guinea pigs; and the lowest mean values of the parameters were found in the exposed mice. These results suggest that behavioral training can trigger plasticity in IC that allows mice neurons to reach guinea pig-like discrimination abilities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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13 pages, 1780 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Benefits of Harmonicity for Hearing in Noise Are Limited to Detection and Pitch-Related Discrimination Tasks

by Neha Rajappa, Daniel R. Guest and Andrew J. Oxenham

Biology 2023, 12(12), 1522; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12121522 - 13 Dec 2023

Viewed by 1179

Abstract

Harmonic complex tones are easier to detect in noise than inharmonic complex tones, providing a potential perceptual advantage in complex auditory environments. Here, we explored whether the harmonic advantage extends to other auditory tasks that are important for navigating a noisy auditory environment, [...] Read more.

Harmonic complex tones are easier to detect in noise than inharmonic complex tones, providing a potential perceptual advantage in complex auditory environments. Here, we explored whether the harmonic advantage extends to other auditory tasks that are important for navigating a noisy auditory environment, such as amplitude- and frequency-modulation detection. Sixty young normal-hearing listeners were tested, divided into two equal groups with and without musical training. Consistent with earlier studies, harmonic tones were easier to detect in noise than inharmonic tones, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) advantage of about 2.5 dB, and the pitch discrimination of the harmonic tones was more accurate than that of inharmonic tones, even after differences in audibility were accounted for. In contrast, neither amplitude- nor frequency-modulation detection was superior with harmonic tones once differences in audibility were accounted for. Musical training was associated with better performance only in pitch-discrimination and frequency-modulation-detection tasks. The results confirm a detection and pitch-perception advantage for harmonic tones but reveal that the harmonic benefits do not extend to suprathreshold tasks that do not rely on extracting the fundamental frequency. A general theory is proposed that may account for the effects of both noise and memory on pitch-discrimination differences between harmonic and inharmonic tones. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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32 pages, 12093 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Information-Theoretic Approaches in EEG Correlates of Auditory Perceptual Awareness under Informational Masking

by Alexandre Veyrié, Arnaud Noreña, Jean-Christophe Sarrazin and Laurent Pezard

Biology 2023, 12(7), 967; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12070967 - 6 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1172

Abstract

In informational masking paradigms, the successful segregation between the target and masker creates auditory perceptual awareness. The dynamics of the build-up of auditory perception is based on a set of interactions between bottom–up and top–down processes that generate neuronal modifications within the brain [...] Read more.

In informational masking paradigms, the successful segregation between the target and masker creates auditory perceptual awareness. The dynamics of the build-up of auditory perception is based on a set of interactions between bottom–up and top–down processes that generate neuronal modifications within the brain network activity. These neural changes are studied here using event-related potentials (ERPs), entropy, and integrated information, leading to several measures applied to electroencephalogram signals. The main findings show that the auditory perceptual awareness stimulated functional activation in the fronto-temporo-parietal brain network through (i) negative temporal and positive centro-parietal ERP components; (ii) an enhanced processing of multi-information in the temporal cortex; and (iii) an increase in informational content in the fronto-central cortex. These different results provide information-based experimental evidence about the functional activation of the fronto-temporo-parietal brain network during auditory perceptual awareness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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Review

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15 pages, 681 KiB

Open AccessReview

Noises on—How the Brain Deals with Acoustic Noise

by Livia de Hoz and David McAlpine

Biology 2024, 13(7), 501; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13070501 - 4 Jul 2024

Viewed by 249

Abstract

What is noise? When does a sound form part of the acoustic background and when might it come to our attention as part of the foreground? Our brain seems to filter out irrelevant sounds in a seemingly effortless process, but how this is [...] Read more.

What is noise? When does a sound form part of the acoustic background and when might it come to our attention as part of the foreground? Our brain seems to filter out irrelevant sounds in a seemingly effortless process, but how this is achieved remains opaque and, to date, unparalleled by any algorithm. In this review, we discuss how noise can be both background and foreground, depending on what a listener/brain is trying to achieve. We do so by addressing questions concerning the brain’s potential bias to interpret certain sounds as part of the background, the extent to which the interpretation of sounds depends on the context in which they are heard, as well as their ethological relevance, task-dependence, and a listener’s overall mental state. We explore these questions with specific regard to the implicit, or statistical, learning of sounds and the role of feedback loops between cortical and subcortical auditory structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Correlates of Perception in Noise in the Auditory System)

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