Journal article
'Normal' hearing thresholds and fundamental auditory grouping processes predict difficulties with speech-in-noise perception
Scientific reports, Vol.9(1), pp.16771-11
11/14/2019
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53353-5
PMCID: PMC6856372
PMID: 31728002
Abstract
Understanding speech when background noise is present is a critical everyday task that varies widely among people. A key challenge is to understand why some people struggle with speech-in-noise perception, despite having clinically normal hearing. Here, we developed new figure-ground tests that require participants to extract a coherent tone pattern from a stochastic background of tones. These tests dissociated variability in speech-in-noise perception related to mechanisms for detecting static (same-frequency) patterns and those for tracking patterns that change frequency over time. In addition, elevated hearing thresholds that are widely considered to be 'normal' explained significant variance in speech-in-noise perception, independent of figure-ground perception. Overall, our results demonstrate that successful speech-in-noise perception is related to audiometric thresholds, fundamental grouping of static acoustic patterns, and tracking of acoustic sources that change in frequency. Crucially, speechin-noise deficits are better assessed by measuring central (grouping) processes alongside audiometric thresholds.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- 'Normal' hearing thresholds and fundamental auditory grouping processes predict difficulties with speech-in-noise perception
- Creators
- Emma Holmes - University College LondonTimothy D. Griffiths - University College London
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Scientific reports, Vol.9(1), pp.16771-11
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-019-53353-5
- PMID
- 31728002
- PMCID
- PMC6856372
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- eISSN
- 2045-2322
- Number of pages
- 11
- Grant note
- 203147/Z/16/Z / Wellcome Trust
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/14/2019
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984627202302771
Metrics
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