scholarly journals Speech discrimination performance in multiple sclerosis dataset

Data in Brief ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 106614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pippa Iva ◽  
Joanne Fielding ◽  
Meaghan Clough ◽  
Owen White ◽  
Gustavo Noffs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Speech Discrimination

scholarly journals Speech Discrimination Tasks: A Sensitive Sensory and Cognitive Measure in Early and Mild Multiple Sclerosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pippa Iva ◽  
Joanne Fielding ◽  
Meaghan Clough ◽  
Owen White ◽  
Branislava Godic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Neuropsychological Testing ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Clinical Use ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Cognitive Changes ◽  
Functional Scores

There is a need for reliable and objective measures of early and mild symptomology in multiple sclerosis (MS), as deficits can be subtle and difficult to quantify objectively in patients without overt physical deficits. We hypothesized that a speech-in-noise (SiN) task would be sensitive to demyelinating effects on precise neural timing and diffuse higher-level networks required for speech intelligibility, and therefore be a useful tool for monitoring sensory and cognitive changes in early MS. The objective of this study was to develop a SiN task for clinical use that sensitively monitors disease activity in early (<5 years) and late (>10 years) stages of MS subjects with mild severity [Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score < 3]. Pre-recorded Bamford-Kowal-Bench sentences and isolated keywords were presented at five signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) in one of two background noises: speech-weighted noise and eight-talker babble. All speech and noise were presented via headphones to controls (n = 38), early MS (n = 23), and late MS (n = 12) who were required to verbally repeat the target speech. MS subjects also completed extensive neuropsychological testing which included: Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, Digit Span Test, and California Verbal Learning Test. Despite normal hearing thresholds, subjects with early and late mild MS displayed speech discrimination deficits when sentences and words were presented in babble – but not speech-weighted noise. Significant correlations between SiN performance and standardized neuropsychological assessments indicated that MS subjects with lower functional scores also had poorer speech discrimination. Furthermore, a quick 5-min task with words and keywords presented in multi-talker babble at an SNR of −1 dB was 82% accurate in discriminating mildly impaired MS individuals (median EDSS = 0) from healthy controls. Quantifying functional deficits in mild MS will help clinicians to maximize the opportunities to preserve neurological reserve in patients with appropriate therapeutic management, particularly in the earliest stages. Given that physical assessments are not informative in this fully ambulatory cohort, a quick 5-min task with words and keywords presented in multi-talker babble at a single SNR could serve as a complementary test for clinical use due to its ease of use and speed.

Predicting disability progression in multiple sclerosis: Insights from advanced statistical modeling

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 1828-1836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Pellegrini ◽  
Massimiliano Copetti ◽  
Maria Pia Sormani ◽  
Francesca Bovis ◽  
Carl de Moor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Statistical Modeling ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Disability Progression ◽  
Prediction Ability

Background: There is an unmet need for precise methods estimating disease prognosis in multiple sclerosis (MS). Objective: Using advanced statistical modeling, we assessed the prognostic value of various clinical measures for disability progression. Methods: Advanced models to assess baseline prognostic factors for disability progression over 2 years were applied to a pooled sample of patients from placebo arms in four different phase III clinical trials. least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and ridge regression, elastic nets, support vector machines, and unconditional and conditional random forests were applied to model time to clinical disability progression confirmed at 24 weeks. Sensitivity analyses for different definitions of a combined endpoint were carried out, and bootstrap was used to assess prediction model performance. Results: A total of 1582 patients were included, of which 434 (27.4%) had disability progression in a combined endpoint over 2 years. Overall model discrimination performance was relatively poor (all C-indices ⩽ 0.65) across all models and across different definitions of progression. Conclusion: Inconsistency of prognostic factor importance ranking confirmed the relatively poor prediction ability of baseline factors in modeling disease progression in MS. Our findings underline the importance to explore alternative predictors as well as alternative definitions of commonly used endpoints.

A Comparative Study of Speech Perception in Young Severely Retarded Children and Normally Developing Infants

1980 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Eilers ◽  
D. Kimbrough Oller
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
School Children ◽  
Elementary School Children ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Spectral Information ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Spectral Changes ◽  
Spectral Cues

The discrimination of minimally paired speech sounds by seven retarded children with a mean age of 3 years, 2 months and a mean IQ of 38.4 was compared with the discrimination performance of eight normally developing 7-month-old infants. Children and infants were tested using the Visually Reinforced Infant Speech Discrimination (VRISD) paradigm in which they were taught to respond with a head turn to a change in a repeating background auditory stimulus. Responses were reinforced by activation of an animated toy. All children proved to be conditionable and both groups evidenced discrimination of the speech contrasts tested. The data suggest that the retarded children have more difficulty processing a contrast cued by rapid spectral changes (often associated with consonant discrimination) than they do a contrast cued by steady-state spectral information (often associated with the perception of slowly articulated vowels): The normally developing infants did not find rapid spectral cues more difficult than steady-state cues. These results parallel those of Tallal (1976) who found that dynamic cues were specifically difficult for dysphasic children (with normal nonverbal intelligence), but not for linguistically-normal elementary school children.

Evaluation of Pure Tone and Speech Discrimination Changes in Usher's Syndrome

1989 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 364-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dianne H. Meyer ◽  
Lawrence Piazza ◽  
Gerald A. Fishman
Keyword(s):  
Pure Tone ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Adult Patients ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Discrete Frequency ◽  
Pure Tone Average ◽  
The Average Range ◽  
Usher’S Syndrome

Twenty-three adult patients with type 2 Usher's syndrome were evaluated for changes in pure tone average (PTA), discrete frequency thresholds, and speech discrimination scores. These patients were evaluated over a period of 5 years on the average (range, 2 to 9 years). Analyses of ear data showed a <10-dB change on PTA and discrete frequency thresholds for most ears. Of the ears that showed a threshold change ≥ 10 dB, statistical significance was reached only at 4,000 Hz (p < .01), where 11 ears representing ten patients dropped 10 to 15 dB. Speech discrimination data showed a ≥ 16% change in score for 18 ears (12 patients). Sixteen of those ears (ten patients) had a 16% to 52% decrease in score (p < .01), and the remaining two ears (two patients) showed a 20% and 30% improvement in score. These findings document little or no change in pure tone sensitivity for type 2 Usher's syndrome patients, but demonstrate the importance of monitoring their speech discrimination performance.

Speech Perception in Children with Specific Reading Difficulties (Dyslexia)

1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Adlard ◽  
Valerie Hazan
Keyword(s):  
Phonemic Awareness ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Reading Difficulty ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Reading Tests ◽  
Specific Reading ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
Phoneme Discrimination

Many experimental studies over the last two decades have suggested that groups of children who suffer significant delay in reading also show a weakness in phoneme discrimination and identification. In order to look further at the relation between type of reading deficit, auditory acuity, and speech discrimination, a group of 13 children with specific reading difficulty (SRD), 12 chronological-age controls, and 12 reading-age controls were tested on a battery of speech-perceptual, psychoacoustic, and reading tests. A sub-group of children with Specific Reading Difficulty (SRD) were poor at speech discrimination tests, whereas the rest of the SRD group performed within norms. For this sub-group, discrimination performance was particularly poor for consonant contrasts differing in a single feature that was not acoustically salient, and problems were encountered with nasal and fricative contrasts as well as with stop contrasts. These children did not differ from controls in their performance on non-speech psychoacoustic tasks. An evaluation is made of the reported phonemic awareness skills of beginning readers with regard to speech-processing issues which may help in understanding what factors are important in reading development.

Relationship of Auditory Distortion Test Results to Speech Discrimination Through Flat vs. Selective Amplifying Systems

1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Thompson ◽  
Frank Lassman
Keyword(s):  
Auditory System ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Selective Amplification ◽  
Auditory Systems ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
High Pass

Thirty adult subjects with high frequency hearing loss were given speech discrimination tests under conditions of flat and selective amplification. It was hypothesized that performance for the two amplifying conditions is related to amount of distortion in the auditory system as defined by selected clinical tests. An assumption was made that excessively distorted auditory systems are more easily overdriven by high frequency emphasis amplification than auditory systems with less distortion. Therefore, subjects with least distortion were expected to discriminate speech better through a high-pass filtered amplifying system which, within limits, restored frequency-intensity balance. Results indicated slightly better speech discrimination performance for the selective amplifying condition. There was some evidence that the extent of the difference favoring selective amplification may be influenced by the amount of distortion in the auditory system.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting Speech Discrimination in Children with Cochlear Implants: Evidence from Early-Implanted Infants

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (06) ◽  
pp. 480-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Phan ◽  
Derek M. Houston ◽  
Chad Ruffin ◽  
Jonathan Ting ◽  
Rachael Frush Holt
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Cochlear Implantation ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Communication Mode ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Pure Tone Average

Background: To learn words and acquire language, children must be able to discriminate and correctly perceive phonemes. Although there has been much research on the general language outcomes of children with cochlear implants (CIs), little is known about the development of speech perception with regard to specific speech processes, such as speech discrimination. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of speech discrimination in infants with CIs and identify factors that might correlate with speech discrimination skills. Research Design: Using a Hybrid Visual Habituation procedure, we tested infants with CIs on their ability to discriminate the vowel contrast /i/-/u/. We also gathered demographic and audiological information about each infant. Study Sample: Children who had received CIs before 2 yr of age served as participants. We tested the children at two post cochlear implantation intervals: 2–4 weeks post CI stimulation (N = 17) and 6–9 mo post CI stimulation (N = 10). Data Collection and Analysis: The infants’ mean looking times during the novel versus old trials of the experiment were measured. A linear regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between the normalized looking time difference and the following variables: chronological age, age at CI stimulation, gender, communication mode, and best unaided pure-tone average. Results: We found that the best unaided pure-tone average predicted speech discrimination at the early interval. In contrast to some previous speech perception studies that included children implanted before 3 yr of age, age at CI stimulation did not predict speech discrimination performance. Conclusions: The results suggest that residual acoustic hearing before implantation might facilitate speech discrimination during the early period post cochlear implantation; with more hearing experience, communication mode might have a greater influence on the ability to discriminate speech. This and other studies on age at cochlear implantation suggest that earlier implantation might not have as large an effect on speech perception as it does on other language skills.

scholarly journals Cognitive and Linguistic Sources of Variance in 2-Year-Olds' Speech-Sound Discrimination: A Preliminary Investigation

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 308-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaylah Lalonde ◽  
Rachael Frush Holt
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Current Experiment ◽  
Perceptual Representations ◽  
Sound Discrimination

Purpose This preliminary investigation explored potential cognitive and linguistic sources of variance in 2-year-olds' speech-sound discrimination by using the toddler change/no-change procedure and examined whether modifications would result in a procedure that can be used consistently with younger 2-year-olds. Method Twenty typically developing 2-year-olds completed the newly modified toddler change/no-change procedure. Behavioral tests and parent report questionnaires were used to measure several cognitive and linguistic constructs. Stepwise linear regression was used to relate discrimination sensitivity to the cognitive and linguistic measures. In addition, discrimination results from the current experiment were compared with those from 2-year-old children tested in a previous experiment. Results Receptive vocabulary and working memory explained 56.6% of variance in discrimination performance. Performance was not different on the modified toddler change/no-change procedure used in the current experiment from in a previous investigation, which used the original version of the procedure. Conclusions The relationship between speech discrimination and receptive vocabulary and working memory provides further evidence that the procedure is sensitive to the strength of perceptual representations. The role for working memory might also suggest that there are specific subject-related, nonsensory factors limiting the applicability of the procedure to children who have not reached the necessary levels of cognitive and linguistic development.

Transitioning Hearing Aid Users with Severe and Profound Loss to a New Gain/Frequency Response: Benefit, Perception, and Acceptance

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (03) ◽  
pp. 168-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Convery ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Frequency Response ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Paired Comparison ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Experimental Group

Background: Adults with severe and profound hearing loss tend to be long-term, full-time users of amplification who are highly reliant on their hearing aids. As a result of these characteristics, they are often reluctant to update their hearing aids when new features or signal-processing algorithms become available. Due to the electroacoustic constraints of older devices, many severely and profoundly hearing-impaired adults continue to wear hearing aids that provide more low- and mid-frequency gain and less high-frequency gain than would be prescribed by the National Acoustic Laboratories’ revised formula with profound correction factor (NAL-RP). Purpose: To investigate the effect of a gradual change in gain/frequency response on experienced hearing-aid wearers with moderately severe to profound hearing loss. Research Design: Double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Study Sample: Twenty-three experienced adult hearing-aid users with severe and profound hearing loss participated in the study. Participants were selected for inclusion in the study if the gain/frequency response of their own hearing aids differed significantly from their NAL-RP prescription. Participants were assigned either to a control or to an experimental group balanced for aided ear three-frequency pure-tone average (PTA) and age. Intervention: Participants were fitted with Siemens Artis 2 SP behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids that were matched to the gain/frequency response of their own hearing aids for a 65 dB SPL input level. The experimental group progressed incrementally to their NAL-RP targets over the course of 15 wk, while the control group maintained their initial settings throughout the study. Data Collection and Analysis: Aided speech discrimination testing, loudness scaling, and structured questionnaires were completed at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 wk postfitting. A paired comparison between the old and new gain/frequency responses was completed at 1 and 15 wk postfitting. Statistical analysis was conducted to examine differences between the experimental and control groups and changes in objective performance and subjective perception over time. Results: The results of the study showed that participants in the experimental group were subjectively accepting of the changes to their amplification characteristics, as evidenced by nonsignificant changes in the ratings of device performance over time. Perception of loudness, sound quality, speech intelligibility, and own voice volume did not change significantly throughout the study. Objectively, participants in the experimental group demonstrated poorer speech discrimination performance as the study progressed, although there was no change in objective loudness perception. According to the paired comparison, there was an overall subjective preference for the original gain/frequency response among all participants, although participants in the experimental group did show an increase in preference for the NAL-RP response by the end of the study. Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, we suggest that undertaking a gradual change to a new gain/frequency response with severely and profoundly hearing-impaired adults is a feasible procedure. However, we recommend that clinicians select transition candidates carefully and initiate the procedure only if there is a clinical reason for doing so. A validated prescriptive formula should be used as a transition target, and speech discrimination performance should be monitored throughout the transition.

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