Purkyně’s Opistophone: the hearing ‘Deaf’, auditory attention and organic subjectivity in Prague psychophysical experiments, ca 1850s

In multi-speaker environments, cochlear implant (CI) users may attend to a target sound source in a different manner from normal hearing (NH) individuals during a conversation. This study attempted to investigate the effect of conversational sound levels on the mechanisms adopted by CI and NH listeners in selective auditory attention and how it affects their daily conversation. Nine CI users (five bilateral, three unilateral, and one bimodal) and eight NH listeners participated in this study. The behavioral speech recognition scores were collected using a matrix sentences test, and neural tracking to speech envelope was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). Speech stimuli were presented at three different levels (75, 65, and 55 dB SPL) in the presence of two maskers from three spatially separated speakers. Different combinations of assisted/impaired hearing modes were evaluated for CI users, and the outcomes were analyzed in three categories: electric hearing only, acoustic hearing only, and electric + acoustic hearing. Our results showed that increasing the conversational sound level degraded the selective auditory attention in electrical hearing. On the other hand, increasing the sound level improved the selective auditory attention for the acoustic hearing group. In the NH listeners, however, increasing the sound level did not cause a significant change in the auditory attention. Our result implies that the effect of the sound level on selective auditory attention varies depending on the hearing modes, and the loudness control is necessary for the ease of attending to the conversation by CI users.

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Neuro-Steered Music Source Separation With EEG-Based Auditory Attention Decoding And Contrastive-NMF

ICASSP 2021 - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) ◽

10.1109/icassp39728.2021.9413841 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Giorgia Cantisani ◽

Slim Essid ◽

Gael Richard

Keyword(s):

Source Separation ◽

Auditory Attention

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Central Auditory Processing and Cognitive Functions in Children

International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology ◽

10.1055/s-0040-1722158 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nadja Cristina Furtado Back ◽

Ana Chrystina de Souza Crippa ◽

Tatiana Izabelle Jaworski de Sá Riechi ◽

Liliane Desgualdo Pereira

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Cognitive Deficits ◽

Cognitive Functions ◽

Auditory Processing ◽

Auditory Attention ◽

Auditory Processing Disorder ◽

Behavior Rating ◽

Central Auditory Processing ◽

Behavior Rating Inventory ◽

And Behavior

Abstract Introduction Nowadays, there is no consensus on whether central auditory processing disorder is a primary or a secondary deficit to other cognitive deficits. A better understanding of the association between cognitive functions and central auditory skills may help elucidate this dilemma. Objective To investigate possible associations between auditory abilities and cognitive functions in schoolchildren. Methods Fifty-eight schoolchildren, aged between 8 years and 0 months old and 11 years and 11 months old, who underwent the following tests: masking level difference, gaps in noise, pitch pattern sequence test, dichotic digits test, sustained auditory attention ability test, Wechsler intelligence scale for children – IV, junior Hayling test, five digits test, and behavior rating inventory of executive function. Results Significant correlations were found between the hearing ability of temporal resolution and executive functions, temporal ordering/sequencing, binaural integration and separation, and sustained auditory attention, operational memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility; binaural integration was also associated with intelligence. The statistically significant positive correlation found between the ability of binaural interaction and the components of emotional control and behavior regulation of the behavior rating inventory of executive function was unexpected. Conclusion The associations identified reinforce the complexity of the tasks involved in the evaluation of central auditory processing and the need for multidisciplinary evaluation for the differential diagnosis of auditory processing disorder. Confirmation of the presence or absence of comorbidities between different disorders allows directing the therapeutic behaviors and reducing the impact of possible auditory and/or cognitive deficits in the different daily life situations of children.

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