How Face Masks Interfere with Speech Understanding of Normal-Hearing Individuals

Background: Successful communication is necessary in health-care environments. Yet the presence of noise in hospitals, operating rooms, and dental offices may have a deleterious effect on health-care personnel and patients understanding messages accurately. The presence of a surgical mask and hearing loss may further affect speech perception. Purpose: To evaluate whether a surgical mask had an effect on speech understanding for listeners with normal hearing and hearing impairment when speech stimuli were administered in the presence or absence of dental office noise. Research Design: Participants were assigned to one of two groups based on hearing sensitivity in this quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study. Study Sample: A total of 31 adults participated in this study (1 talker, 15 listeners with normal hearing, and 15 with hearing impairment). The normal hearing group had thresholds of 25 dB HL or better at the octave frequencies from 250 through 8000 Hz while the hearing loss group had varying degrees and configurations of hearing loss with thresholds equal to or poorer than 25 dB HL for the same octave frequencies. Data Collection And Analysis: Selected lists from the Connected Speech Test (CST) were digitally recorded with and without a surgical mask present and then presented to the listeners in four conditions: without a mask in quiet, without a mask in noise, with a mask in quiet, and with a mask in noise. Results: A significant difference was found in the spectral analyses of the speech stimuli with and without the mask. The presence of a surgical mask, however, did not have a detrimental effect on speech understanding in either the normal-hearing or hearing-impaired groups. The dental office noise did have a significant effect on speech understanding for both groups. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the presence of a surgical mask did not negatively affect speech understanding. However, the presence of noise did have a deleterious effect on speech perception and warrants further attention in health-care environments.

Download Full-text

Sound Localization in Single-Sided Deaf Participants Provided With a Cochlear Implant

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.753339 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Alexandra Annemarie Ludwig ◽

Sylvia Meuret ◽

Rolf-Dieter Battmer ◽

Marc Schönwiesner ◽

Michael Fuchs ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Sound Localization ◽

High Frequency ◽

Real Life ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Frequency Noise ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Speech Understanding In Noise ◽

Single Sided Deafness

Spatial hearing is crucial in real life but deteriorates in participants with severe sensorineural hearing loss or single-sided deafness. This ability can potentially be improved with a unilateral cochlear implant (CI). The present study investigated measures of sound localization in participants with single-sided deafness provided with a CI. Sound localization was measured separately at eight loudspeaker positions (4°, 30°, 60°, and 90°) on the CI side and on the normal-hearing side. Low- and high-frequency noise bursts were used in the tests to investigate possible differences in the processing of interaural time and level differences. Data were compared to normal-hearing adults aged between 20 and 83. In addition, the benefit of the CI in speech understanding in noise was compared to the localization ability. Fifteen out of 18 participants were able to localize signals on the CI side and on the normal-hearing side, although performance was highly variable across participants. Three participants always pointed to the normal-hearing side, irrespective of the location of the signal. The comparison with control data showed that participants had particular difficulties localizing sounds at frontal locations and on the CI side. In contrast to most previous results, participants were able to localize low-frequency signals, although they localized high-frequency signals more accurately. Speech understanding in noise was better with the CI compared to testing without CI, but only at a position where the CI also improved sound localization. Our data suggest that a CI can, to a large extent, restore localization in participants with single-sided deafness. Difficulties may remain at frontal locations and on the CI side. However, speech understanding in noise improves when wearing the CI. The treatment with a CI in these participants might provide real-world benefits, such as improved orientation in traffic and speech understanding in difficult listening situations.

Download Full-text

Cochlear Implant: Effect of the Number of Channel and Frequency Selectivity on Speech Understanding in Noise Preliminary Results in Simulation with Normal-Hearing Subjects

Modelling Measurement and Control C ◽

10.18280/mmc_c.811-404 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 81 (1-4) ◽

pp. 17-23

Author(s):

P.A. Cucis ◽

C. Berger-Vachon ◽

R. Hermann ◽

H. Thaï-Van ◽

S. Gallego ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Signal To Noise Ratio ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Measuring Channel ◽

Frequency Selectivity ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Preliminary Results ◽

Channel Interaction ◽

Speech Understanding In Noise ◽

The Impact

The cochlear implant is the most successful implantable device for the rehabilitation of profound deafness. However, in some cases, the electrical stimulation delivered by the electrode can spread inside the cochlea creating overlap and interaction between frequency channels. By using channel-selection algorithms like the “nofm” coding-strategy, channel interaction can be reduced. This paper describes the preliminary results of experiments conducted with normal hearing subjects (n = 9). Using a vocoder, the present study simulated the hearing through a cochlear implant. Speech understanding in noise was measured by varying the number of selected channels (“nofm”: 4, 8, 12 and 16of20) and the degree of simulated channel interaction (“Low”, “Medium”, “High”). Also, with the vocoder, we evaluated the impact of simulated channel interaction on frequency selectivity by measuring psychoacoustic tuning curves. The results showed a significant average effect of the signal-to-noise ratio (p < 0.0001), the degree of channel interaction (p < 0.0001) and the number of selected channels, (p = 0.029). The highest degree of channel interaction significantly decreases intelligibility as well as frequency selectivity. These results underline the importance of measuring channel interaction for cochlear implanted patients to have a prognostic test and to adjust fitting methods in consequence. The next step of this project will be to transpose these experiments to implant users, to support our results.

Download Full-text

Factors affecting speech understanding in gated interference: Cochlear implant users and normal-hearing listeners

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.1703538 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 115 (5) ◽

pp. 2286-2294 ◽

Cited By ~ 109

Author(s):

Peggy B. Nelson ◽

Su-Hyun Jin

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Factors Affecting

Download Full-text

Improving Speech Perception in Noise for Children with Cochlear Implants

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.22.9.7 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (09) ◽

pp. 623-632 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

René H. Gifford ◽

Amy P. Olund ◽

Melissa DeJong

Keyword(s):

Speech Recognition ◽

Speech Perception ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Cochlear Implants ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Background Noise ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

The Mean ◽

Experimental Subjects

Background: Current cochlear implant recipients are achieving increasingly higher levels of speech recognition; however, the presence of background noise continues to significantly degrade speech understanding for even the best performers. Newer generation Nucleus cochlear implant sound processors can be programmed with SmartSound strategies that have been shown to improve speech understanding in noise for adult cochlear implant recipients. The applicability of these strategies for use in children, however, is not fully understood nor widely accepted. Purpose: To assess speech perception for pediatric cochlear implant recipients in the presence of a realistic restaurant simulation generated by an eight-loudspeaker (R-SPACE™) array in order to determine whether Nucleus sound processor SmartSound strategies yield improved sentence recognition in noise for children who learn language through the implant. Research Design: Single subject, repeated measures design. Study Sample: Twenty-two experimental subjects with cochlear implants (mean age 11.1 yr) and 25 control subjects with normal hearing (mean age 9.6 yr) participated in this prospective study. Intervention: Speech reception thresholds (SRT) in semidiffuse restaurant noise originating from an eight-loudspeaker array were assessed with the experimental subjects’ everyday program incorporating Adaptive Dynamic Range Optimization (ADRO) as well as with the addition of Autosensitivity control (ASC). Data Collection and Analysis: Adaptive SRTs with the Hearing In Noise Test (HINT) sentences were obtained for all 22 experimental subjects, and performance—in percent correct—was assessed in a fixed +6 dB SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) for a six-subject subset. Statistical analysis using a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) evaluated the effects of the SmartSound setting on the SRT in noise. Results: The primary findings mirrored those reported previously with adult cochlear implant recipients in that the addition of ASC to ADRO significantly improved speech recognition in noise for pediatric cochlear implant recipients. The mean degree of improvement in the SRT with the addition of ASC to ADRO was 3.5 dB for a mean SRT of 10.9 dB SNR. Thus, despite the fact that these children have acquired auditory/oral speech and language through the use of their cochlear implant(s) equipped with ADRO, the addition of ASC significantly improved their ability to recognize speech in high levels of diffuse background noise. The mean SRT for the control subjects with normal hearing was 0.0 dB SNR. Given that the mean SRT for the experimental group was 10.9 dB SNR, despite the improvements in performance observed with the addition of ASC, cochlear implants still do not completely overcome the speech perception deficit encountered in noisy environments accompanying the diagnosis of severe-to-profound hearing loss. Conclusion: SmartSound strategies currently available in latest generation Nucleus cochlear implant sound processors are able to significantly improve speech understanding in a realistic, semidiffuse noise for pediatric cochlear implant recipients. Despite the reluctance of pediatric audiologists to utilize SmartSound settings for regular use, the results of the current study support the addition of ASC to ADRO for everyday listening environments to improve speech perception in a child's typical everyday program.

Download Full-text

Effects of age and duration of deafness on Mandarin speech understanding in competing speech by normal-hearing and cochlear implant children

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.5051051 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 144 (2) ◽

pp. EL131-EL137 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Duo-Duo Tao ◽

Yang-Wenyi Liu ◽

Ye Fei ◽

John J. Galvin ◽

Bing Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Competing Speech

Download Full-text

Intelligibility of Foreign-Accented Speech for Older Adults with and without Hearing Loss

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.21.3.3 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 21 (03) ◽

pp. 153-162 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Sarah Hargus Ferguson ◽

Allard Jongman ◽

Joan A. Sereno ◽

Kyung Ae Keum

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Hearing Loss ◽

Native Speaker ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Foreign Accent ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Listening Condition ◽

Essentially Normal ◽

Hearing Status ◽

Negative Effect

Background: Numerous studies have demonstrated that the negative effect of noise and other distortions on speech understanding is greater for older adults than for younger adults. Anecdotal evidence suggests that older adults may also be disproportionately negatively affected by foreign accent. While two previous studies found no interaction between foreign accent and listener age, these studies reported no audiometric data and assessed speech understanding in quiet only. Purpose: To examine the effects of foreign accent, listening condition, and listener age and hearing status on word identification. Research Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Study Sample: Experiments 1 and 2 tested young adults with normal hearing (n = 20 and n = 5, respectively), older adults with essentially normal hearing (n = 20 and n = 10, respectively), and older adults with sloping sensorineural hearing loss (n = 20 and n = 10, respectively). Data Collection and Analysis: The intelligibility of English words produced by a native speaker of English and by a native speaker of Spanish was assessed. In Experiment 1, word intelligibility was measured in quiet, in noise (+3 dB signal-to-babble ratio, or SBR), and in a telephone filter condition. In Experiment 2, intelligibility was measured in three additional noise conditions (+6, +9, and +12 dB SBR). Results: English words produced by the native speaker of English were significantly more intelligible than those produced by the native speaker of Spanish. While the negative effect of noise was significantly greater for older listeners than for younger listeners, the effect of foreign accent was independent of listener age, listener hearing status, and listening condition. Conclusion: The results suggest that, unlike with other forms of distortion, older adults are not disproportionately affected by foreign accent. This suggests, in turn, that talker-related distortions of the speech signal have a qualitatively different impact on speech perception than distortions that are applied to the signal after it has been produced. The nature of these different types of distortion may be a fruitful area for future investigations of speech understanding in older adults.

Download Full-text

Hearing impairment is associated with enhanced neural tracking of the speech envelope

10.1101/489237 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lien Decruy ◽

Jonas Vanthornhout ◽

Tom Francart

Keyword(s):

Hearing Loss ◽

Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽

Hearing Impairment ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Sensorineural Hearing ◽

List Type ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Envelope Tracking ◽

Additional Increase

AbstractElevated hearing thresholds in hearing impaired adults are usually compensated by providing amplification through a hearing aid. In spite of restoring hearing sensitivity, difficulties with understanding speech in noisy environments often remain. One main reason is that sensorineural hearing loss not only causes loss of audibility but also other deficits, including peripheral distortion but also central temporal processing deficits. To investigate the neural consequences of hearing impairment in the brain underlying speech-in-noise difficulties, we compared EEG responses to natural speech of 14 hearing impaired adults with those of 14 age-matched normal-hearing adults. We measured neural envelope tracking to sentences and a story masked by different levels of a stationary noise or competing talker. Despite their sensorineural hearing loss, hearing impaired adults showed higher neural envelope tracking of the target than the competing talker, similar to their normal-hearing peers. Furthermore, hearing impairment was related to an additional increase in neural envelope tracking of the target talker, suggesting that hearing impaired adults may have an enhanced sensitivity to envelope modulations or require a larger differential tracking of target versus competing talker to neurally segregate speech from noise. Lastly, both normal-hearing and hearing impaired participants showed an increase in neural envelope tracking with increasing speech understanding. Hence, our results open avenues towards new clinical applications, such as neuro-steered prostheses as well as objective and automatic measurements of speech understanding performance.HighlightsAdults with hearing impairment can neurally segregate speech from background noiseHearing loss is related to enhanced neural envelope tracking of the target talkerNeural envelope tracking has potential to objectively measure speech understanding

Download Full-text

Perception of Speech Produced by Native and Nonnative Talkers by Listeners with Normal Hearing and Listeners with Cochlear Implants

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2014_jslhr-h-12-0404 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 532-554 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Caili Ji ◽

John J. Galvin ◽

Yi-ping Chang ◽

Anting Xu ◽

Qian-Jie Fu

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implants ◽

The United States ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Native Culture ◽

Sentence Recognition ◽

Speech Understanding In Noise ◽

Hearing In Noise ◽

Noise Test ◽

Intelligibility Ratings

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the understanding of English sentences produced by native (English) and nonnative (Spanish) talkers by listeners with normal hearing (NH) and listeners with cochlear implants (CIs). Method Sentence recognition in noise was measured in adult subjects with CIs and subjects with NH, all of whom were native talkers of American English. Test sentences were from the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) database and were produced in English by four native and eight nonnative talkers. Subjects also rated the intelligibility and accent for each talker. Results The speech recognition thresholds in noise of subjects with CIs and subjects with NH were 4.23 dB and 1.32 dB poorer with nonnative talkers than with native talkers, respectively. Performance was significantly correlated with talker intelligibility and accent ratings for subjects with CIs but only correlated with talker intelligibility ratings for subjects with NH. For all subjects, performance with individual nonnative talkers was significantly correlated with talkers' number of years of residence in the United States. Conclusion CI users exhibited a larger deficit in speech understanding with nonnative talkers than did subjects with NH, relative to native talkers. Nonnative talkers' experience with native culture contributed strongly to speech understanding in noise, intelligibility ratings, and accent ratings of both listeners with NH and listeners with CIs.

Download Full-text