Is the Frequency‐Following Response (FFR) An Index of Subcortical Auditory Cognition?

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (S1) ◽  
pp. S15-S16
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Auditory Cognition

scholarly journals Cortical correlates of the auditory frequency-following and onset responses: EEG and fMRI evidence

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily B.J. Coffey ◽  
Gabriella Musacchia ◽  
Robert J. Zatorre
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Acoustic Energy ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Auditory Cognition ◽  
Brainstem Nuclei ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe frequency following response (FFR) is a measure of the brain’s periodic sound encoding. It is of increasing importance for studying the human auditory nervous system due to numerous associations with auditory cognition and dysfunction. Although the FFR is widely interpreted as originating from brainstem nuclei, a recent study using magnetoencephalography (MEG) suggested that there is also a right-lateralized contribution from the auditory cortex at the fundamental frequency (Coffey et al., 2016c). Our objectives in the present work were to validate and better localize this result using a completely different neuroimaging modality, and document the relationships between the FFR and the onset response, and cortical activity. Using a combination of electroencephalography, fMRI, and diffusion-weighted imaging, we show that activity in the right auditory cortex is related to individual differences in FFR-f0 strength, a finding that was replicated with two independent stimulus sets, with and without acoustic energy at the fundamental frequency. We demonstrate a dissociation between this FFR-f0-sensitive response in the right and an area in left auditory cortex that is sensitive to individual differences in the timing of initial response to sound onset. Relationships to timing and their lateralization are supported by parallels in the microstructure of the underlying white matter, implicating a mechanism involving neural conduction efficiency. These data confirm that the FFR has a cortical contribution, and suggest ways in which auditory neuroscience may be advanced by connecting early sound representation to measures of higher-level sound processing and cognitive function.Significance StatementThe frequency following response (FFR) is an electroencephalograph signal that is used to explore how the auditory system encodes temporal regularities in sound, and which is related to differences in auditory function between individuals. It is known that brainstem nuclei contribute to the FFR, but recent findings of an additional cortical source are more controversial. Here, we use functional MRI to validate and extend the prediction from magnetoencephalography data of a right auditory cortex contribution to the FFR. We also demonstrate a dissociation between FFR-related cortical activity from that related to the latency of the response to sound onset, which is found in left auditory cortex. The findings provide a clearer picture of cortical processes for analysis of sound features.

Characteristics of the Frequency-Following Response to Speech in Neonates and Potential Applicability in Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1618-1635
Author(s):  
Céline Richard ◽  
Mary Lauren Neel ◽  
Arnaud Jeanvoine ◽  
Sharon Mc Connell ◽  
Alison Gehred ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Ovid Medline ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
Mesh Terms ◽  
Potential Applicability ◽  
Clinical Potential

Purpose We sought to critically analyze and evaluate published evidence regarding feasibility and clinical potential for predicting neurodevelopmental outcomes of the frequency-following responses (FFRs) to speech recordings in neonates (birth to 28 days). Method A systematic search of MeSH terms in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied HealthLiterature, Embase, Google Scholar, Ovid Medline (R) and E-Pub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations and Daily, Web of Science, SCOPUS, COCHRANE Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov was performed. Manual review of all items identified in the search was performed by two independent reviewers. Articles were evaluated based on the level of methodological quality and evidence according to the RTI item bank. Results Seven articles met inclusion criteria. None of the included studies reported neurodevelopmental outcomes past 3 months of age. Quality of the evidence ranged from moderate to high. Protocol variations were frequent. Conclusions Based on this systematic review, the FFR to speech can capture both temporal and spectral acoustic features in neonates. It can accurately be recorded in a fast and easy manner at the infant's bedside. However, at this time, further studies are needed to identify and validate which FFR features could be incorporated as an addition to standard evaluation of infant sound processing evaluation in subcortico-cortical networks. This review identifies the need for further research focused on identifying specific features of the neonatal FFRs, those with predictive value for early childhood outcomes to help guide targeted early speech and hearing interventions.

scholarly journals Neural generators of the frequency-following response elicited to stimuli of low and high frequency: A magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study

NeuroImage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 231 ◽  
pp. 117866
Author(s):  
Natàlia Gorina-Careta ◽  
Jari L.O. Kurkela ◽  
Jarmo Hämäläinen ◽  
Piia Astikainen ◽  
Carles Escera
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Frequency Following Response

scholarly journals Frequency-Following Response (FFR) in Military Pilots

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziela Maria Martins-Moreira ◽  
Alessandra Spada Durante
Keyword(s):  
Pure Tone Audiometry ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Aircraft Accidents ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Qualitative Variables ◽  
Chi Squared ◽  
The Right ◽  
Military Pilots

Abstract Introduction Good hearing in pilots, including central auditory skills, is critical for flight safety and the prevention of aircraft accidents. Pure tone audiometry alone may not be enough to assess hearing in the members of this population who, in addition to high noise levels, routinely face speech recognition tasks in non-ideal conditions. Objective To characterize the frequency-following response (FFR) of a group of military pilots compared with a control group. Methods Twenty military pilots in the Study Group and 20 non-pilot military personnel, not exposed to noise in their work, in the Control Group, all with normal hearing, aged between 30 and 40 years old, completed a questionnaire to assess their hearing habits, and their FFRs were measured with a /da/ syllable (duration 40 milliseconds, speed 10.9/s), at 80 dB NA in the right ear. All procedures were approved by the ethical committee of the institution. Statistical analysis was performed using the t-Student or Mann-Whitney tests for quantitative variables, and the Fisher or chi-squared tests for qualitative variables, and a value of p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results There was no significant difference between the groups regarding auditory habits. In the FFR, wave amplitudes A (p = 0.01) and C (p = 0.04) were significantly lower in the Study Group. Conclusion Working as a military pilot can be a crucial factor in determining an individual's typical FFR pattern, demonstrated in the present study by statistically significant reductions in the amplitudes of the A and C waves.

Cross-correlation of the frequency-following response

1989 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 399-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantine W. Palaskas ◽  
Robert A. Dobie ◽  
Michael J. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Frequency Following Response

Improved amplitude evaluation of the frequency following response (FFR)

1989 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Dembon ◽  
J. Hohnsbein ◽  
L. Blanke ◽  
M. Falkenstein
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Following Response

scholarly journals Effects of Inter-Stimulus Interval on Speech-Evoked Frequency-Following Response in Elderly Adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongxin Liu ◽  
Jiong Hu ◽  
Ruijuan Dong ◽  
Jing Chen ◽  
Gabriella Musacchia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Adults ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Inter Stimulus Interval

scholarly journals Age-related differences in binaural masking level differences: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 2939-2952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira Anderson ◽  
Robert Ellis ◽  
Julie Mehta ◽  
Matthew J. Goupell
Keyword(s):  
Aging Effect ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Behavioral Experiment ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Binaural Processing ◽  
Threshold Difference ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Effects Of Aging

The effects of aging and stimulus configuration on binaural masking level differences (BMLDs) were measured behaviorally and electrophysiologically, using the frequency-following response (FFR) to target brainstem/midbrain encoding. The tests were performed in 15 younger normal-hearing (<30 yr) and 15 older normal-hearing (>60 yr) participants. The stimuli consisted of a 500-Hz target tone embedded in a narrowband (50-Hz bandwidth) or wideband (1,500-Hz bandwidth) noise masker. The interaural phase conditions included NoSo (tone and noise presented interaurally in-phase), NoSπ (noise presented interaurally in-phase and tone presented out-of-phase), and NπSo (noise presented interaurally out-of-phase and tone presented in-phase) configurations. In the behavioral experiment, aging reduced the magnitude of the BMLD. The magnitude of the BMLD was smaller for the NoSo–NπSo threshold difference compared with the NoSo–NoSπ threshold difference, and it was also smaller in narrowband compared with wideband conditions, consistent with previous measurements. In the electrophysiology experiment, older participants had reduced FFR magnitudes and smaller differences between configurations. There were significant changes in FFR magnitude between the NoSo to NoSπ configurations but not between the NoSo to NπSo configurations. The age-related reduction in FFR magnitudes suggests a temporal processing deficit, but no correlation was found between FFR magnitudes and behavioral BMLDs. Therefore, independent mechanisms may be contributing to the behavioral and neural deficits. Specifically, older participants had higher behavioral thresholds than younger participants for the NoSπ and NπSo configurations but had equivalent thresholds for the NoSo configuration. However, FFR magnitudes were reduced in older participants across all configurations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Behavioral and electrophysiological testing reveal an aging effect for stimuli presented in wideband and narrowband noise conditions, such that behavioral binaural masking level differences and subcortical spectral magnitudes are reduced in older compared with younger participants. These deficits in binaural processing may limit the older participant's ability to use spatial cues to understand speech in environments containing competing sound sources.

scholarly journals PITCH MEMORY AND EXPOSURE EFFECTS: Statistical learning and the effects of implicit "absolute pitch" on the perception and evaluation of music

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Shay Ben-Haim ◽  
Zohar Eitan ◽  
Eran Chajut
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Auditory Cognition ◽  
Musical Cognition ◽  
Pitch Frequency

Recent studies indicate that the ability to represent absolute pitch values in long-term memory (LTM), long believed to be the possession of a small minority of trained musicians endowed with "absolute pitch" (AP), is in fact shared to some extent by a considerable proportion of the population. The current study examined whether this newly discovered ability affects aspects of music and auditory cognition, particularly pitch learning and evaluation. Our starting points are two well established premises: (1) frequency of occurrence has an influence on the way we process stimuli; (2) in Western music, some pitches and musical keys are much more frequent than others. Based on these premises, we hypothesize that if absolute pitch values are indeed represented in LTM, pitch frequency of occurrence in music would significantly affect cognitive processes, in particular pitch learning and evaluation. Two experiments were designed to test this hypothesis in participants with no AP, most with little or no musical training. Experiment 1 demonstrated a faster response and a learning advantage for frequent pitches over infrequent pitches in an identification task. In Experiment 2 participants evaluated infrequent pitches as more pleasing than frequent pitches when presented in isolation. These results suggest that absolute pitch representation in memory may play a substantial, hitherto unacknowledged role in auditory (and specifically musical) cognition.

scholarly journals A novel stimulus paradigm for simultaneous recording of monaural and binaural frequency following response for identification of binaural interaction component

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srividya Grama Bhagavan ◽  
Mohan Kumar Kalaiah
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Simultaneous Recording ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Frequency Following Response ◽  
Binaural Interaction ◽  
The Right ◽  
Interaction Component

AbstractThe objective of the study was to investigate whether monaural frequency following response (FFR) of right and left ear and binaural FFR could be obtained in the same recording using a novel stimulus presentation paradigm, for the purpose of identification the BIC. Twenty six young adults participated in the study. The FFR was recorded for 220 Hz pure-tone using a novel stimulus paradigm. The pure-tone was presented sequentially to two ears. Initially, the pure-tone was presented to the right ear, then to both ears, and finally to the left ear. The FFR could be elicited from all participants (all three responses: right ear, left ear, and both ears) in the same recording using the novel stimulus presentation paradigm used in the present study. The novel stimulus presentation paradigm used in the present study could be used for obtaining monaural and binaural FFRs in the same recording for identification of BIC.

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