Sensitivity to isolated and concurrent intensity and fundamental frequency increments by cochlear implant users under natural listening conditions

Purpose The purpose of this letter is to compare results by Skuk et al. (2020) with Meister et al. (2016) and to point to a potential general influence of stimulus type. Conclusion Our conclusion is that presenting sentences may give cochlear implant recipients the opportunity to use timbre cues for voice perception. This might not be the case when presenting brief and sparse stimuli such as consonant–vowel–consonant or single words, which were applied in the majority of studies.

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Saliency of Vowel Features in Neural Responses of Cochlear Implant Users

Clinical EEG and Neuroscience ◽

10.1177/1550059418770051 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (6) ◽

pp. 388-397

Author(s):

François Prévost ◽

Alexandre Lehmann

Keyword(s):

Speech Recognition ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Fundamental Frequency ◽

Mismatch Negativity ◽

Free Field ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Oddball Paradigm ◽

Aural Rehabilitation ◽

Spectral Components ◽

Related Potentials

Cochlear implants restore hearing in deaf individuals, but speech perception remains challenging. Poor discrimination of spectral components is thought to account for limitations of speech recognition in cochlear implant users. We investigated how combined variations of spectral components along two orthogonal dimensions can maximize neural discrimination between two vowels, as measured by mismatch negativity. Adult cochlear implant users and matched normal-hearing listeners underwent electroencephalographic event-related potentials recordings in an optimum-1 oddball paradigm. A standard /a/ vowel was delivered in an acoustic free field along with stimuli having a deviant fundamental frequency (+3 and +6 semitones), a deviant first formant making it a /i/ vowel or combined deviant fundamental frequency and first formant (+3 and +6 semitones /i/ vowels). Speech recognition was assessed with a word repetition task. An analysis of variance between both amplitude and latency of mismatch negativity elicited by each deviant vowel was performed. The strength of correlations between these parameters of mismatch negativity and speech recognition as well as participants’ age was assessed. Amplitude of mismatch negativity was weaker in cochlear implant users but was maximized by variations of vowels’ first formant. Latency of mismatch negativity was later in cochlear implant users and was particularly extended by variations of the fundamental frequency. Speech recognition correlated with parameters of mismatch negativity elicited by the specific variation of the first formant. This nonlinear effect of acoustic parameters on neural discrimination of vowels has implications for implant processor programming and aural rehabilitation.

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A Novel Speech Processing Algorithm for Cochlear Implant Based on Selective Fundamental Frequency Control

Neural Information Processing - Lecture Notes in Computer Science ◽

10.1007/11893028_31 ◽

2006 ◽

pp. 272-279

Author(s):

Tian Guan ◽

Qin Gong ◽

Datian Ye

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Fundamental Frequency ◽

Speech Processing ◽

Frequency Control ◽

Processing Algorithm

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Voice fundamental frequency differences and speech recognition with noise and speech maskers in cochlear implant recipients

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/10.0000499 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 147 (1) ◽

pp. EL19-EL24 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hartmut Meister ◽

Martin Walger ◽

Ruth Lang-Roth ◽

Verena Müller

Keyword(s):

Speech Recognition ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Fundamental Frequency ◽

Voice Fundamental Frequency

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Effects of cochlear implant processing and fundamental frequency on the intelligibility of competing sentences

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.2750159 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 122 (2) ◽

pp. 1069-1078 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Ginger S. Stickney ◽

Peter F. Assmann ◽

Janice Chang ◽

Fan-Gang Zeng

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Fundamental Frequency

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Perception of fundamental frequency in cochlear implant patients

10.21437/interspeech.2006-300 ◽

2006 ◽

Author(s):

Ángel de la Torre ◽

Cristina Roldán ◽

Manuel Sainz

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Fundamental Frequency

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The Use of Voice Cues for Speaker Gender Recognition in Cochlear Implant Recipients

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2015_jslhr-h-15-0128 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 59 (3) ◽

pp. 546-556 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Hartmut Meister ◽

Katrin Fürsen ◽

Barbara Streicher ◽

Ruth Lang-Roth ◽

Martin Walger

Keyword(s):

Cochlear Implant ◽

Detailed Analysis ◽

Fundamental Frequency ◽

Stimulus Type ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Vocal Tract ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Gender Recognition ◽

Point Rating Scale ◽

The Voice

PurposeThe focus of this study was to examine the influence of fundamental frequency (F0) and vocal tract length (VTL) modifications on speaker gender recognition in cochlear implant (CI) recipients for different stimulus types.MethodSingle words and sentences were manipulated using isolated or combined F0 and VTL cues. Using an 11-point rating scale, CI recipients and listeners with normal hearing rated the maleness/femaleness of the corresponding voice.ResultsSpeaker gender ratings for combined F0 and VTL modifications were similar across all stimulus types in both CI recipients and listeners with normal hearing, although the CI recipients showed a somewhat larger ambiguity. In contrast to listeners with normal hearing, F0-VTL and F0-only modifications revealed similar ratings in the CI recipients when using words as stimuli. However, when sentences were used, a difference was found between F0-VTL–based and F0-based ratings. Modifying VTL cues alone did not affect ratings in the CI group.ConclusionsWhereas speaker gender ratings by listeners with normal hearing relied on combined VTL and F0 cues, CI recipients made only limited use of VTL cues, which might be one reason behind problems with identifying the speaker on the basis of voice. However, use of the voice cues depended on stimulus type, with the greater information in sentences allowing a more detailed analysis than single words in both listener groups.

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