Comparing word and emotion recognition by listeners with normal hearing using unprocessed and vocoded speech stimuli

Introduction: Cortical auditory evoked potentials can provide objective information about the highest level of the auditory system. Aim: The purpose of the authors was to introduce a new tool, the “HEARLab” which can be routinely used in clinical practice for the measurement of the cortical auditory evoked potentials. In addition, they wanted to establish standards of the analyzed parameters in subjects with normal hearing. Method: 25 adults with normal hearing were tested with speech stimuli, and frequency specific examinations were performed utilizing pure tone stimuli. Results: The findings regarding the latency and amplitude analyses of the evoked potentials confirm previously published results of this novel method. Conclusions: The HEARLAb can be a great help when performance of the conventional audiological examinations is complicated. The examination can be performed in uncooperative subjects even in the presence of hearing aids. The test is frequency specific and does not require anesthesia. Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(38), 1524–1529.

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A Binaural Model Predicting Speech Intelligibility in the Presence of Stationary Noise and Noise-Vocoded Speech Interferers for Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Acta Acustica united with Acustica ◽

10.3813/aaa.919243 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 104 (5) ◽

pp. 909-913 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mathieu Lavandier ◽

Jörg M. Buchholz ◽

Baljeet Rana

Keyword(s):

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Stationary Noise ◽

Vocoded Speech

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Dissimilarity Ratings of English Consonants by Normally-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Individuals

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.2202.236 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 236-246 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jeffrey L. Danhauer ◽

Ruth M. Lawarre

Keyword(s):

Normal Hearing ◽

Hearing Impaired ◽

Interval Scale ◽

Individual Group ◽

Speech Stimuli ◽

Paired Stimuli ◽

Loudness Level ◽

Comfortable Loudness

Perceptual patterns in rating dissimilarities among 24 CVs were investigated for a group of normal-hearing and two groups of hearing-impaired subjects (one group with flat, and one group with sloping, sensorineural losses). Stimuli were presented binaurally at most comfortable loudness level and subjects rated the 576 paired stimuli on a 1–7 equal-appearing interval scale. Ratings were submitted to individual group and combined INDSCAL analyses to describe features used by the subjects in their perception of the speech stimuli. Results revealed features such as sibilant, sonorant, plosive and place. Furthermore, normal and hearing-impaired subjects used similar features, and subjects' weightings of features were relatively independent of their audiometric configurations. Results are compared to those of previous studies.

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Acoustic Change Complex (ACC) using Speech and Non-Speech Stimuli in Normal Hearing Children

QJM ◽

10.1093/qjmed/hcaa047.008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 113 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

W A Elkholy ◽

D M Hassan ◽

N A Shafik ◽

Y E K Eltoukhy

Keyword(s):

Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽

Temporal Frequency ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Auditory Discrimination ◽

Auditory Evoked Potential ◽

Frequency Change ◽

Spectral Change ◽

Speech Stimuli ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Hearing Children

Abstract Background Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) are brain responses evoked by sound and are processed in or near the auditory cortex. ACC is a cortical auditory evoked potential (P1-N1-P2) elicited by a change within an ongoing sound stimulus. Objective To reach the best stimuli that can elicit ACC and act as an objective tool for assessment of cortical auditory discrimination in normal hearing children. Patients and Methods The present study was originally designed to standardize ACC evoked response in 41 children aged from 2 to 10 years. The mean age in our study group was 6.2 years with no significant difference between males and females. Stimuli used in this study were specifically designed to be used by AEP equipment that is capable of uploading short duration stimuli (500 msec.), thus can be used in a regular AEP lab. ACC was elicited by three groups of stimuli. Gap-in-tones stimuli represent temporal change (6, 10, 30 and 50 msec. gap introduced to 1000 Hz tone separately), frequency pairs stimuli represent frequency change (2%, 4%, 10% and 25% change from base freq. 1000 Hz) and vowel pairs stimuli represent spectral change (/i-u/, /u-i/, /i-a/. /a-i/, /u-a/, /a-u/). ACC response parameters were compared when using the different stimuli as regards percent detectability, morphology, latency and amplitude. Results Gap-in-tones at 6 msec. and 4% frequency change could elicit ACC response in 100% of subjects. For spectral change, /u-i/ was the highest in eliciting ACC (78%) followed by /i-u/ (68.2%) then /a-i/ (58.5%). ACC had the same morphology of the onset response in the majority of subjects, with longer latency and smaller amplitude. ACC amplitude is a better indicator of cortical discrimination compared to latency because it is consistently affected by magnitude of change. Conclusion ACC is a good electrophysiological tool for cortical auditory discrimination for temporal, frequency and spectral change.

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Speech Understanding Using Surgical Masks: A Problem in Health Care?

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology ◽

10.3766/jaaa.19.9.4 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 19 (09) ◽

pp. 686-695 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Lisa Lucks Mendel ◽

Julie A. Gardino ◽

Samuel R. Atcherson

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Hearing Loss ◽

Speech Perception ◽

Hearing Impairment ◽

Deleterious Effect ◽

Normal Hearing ◽

Speech Understanding ◽

Speech Stimuli ◽

Dental Office ◽

Significant Difference

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.

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