The effects of aging and musicianship on the use of auditory streaming cues

Auditory stream segregation, or separating sounds into their respective sources, and tracking them over time is a fundamental auditory ability. Previous research has separately explored the impacts of aging and musicianship on the ability to separate and follow auditory streams. The current study evaluated the simultaneous effects of age and musicianship on auditory streaming induced by three physical features: intensity, spectral envelope and temporal envelope. In the first study, older and younger musicians and non-musicians with normal hearing identified deviants in a four-note melody interleaved with distractors that were more or less similar to the melody in terms of intensity, spectral envelope and temporal envelope. In the second study, older and younger musicians and non-musicians participated in a dissimilarity rating paradigm with pairs of melodies that differed along the same three features. Results suggested that auditory streaming skills are maintained in older adults but that older adults rely on intensity more than younger adults while musicianship is associated with increased sensitivity to spectral and temporal envelope, acoustic features that are typically less effective for stream segregation, particularly in older adults.

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Multistability in auditory stream segregation: a predictive coding view

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2011.0359 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 367 (1591) ◽

pp. 1001-1012 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

István Winkler ◽

Susan Denham ◽

Robert Mill ◽

Tamás M. Bőhm ◽

Alexandra Bendixen

Keyword(s):

Predictive Coding ◽

Stream Segregation ◽

Predictive Processing ◽

Conscious Perception ◽

Auditory Streaming ◽

Sound Sources ◽

Auditory Stream ◽

Auditory Stream Segregation ◽

Perceptual Stability ◽

The Brain

Auditory stream segregation involves linking temporally separate acoustic events into one or more coherent sequences. For any non-trivial sequence of sounds, many alternative descriptions can be formed, only one or very few of which emerge in awareness at any time. Evidence from studies showing bi-/multistability in auditory streaming suggest that some, perhaps many of the alternative descriptions are represented in the brain in parallel and that they continuously vie for conscious perception. Here, based on a predictive coding view, we consider the nature of these sound representations and how they compete with each other. Predictive processing helps to maintain perceptual stability by signalling the continuation of previously established patterns as well as the emergence of new sound sources. It also provides a measure of how well each of the competing representations describes the current acoustic scene. This account of auditory stream segregation has been tested on perceptual data obtained in the auditory streaming paradigm.

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Effects of Aging on the Subcortical Encoding of Stop Consonants

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2020_aja-19-00044 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 391-403

Author(s):

Dania Rishiq ◽

Ashley Harkrider ◽

Cary Springer ◽

Mark Hedrick

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Aging Effects ◽

Formant Frequency ◽

Place Of Articulation ◽

Second Formant ◽

Effects Of Aging

Purpose The main purpose of this study was to evaluate aging effects on the predominantly subcortical (brainstem) encoding of the second-formant frequency transition, an essential acoustic cue for perceiving place of articulation. Method Synthetic consonant–vowel syllables varying in second-formant onset frequency (i.e., /ba/, /da/, and /ga/ stimuli) were used to elicit speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses (speech-ABRs) in 16 young adults ( M age = 21 years) and 11 older adults ( M age = 59 years). Repeated-measures mixed-model analyses of variance were performed on the latencies and amplitudes of the speech-ABR peaks. Fixed factors were phoneme (repeated measures on three levels: /b/ vs. /d/ vs. /g/) and age (two levels: young vs. older). Results Speech-ABR differences were observed between the two groups (young vs. older adults). Specifically, older listeners showed generalized amplitude reductions for onset and major peaks. Significant Phoneme × Group interactions were not observed. Conclusions Results showed aging effects in speech-ABR amplitudes that may reflect diminished subcortical encoding of consonants in older listeners. These aging effects were not phoneme dependent as observed using the statistical methods of this study.

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A unified description of auditory deviance detection and auditory stream segregation

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e636952013-193 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Istvan Winkler ◽

Erich Schroger

Keyword(s):

Stream Segregation ◽

Auditory Stream ◽

Auditory Stream Segregation ◽

Deviance Detection ◽

Unified Description

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The role of temporal integration in auditory stream segregation.

Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance ◽

10.1037/xhp0000564 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (11) ◽

pp. 1683-1693 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Júlia Simon ◽

István Winkler

Keyword(s):

Temporal Integration ◽

Stream Segregation ◽

Auditory Stream ◽

Auditory Stream Segregation

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Effects of aging on emotion recognition from dynamic multimodal expressions and vocalizations

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-82135-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Diana S. Cortes ◽

Christina Tornberg ◽

Tanja Bänziger ◽

Hillary Anger Elfenbein ◽

Håkan Fischer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Group Differences ◽

Significant Group ◽

Positivity Effect ◽

Video Recordings ◽

Age Related ◽

Effects Of Aging

AbstractAge-related differences in emotion recognition have predominantly been investigated using static pictures of facial expressions, and positive emotions beyond happiness have rarely been included. The current study instead used dynamic facial and vocal stimuli, and included a wider than usual range of positive emotions. In Task 1, younger and older adults were tested for their abilities to recognize 12 emotions from brief video recordings presented in visual, auditory, and multimodal blocks. Task 2 assessed recognition of 18 emotions conveyed by non-linguistic vocalizations (e.g., laughter, sobs, and sighs). Results from both tasks showed that younger adults had significantly higher overall recognition rates than older adults. In Task 1, significant group differences (younger > older) were only observed for the auditory block (across all emotions), and for expressions of anger, irritation, and relief (across all presentation blocks). In Task 2, significant group differences were observed for 6 out of 9 positive, and 8 out of 9 negative emotions. Overall, results indicate that recognition of both positive and negative emotions show age-related differences. This suggests that the age-related positivity effect in emotion recognition may become less evident when dynamic emotional stimuli are used and happiness is not the only positive emotion under study.

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Effects of aging and noncanonical form presentation on idiom processing: Evidence from eye tracking

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716420000612 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-27

Author(s):

Katja I. Haeuser ◽

Shari Baum ◽

Debra Titone

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Eye Movements ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Idiom Comprehension ◽

First Pass ◽

Effects Of Aging ◽

Open Question ◽

Idiom Processing ◽

Noncanonical Form

Abstract Comprehending idioms (e.g., bite the bullet) requires that people appreciate their figurative meanings while suppressing literal interpretations of the phrase. While much is known about idioms, an open question is how healthy aging and noncanonical form presentation affect idiom comprehension when the task is to read sentences silently for comprehension. Here, younger and older adults read sentences containing idioms or literal phrases, while we monitored their eye movements. Idioms were presented in a canonical or a noncanonical form (e.g., bite the iron bullet). To assess whether people integrate figurative or literal interpretations of idioms, a disambiguating region that was figuratively or literally biased followed the idiom in each sentence. During early stages of reading, older adults showed facilitation for canonical idioms, suggesting a greater sensitivity to stored idiomatic forms. During later stages of reading, older adults showed slower reading times when canonical idioms were biased toward their literal interpretation, suggesting they were more likely to interpret idioms figuratively on the first pass. In contrast, noncanonical form presentation slowed comprehension of figurative meanings comparably in younger and older participants. We conclude that idioms may be more strongly entrenched in older adults, and that noncanonical form presentation slows comprehension of figurative meanings.

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Representation of Spectral and Temporal Envelope of Twitter Vocalizations in Common Marmoset Primary Auditory Cortex

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00632.2001 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 87 (4) ◽

pp. 1723-1737 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Srikantan S. Nagarajan ◽

Steven W. Cheung ◽

Purvis Bedenbaugh ◽

Ralph E. Beitel ◽

Christoph E. Schreiner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cortical Neurons ◽

Social Contact ◽

Primary Auditory Cortex ◽

Common Marmoset ◽

Spectral Envelope ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Temporal Envelope ◽

Degraded Speech ◽

Neurophysiological Data ◽

Narrowband Channels

Cortical sensitivity in representations of behaviorally relevant complex input signals was examined in recordings from primary auditory cortical neurons (AI) in adult, barbiturate-anesthetized common marmoset monkeys ( Callithrix jacchus). We studied the robustness of distributed responses to natural and degraded forms of twitter calls, social contact vocalizations comprising several quasi-periodic phrases of frequency and AM. We recorded neuronal responses to a monkey's own twitter call (MOC), degraded forms of their twitter call, and sinusoidal amplitude modulated (SAM) tones with modulation rates similar to those of twitter calls. In spectral envelope degradation, calls with narrowband channels of varying bandwidths had the same temporal envelope as a natural call. However, the carrier phase was randomized within each narrowband channel. In temporal envelope degradation, the temporal envelope within narrowband channels was filtered while the carrier frequencies and phases remained unchanged. In a third form of degradation, noise was added to the natural calls. Spatiotemporal discharge patterns in AI both within and across frequency bands encoded spectrotemporal acoustic features in the call although the encoded response is an abstract version of the call. The average temporal response pattern in AI, however, was significantly correlated with the average temporal envelope for each phrase of a call. Response entrainment to MOC was significantly correlated with entrainment to SAM stimuli at comparable modulation frequencies. Sensitivity of the response patterns to MOC was substantially greater for temporal envelope than for spectral envelope degradations. The distributed responses in AI were robust to additive continuous noise at signal-to-noise ratios ≥10 dB. Neurophysiological data reflecting response sensitivity in AI to these forms of degradation closely parallel human psychophysical results on the intelligibility of degraded speech in quiet and noisy conditions.

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Primary Auditory Stream Segregation of Repeated Word Sequences

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.42.3c.1071 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 42 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1071-1074 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Betty Tuller ◽

James R. Lackner

Keyword(s):

Spatial Separation ◽

Repeated Sequences ◽

Stream Segregation ◽

Natural Speech ◽

Auditory Stream ◽

Auditory Stream Segregation ◽

Repeated Word ◽

Auditory Sequence ◽

Constituent Order

Primary auditory stream segregation, the perceptual segregation of acoustically related elements within a continuous auditory sequence into distinct spatial streams, prevents subjects from resolving the relative constituent order of repeated sequences of tones (Bregman & Campbell, 1971) or repeated sequences of consonant and vowel sounds (Lackner & Goldstein, 1974). To determine why primary auditory stream segregation does not interfere with the resolution of natural speech, 8 subjects were required to indicate the degree of stream segregation undergone by 24 repeated sequences of English monosyllables which varied in terms of the degrees of syntactic and intonational structure present. All sequences underwent primary auditory stream segregation to some extent but the amount of apparent spatial separation was less when syntactic and intonational structure was present.

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