scholarly journals The human auditory brainstem response to running speech reveals a subcortical mechanism for selective attention

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Elia Forte ◽  
Octave Etard ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Method ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Acoustic Stimulus ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Brainstem Response ◽  
Target Speaker

Humans excel at selectively listening to a target speaker in background noise such as competing voices. While the encoding of speech in the auditory cortex is modulated by selective attention, it remains debated whether such modulation occurs already in subcortical auditory structures. Investigating the contribution of the human brainstem to attention has, in particular, been hindered by the tiny amplitude of the brainstem response. Its measurement normally requires a large number of repetitions of the same short sound stimuli, which may lead to a loss of attention and to neural adaptation. Here we develop a mathematical method to measure the auditory brainstem response to running speech, an acoustic stimulus that does not repeat and that has a high ecological validity. We employ this method to assess the brainstem's activity when a subject listens to one of two competing speakers, and show that the brainstem response is consistently modulated by attention.

scholarly journals The human auditory brainstem response to running speech reveals a subcortical mechanism for selective attention

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Elia Forte ◽  
Octave Etard ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Method ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Acoustic Stimulus ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Brainstem Response ◽  
Target Speaker

AbstractHumans excel at selectively listening to a target speaker in background noise such as competing voices. While the encoding of speech in the auditory cortex is modulated by selective attention, it remains debated whether such modulation occurs already in subcortical auditory structures. Investigating the contribution of the human brainstem to attention has, in particular, been hindered by the tiny amplitude of the brainstem response. Its measurement normally requires a large number of repetitions of the same short sound stimuli, which may lead to a loss of attention and to neural adaptation. Here we develop a mathematical method to measure the auditory brainstem response to running speech, an acoustic stimulus that does not repeat and that has a high ecological validity. We employ this method to assess the brainstem’s activity when a subject listens to one of two competing speakers, and show that the brainstem response is consistently modulated by attention.

scholarly journals Decoding of selective attention to continuous speech from the human auditory brainstem response

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octave Etard ◽  
Mikolaj Kegler ◽  
Chananel Braiman ◽  
Antonio Elia Forte ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Attentional Modulation ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Computer Interfaces ◽  
Brainstem Response ◽  
Similar Accuracy

AbstractHumans are highly skilled at analysing complex acoustic scenes. The segregation of different acoustic streams and the formation of corresponding neural representations is mostly attributed to the auditory cortex. Decoding of selective attention from neuroimaging has therefore focussed on cortical responses to sound. However, the auditory brainstem response to speech is modulated by selective attention as well, as recently shown through measuring the brainstem’s response to running speech. Although the response of the auditory brainstem has a smaller magnitude than that of the auditory cortex, it occurs at much higher frequencies and therefore has a higher information rate. Here we develop statistical models for extracting the brainstem response from multi-channel scalp recordings and for analysing the attentional modulation according to the focus of attention. We demonstrate that the attentional modulation of the brainstem response to speech can be employed to decode the attentional focus of a listener from short measurements of ten seconds or less in duration. The decoding remains accurate when obtained from three EEG channels only. We further show how out-of-the-box decoding that employs subject-independent models, as well as decoding that is independent of the specific attended speaker is capable of achieving similar accuracy. These results open up new avenues for investigating the neural mechanisms for selective attention in the brainstem and for developing efficient auditory brain-computer interfaces.

scholarly journals Decoding of selective attention to continuous speech from the human auditory brainstem response

NeuroImage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octave Etard ◽  
Mikolaj Kegler ◽  
Chananel Braiman ◽  
Antonio Elia Forte ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Brainstem Response

scholarly journals Age-Related Changes in the Auditory Brainstem Response and Suprathreshold Processing of Temporal and Spectral Modulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 233121651983961 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Grose ◽  
Emily Buss ◽  
Hollis Elmore
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Temporal Modulation ◽  
Amplitude Ratios ◽  
Spectral Modulation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Brainstem Response ◽  
Modulation Detection ◽  
Hearing Difficulties

The purpose of this study was to determine whether cochlear synaptopathy can be shown to be a viable basis for age-related hearing difficulties in humans and whether it manifests as deficient suprathreshold processing of temporal and spectral modulation. Three experiments were undertaken evaluating the effects of age on (a) the auditory brainstem response as a function of level, (b) temporal modulation detection as a function of level and background noise, and (c) spectral modulation as a function of level. Across the three experiments, a total of 21 older listeners with near-normal audiograms and 29 young listeners with audiometrically normal hearing participated. The auditory brainstem response experiment demonstrated reduced Wave I amplitudes and concomitant reductions in the amplitude ratios of Wave I to Wave V in the older listener group. These findings were interpreted as consistent with an electrophysiological profile of cochlear synaptopathy. The temporal and spectral modulation detection experiments, however, provided no support for the hypothesis of compromised suprathreshold processing in these domains. This pattern of results suggests that even if cochlear synaptopathy can be shown to be a viable basis for age-related hearing difficulties, then temporal and spectral modulation detection paradigms are not sensitive to its presence.

scholarly journals Individual differences in the attentional modulation of the human auditory brainstem response to speech inform on speech-in-noise deficits

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Saiz-Alía ◽  
Antonio Elia Forte ◽  
Tobias Reichenbach
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽  
Sensitivity Threshold ◽  
Attentional Modulation ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
Brainstem Response

Abstract People with normal hearing thresholds can nonetheless have difficulty with understanding speech in noisy backgrounds. The origins of such supra-threshold hearing deficits remain largely unclear. Previously we showed that the auditory brainstem response to running speech is modulated by selective attention, evidencing a subcortical mechanism that contributes to speech-in-noise comprehension. We observed, however, significant variation in the magnitude of the brainstem’s attentional modulation between the different volunteers. Here we show that this variability relates to the ability of the subjects to understand speech in background noise. In particular, we assessed 43 young human volunteers with normal hearing thresholds for their speech-in-noise comprehension. We also recorded their auditory brainstem responses to running speech when selectively attending to one of two competing voices. To control for potential peripheral hearing deficits, and in particular for cochlear synaptopathy, we further assessed noise exposure, the temporal sensitivity threshold, the middle-ear muscle reflex, and the auditory-brainstem response to clicks in various levels of background noise. These tests did not show evidence for cochlear synaptopathy amongst the volunteers. Furthermore, we found that only the attentional modulation of the brainstem response to speech was significantly related to speech-in-noise comprehension. Our results therefore evidence an impact of top-down modulation of brainstem activity on the variability in speech-in-noise comprehension amongst the subjects.

Auditory brainstem response in the lesser scaup, a species of diving duck

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara C. Therrien ◽  
Catherine E. Carr ◽  
Elizabeth F. Brittan-Powell ◽  
Alicia M. Wells-Berlin
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Brainstem Response ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Diving Duck ◽  
Lesser Scaup ◽  
Brainstem Response
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