Children With Normal Hearing Are Efficient Users of Fundamental Frequency and Vocal Tract Length Cues for Voice Discrimination.
Children With Normal Hearing Are Efficient Users of Fundamental Frequency and Vocal Tract Length Cues for Voice Discrimination.
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DOI：
10.1097/aud.0000000000000743
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发表时间：
2020
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Kishon-Rabin, Liat
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Zaltz, Yael;Goldsworthy, Raymond L.;Eisenberg, Laurie S.;Kishon-Rabin, Liat
关键词：
区分说话者的能力有助于听者在多说话的环境中理解讲话。这种能力已被证明受到声音线索的感觉处理的影响，如反映听者声道长度的基频（F0）和峰频率（VTL），以及认知过程（如注意力和记忆）。因此，与年轻人相比，表现出不成熟的感觉和/或认知加工的儿童将表现出较差的声音辨别（VD）。此外，VD的更大困难可能与植入人工耳蜗的儿童的频谱退化有关。本研究的目的如下：(1)评估听力正常（NH）学龄儿童使用F0线索、VTL线索和两者结合线索诊断VD的情况，并与听力正常（NH）的成人进行比较；(2)评估语音编码的频谱退化对NH儿童使用F0和VTL线索诊断VD的影响；(3)评估注意力、工作记忆和非语言推理对成绩的贡献。41名8至11岁的儿童接受了非语音编码刺激的测试。其中21人还接受了8通道、噪音编码刺激的测试。21名年轻人（18至35岁）进行了比较测试。在F0、VTL和F0 + VTL分别操作时，采用三间隔、三备选强迫选择范式和自适应跟踪程序来估计VD的差异阈值（dl）。对所有参与者的听觉记忆、视觉注意力和非语言推理进行了评估。(a)儿童的F0和VTL识别能力与成人相当，这表明大多数学龄儿童有效地利用了这两种线索来识别VD。(b)儿童的VD与评估视觉注意力能力和处理速度的跟踪测试分数有关，这可能反映了他们需要为任务招募认知资源。(c)儿童和成人在F0 + VTL组合操作中均获得了最佳dl，这表明这个年龄的儿童已经能够整合光谱和时间线索。(d)儿童和成人都发现，与F0操作相比，VTL操作对VD更有利，这表明共振峰频率比F0更可靠地识别特定的说话者。(e)虽然儿童在操作中保持了与成人相似的阈值和表现模式，但声音编码刺激的dl表现较差。本研究首次评估了F0、VTL和F0 + VTL组合对学龄儿童说话者歧视的贡献。研究结果支持了这样一种观点，即许多NH学龄儿童具有有效的光谱和时间编码机制，即使在光谱退化信息存在的情况下，也允许充分的VD。这些结果可能会挑战不成熟的感觉加工是儿童听力能力低下的基础这一观念，进一步表明其他的加工机制导致了他们在多语环境中理解语言的困难。这些结果也可能为在听力条件下与人工耳蜗使用者相似的儿童的VD过程提供见解。
The ability to discriminate between talkers assists listeners in understanding speech in a multitalker environment. This ability has been shown to be influenced by sensory processing of vocal acoustic cues, such as fundamental frequency (F0) and formant frequencies that reflect the listener’s vocal tract length (VTL), and by cognitive processes, such as attention and memory. It is, therefore, suggested that children who exhibit immature sensory and/or cognitive processing will demonstrate poor voice discrimination (VD) compared with young adults. Moreover, greater difficulties in VD may be associated with spectral degradation as in children with cochlear implants. The aim of this study was as follows: (1) to assess the use of F0 cues, VTL cues, and the combination of both cues for VD in normal-hearing (NH) school-age children and to compare their performance with that of NH adults; (2) to assess the influence of spectral degradation by means of vocoded speech on the use of F0 and VTL cues for VD in NH children; and (3) to assess the contribution of attention, working memory, and nonverbal reasoning to performance. Forty-one children, 8 to 11 years of age, were tested with nonvocoded stimuli. Twenty-one of them were also tested with eight-channel, noise-vocoded stimuli. Twenty-one young adults (18 to 35 years) were tested for comparison. A three-interval, three-alternative forced-choice paradigm with an adaptive tracking procedure was used to estimate the difference limens (DLs) for VD when F0, VTL, and F0 + VTL were manipulated separately. Auditory memory, visual attention, and nonverbal reasoning were assessed for all participants. (a) Children’ F0 and VTL discrimination abilities were comparable to those of adults, suggesting that most school-age children utilize both cues effectively for VD. (b) Children’s VD was associated with trail making test scores that assessed visual attention abilities and speed of processing, possibly reflecting their need to recruit cognitive resources for the task. (c) Best DLs were achieved for the combined (F0 + VTL) manipulation for both children and adults, suggesting that children at this age are already capable of integrating spectral and temporal cues. (d) Both children and adults found the VTL manipulations more beneficial for VD compared with the F0 manipulations, suggesting that formant frequencies are more reliable for identifying a specific speaker than F0. (e) Poorer DLs were achieved with the vocoded stimuli, though the children maintained similar thresholds and pattern of performance among manipulations as the adults. The present study is the first to assess the contribution of F0, VTL, and the combined F0 + VTL to the discrimination of speakers in school-age children. The findings support the notion that many NH school-age children have effective spectral and temporal coding mechanisms that allow sufficient VD, even in the presence of spectrally degraded information. These results may challenge the notion that immature sensory processing underlies poor listening abilities in children, further implying that other processing mechanisms contribute to their difficulties to understand speech in a multitalker environment. These outcomes may also provide insight into VD processes of children under listening conditions that are similar to cochlear implant users.