The Effect of Priming on Release From Informational Masking Is Equivalent for Younger and Older Adults
The Effect of Priming on Release From Informational Masking Is Equivalent for Younger and Older Adults
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DOI：
10.1097/aud.0b013e3181ee6b8a
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发表时间：
2011-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Schneider, Bruce
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ezzatian, Payam;Li, Liang;Schneider, Bruce
目的：先前的研究表明，在嘈杂的背景下，当掩蔽物是两说话者的异常言语时，在呈现完整的句子之前，立即向年轻的听众呈现目标异常句子的所有单词（除了最后一个单词），比在语音频谱噪声时产生更大的掩蔽释放，从而证明听觉启动可以产生信息掩蔽的释放。本研究的目的是探讨老年人是否可以从听觉启动物中获得与年轻人相同的好处，以及自下而上的听觉因素对听觉启动物在从信息掩蔽中释放语音所提供的优势有何贡献。设计：共有76名年轻人（大学生）和76名老年人（来自当地社区的志愿者）参加了这项研究。所有参与者都以英语为第一语言，听力正常，低于4千赫。结果：在实验1中，年轻人在语音掩蔽器的存在下表现更好，而老年人在两种掩蔽下的表现相当，但听觉启动在年轻人和老年人中产生了等量的信息掩蔽释放。为了检验对目标说话者声音的熟悉程度对第一个实验中观察到的启动效应的影响程度，在实验2中，我们用目标说话者说的句子来启动被试，但词汇内容与目标句子无关。两个年龄组的信息掩蔽都没有解除。接下来，为了研究第一个实验中信息掩蔽的释放在多大程度上是由于质数提供的幅度包络线索，在实验3中，我们对质数（使用3个波段）进行噪声编码，以去除语义内容，同时保留有关质数幅度包络的一些线索。当启动词被噪声编码时，无论是年轻人还是老年人都没有从信息掩蔽中解脱出来。最后，为了检验老年人在第一个实验中使用语音掩蔽器时的表现是否与年龄相关的利用语音掩蔽器振幅包络下降的能力下降有关，在实验4中，我们对语音掩蔽器进行了噪声编码。我们发现他们的表现有了显著的改善，但两个年龄组的改善幅度是相等的。结论：在年轻人和老年人中，听觉启动导致信息掩蔽释放量相等。听觉启动提供的好处不是由于启动中提供的关于目标说话者声音的线索或启动中提供的关于目标句子振幅包络波动的线索。重要的是，与连续的语音频谱噪声掩蔽器相比，双语者掩蔽器的表现与年龄有关；然而，这种与年龄有关的表现下降不能归因于利用语音掩蔽器振幅包络波动的能力与年龄有关的差异。
Objective: Previous studies have shown that presenting younger listeners with all but the last word of a target anomalous sentence immediately before presenting the full sentence in a noisy background produces a greater release from masking when the masker is two-talker anomalous speech than when it is speech-spectrum noise, thereby demonstrating that an auditory prime can produce a release from informational masking. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether older adults could gain the same benefit from auditory primes as younger adults and what bottom-up auditory factors contribute to the advantage provided by auditory primes in releasing speech from informational masking.Design: A total of 76 younger adults (university students) and 76 older adults (volunteers from the local community) participated in this study. All participants spoke English as a first language and had normal hearing below 4 kHz.Results: In experiment 1, younger adults performed better in the presence of the speech masker, whereas older adults performed equivalently under both types of masking, but auditory priming produced an equivalent amount of release from informational masking in both younger and older adults. To examine the degree to which familiarity with the target talker's voice contributed to the priming effects observed in the first experiment, in experiment 2, we primed individuals with sentences that were spoken by the target talker but with lexical content that was unrelated to the target sentences. There was no release from informational masking for either age group. Next, to investigate the extent to which the release from informational masking in the first experiment was due to the amplitude envelope cues provided by the prime, in experiment 3, we noise vocoded the prime (using 3 bands) to remove semantic content while retaining some cues about the prime's amplitude envelope. When the primes were noise vocoded, there was no release from informational masking for either younger or older adults. Finally, to examine whether older adults' performance in the presence of the speech masker in the first experiment was due to an age-related decline in the ability to take advantage of dips in the amplitude envelope of the speech masker, in experiment 4, we noise vocoded the speech masker. We found a significant improvement in performance, but the amount of improvement was equivalent for both age groups.Conclusions: Auditory priming resulted in equivalent amounts of release from informational masking in both younger and older adults. The benefit provided by auditory primes was not due to cues provided in the prime about the target talker's voice or cues provided in the prime about fluctuations in the amplitude envelope of the target sentences. Importantly, there was an age-related decline in performance in the presence of a two-talker masker relative to a continuous speech-spectrum noise masker; however, this age-related decline in performance cannot be attributed to age-related differences in the ability to take advantage of fluctuations in the amplitude envelope of the speech masker.