AUDITORY TEMPORAL PROCESSES, SPEECH PERCEPTION AND AGING

该项目提出了一个研究语言知觉和听觉的计划 心理物理学来检验这一假说，其中许多困难 老年听者的言语理解可以归因于 听觉时间处理中的潜在问题。研究表明 年长的听众听懂演讲有特别的困难 会因背景噪音的存在而退化，或因各种形式的 时间波形失真(例如，时间压缩，中断， 混响)。听众的问题可能与以下因素有关 老年性听力损失，以及内部处理能力减弱 听觉系统的中心阶段。该项目调查了 研究年龄的相对贡献的实验存在问题- 外周听力敏感度、中枢性听觉相关改变 功能，以及选定的使用语言和非语言的认知能力 刺激物。该项目包括四个调查阶段，每个阶段 由一系列语音识别实验和心理声学组成 辨别任务。阶段1。(MOS。1-16)检查 具有四种时间变化语音和几种时间变化语音的语音识别 简单音调时间敏感性的心理声学测量 刺激；阶段2。(MOS 13-36)检查听觉中枢的影响。 通过改变刺激的复杂性来处理因素 言语和心理声学任务；阶段3。32-48)评估 任务需求和认知因素对听者连读的影响 语音句子和非语音顺序模式的回忆；阶段4。 (MOS.49-60)将判别分析统计技术应用于 编制青年和老年人的时间加工能力量表 听众。对于调查的每个阶段， 年龄和听力损失对听者表现的评估是通过测试Young 以及听力正常和匹配程度的老年受试者 感觉神经性听力损失。参与项目的受试者将 也要检查教育和语言背景，身体状况和 精神健康和耳科病史。

The project proposes a program of studies in speech perception and auditory psychophysics to examine the hypothesis that many of the difficulties in speech understanding among elderly listeners can be attributed to underlying problems in auditory temporal processing. Research indicates that elderly listeners have particular difficulty understanding speech that is degraded by the presence of background noise, or by various forms of temporal waveform distortion (e.g., time compression, interruption, reverberation). The listeners' problems may be related to the effects of presbycusic hearing loss, as well as diminished processing capacity within central stages of the auditory system. The project investigates the problem with experiments that examine the relative contributions of age- related changes in peripheral hearing sensitivity, central auditory function, and selected cognitive abilities using speech and non-speech stimuli. The project comprises four stages of investigation, each consisting of a series of speech recognition experiments and psychoacoustic discrimination tasks. Stage 1. (mos. 1-16) examines relations between speech recognition with four types of temporally-altered speech and several psychoacoustic measures of temporal sensitivity derived with simple tonal stimuli; Stage 2. (mos 13-36) examines the influence of auditory central processing factors by varying the complexity of stimuli used in both the speech and psychoacoustic tasks; Stage 3. (mos. 32-48) evaluates the effects of task demands and selected cognitive factors on listeners' serial recall of speech sentences and non-speech sequential patterns; Stage 4. (mos. 49-60) applies discriminant analysis statistical techniques to formulate profiles of temporal processing abilities of young and elderly listeners. For each stage of the investigation, the independent effects of age and hearing loss on listener performance are evaluated by testing young and elderly subjects with normal hearing and matched degrees of sensorineural hearing loss. Subjects participating in the project will also be examined on educational and language background, physical and mental health, and otologic history.