SPEECH UNDERSTANDING UNDER NON-OPTIMAL CONDITIONS AGING

非最佳条件下的语音理解老化

• 批准号: 6168053
• 负责人: PIERRE L DIVENYI
• 金额: $ 16.81万
• 依托单位: EAST BAY INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1991
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1991-03-01 至 2004-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6168053
• 关键词: aging; audiometry; auditory discrimination; behavioral /social science research tag; human subject; longitudinal human study; noise; psychoacoustics; speech recognition

The proposed research is focused on one particularly disturbing auditory communication deficit, namely, the often markedly reduced ability of elderly individuals to understand speech under non-optimal listening conditions, such as in social settings with several simultaneously ongoing conversations or in reverberating rooms. This deficit, often referred to as the loss of the "cocktail-party" effect in aging, has been the focus of an increasing number of investigations for the last 25 years; yet, present-day understanding of the deficit is still incomplete. Our previous research has identified several components of this deficit; those that were not connected to hearing loss were related to spatial processing as well as temporal processing both in the syllabic and segmental time ranges. The proposed study will have two specific objectives: (1) investigate, in elderly and young individuals, certain specific functions responsible for temporal analysis of auditory signals, and identify those that, when impaired, are correlated with age-related deficits of speech understanding under non-optimal listening conditions, and (2) over a five-year period, determine the extent to which a decline in speech understanding under non- optimal listening conditions in elderly individuals can be predicted from the deterioration of general audiological abilities and/or specific auditory temporal processing functions. Significance of the project lies in that it will provide data that may explain why some elderly individuals are able to understand speech in interference while others are not. It will also throw light on segmental and suprasegmental aspects of the segregation of speech from interference and supply information on the multidimensional profile of the age-related decline in speech understanding and its connection to temporal processing. In doing so, it is likely to supply data useful for the development of next-generation hearing aids able to help people understand speech where presently available amplifying hearing aids do not. The study will consist of three parts. Part I will assess the age-related audiological and auditory status, including speech processing and temporal processing, in a large group of elderly individuals, and serve as a subject selection stage for the other two parts. Part II will investigate segregation of nonspeech signals differing in well specified temporal and spectral attributes. Part III will follow groups of elderly subjects over a five-year period and monitor the pattern and the rate of decline of functions that enable speech understanding and temporal processing amidst interference.

拟议的研究集中在一个特别令人不安的听觉沟通缺陷，即老年人在非最佳听力条件下理解语音的能力往往显着降低，例如在社交环境中同时进行几次对话或在混响室中。 这种赤字，通常被称为老龄化中的“鸡尾酒会”效应的丧失，在过去的25年里一直是越来越多的调查的焦点;然而，目前对赤字的理解仍然是不完整的。我们之前的研究已经确定了这种缺陷的几个组成部分;那些与听力损失无关的部分与音节和分段时间范围内的空间处理以及时间处理有关。拟议的研究将有两个具体目标：（1）在老年人和年轻人中调查负责听觉信号时间分析的某些特定功能，并确定那些受损时与非最佳听力条件下与年龄相关的言语理解缺陷相关的功能，以及（2）在五年内，确定老年人在非最佳听力条件下言语理解能力的下降在多大程度上可以从一般听力学能力和/或特定听觉时间处理功能的退化来预测。该项目的意义在于，它将提供数据，可以解释为什么一些老年人能够理解干扰中的语音，而其他人则不能。 它还将揭示分割和超分割方面的隔离的语音干扰和供应信息的多维配置文件的年龄相关的下降，在语音理解及其连接到时间处理。 在这样做的过程中，它可能会为下一代助听器的开发提供有用的数据，这些助听器能够帮助人们理解目前可用的放大助听器所不能理解的语言。这项研究将包括三个部分。 第一部分将评估与年龄相关的听力和听觉状态，包括语音处理和时间处理，在一个大的老年人群体，并作为其他两个部分的主题选择阶段。 第二部分将调查分离的非语音信号不同，以及指定的时间和频谱属性。 第三部分将跟踪老年受试者群体超过五年的时间，并监测的模式和功能，使语音理解和时间处理中的干扰下降的速度。