Speech Perception and Phonological Memory with Combined Electric Acoustic Hearing

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目的目的是评估在电信号中添加低频声信号（即在人工耳蜗的对耳中安装助听器）如何影响人工耳蜗受者的语言处理。先前的研究表明，人工耳蜗提供的有限的频谱线索会导致在嘈杂的环境中语音识别不佳，并阻碍成功的语音识别。这个项目的第一个目的是确定使用双峰刺激如何影响单独元音的识别，语音性别和个体说话者的方言。三组研究参与者（即单侧人工耳蜗受者、双侧人工耳蜗受者和同时使用助听器和人工耳蜗的人）将完成测试，评估：1)在噪音下的语音感知能力，2)语音性别识别和方言歧视/分类，以及3)元音识别。第二个目的是评估双峰刺激对声学不同元音和声学相似元音的语音记忆能力的影响，并确定个人工作记忆技能如何影响说话者识别。为了达到这个目的，研究参与者将被要求回忆语音相似或语音不同的孤立元音的短列表。这些过程测量的结果将与Aim I研究的结果进行比较，以评估语音工作记忆在言语感知中的贡献。预期本研究的结果将确立在人工耳蜗植入后继续使用助听器的重要性。此外，本研究结果将为未来人工耳蜗技术在改善语音精细结构编码方面的发展提供方向。这些技术进步将最终提高人工耳蜗受者的语言感知能力。本研究旨在建立个体辨别能力与语音感知中即时语音记忆技能之间的联系。因此，这项研究将有助于进一步了解在人工耳蜗植入人群中广泛观察到的结果表现的个体差异的潜在基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this research project is to assess how the addition of a low-frequency acoustic signal to an electrical signal (i.e., a hearing aid in opposite ear to a cochlear implant) affects the processing of speech in cochlear implant recipients. Previous research has shown that the limited spectral cues provided by a cochlear implant results in poor speech recognition in noisy environments and prevents successful voice identification. The first aim of this project is to determine how the use of bimodal stimulation affects the identification of isolated vowels, voice-gender and the dialect of individual talkers. Three groups of study participants (i.e., unilateral cochlear implant recipients, bilateral cochlear implant recipients, and individuals using both a hearing aid and a cochlear implant) will complete tests that assess: 1) speech perception abilities in noise, 2) voice-gender identification and dialect discrimination/categorization, and 3) vowel recognition. The second aim is to assess the effects of bimodal stimulation on phonological memory capacity for acoustically distinct and acoustically similar vowels, and determine how individual working memory skills affect talker recognition. For this aim, study participants will be asked to recall short lists of isolated vowels that are either phonologically similar or phonologically dissimilar. The findings from these process measures will be compared with the findings from the Aim I studies to assess the contribution of phonological working memory in speech perception. It is expected that the results from this study will establish the importance of continued hearing aid use following cochlear implantation. Additionally, the findings from this study will provide the direction for future advances in cochlear implant technology related to improving the coding of the fine structure of speech. These technological advances will ultimately improve the speech perception abilities of cochlear implant recipients. This research is designed to establish links between individual discrimination abilities and immediate phonological memory skills in speech perception. Consequently, this research will contribute additional knowledge about the underlying basis for the individual variability in outcome performance that is widely observed within the cochlear implant population.