Electrophysiology and Perception of Speech in Noise

描述(申请人提供)：在背景噪音中听是最难听的情况之一，是助听器使用者的主要投诉，也是老年人最常见的投诉。尽管噪声中知觉的数据在这些人群中很普遍，但人类大脑皮质对噪声中信号的编码如何有助于这些人群的感知能力仍不清楚。噪声中知觉表现的很大一部分可变性可以通过个体之间的神经编码差异来解释。因此，这项研究的目的是更好地描述噪声中语音信号的神经编码，并将这种编码与行为联系起来。将使用皮质听觉诱发电位和行为噪声中信号测试来回答三个问题。(1)信噪比(SNR)对噪声中信号的皮质编码有什么影响？(2)背景噪声类型对噪声中信号的皮质编码有什么影响？(3)噪声中信号的皮质表征与噪声中信号的感知有何关系？为了回答这些问题，将在四个组(年轻听力正常组、年轻听力障碍组、老年正常听力组和老年听力障碍组)中设置不同的信噪比和背景噪声类型。人们希望，生理和行为信息的结合将提高我们对噪声中感知变异性的理解，并导致改善噪声中信号缺陷的诊断和治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Listening in background noise is one of the most difficult listening situations, ranking as the primary complaint among hearing aid users and a common complaint among the elderly. Despite the prevalence of perception-in-noise data in these populations, it remains unclear how human cortical encoding of signals in noise contributes to perceptual abilities in these populations. A significant portion of the variability in perception-in-noise performance may be explained by neural encoding differences across individuals. Therefore, the purpose of the research proposed is to better characterize the neural encoding of speech signals in noise and relate that encoding to behavior. Cortical auditory evoked potentials together with behavioral signal-in-noise testing will be used to answer three questions. (1) What is the effect of signal-to- noise ratio (SNR) on cortical encoding of signals in noise? (2) What are the effects of background noise type on cortical encoding of signals in noise? (3) How does the cortical representation of signals in noise correlate with perception of signals in noise? To answer these questions, signal-to-noise ratio and background noise type will be varied across four groups (young normal hearing, young hearing impaired, old normal hearing, and old hearing impaired). It is hoped that the combination of physiological and behavioral information will improve our understanding of perception-in-noise variability and lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of signal-in-noise deficits.