Perception of Dynamic Acoustic Signals by Hearing Impaired Listeners

听力受损的听众对动态声信号的感知

• 批准号: 8817154
• 负责人: Michelle R. Molis
• 金额: $ 28.07万
• 依托单位: OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-03-01 至 2016-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8817154
• 关键词: Accounting; Acoustics; Aging; Articulators; Auditory; Auditory system; Behavioral; Characteristics; Cochlea; Communication; Complex; Computer Simulation; Cues; Detection; Development; Discrimination; Effectiveness; Entropy; Evaluation; Frequencies; Goals; Grant; Hearing; Hearing Aids; Impairment; Individual; Investigation; Lead; Measures; Modeling; Modification; Movement; Noise; Perception; Performance; Peripheral; Procedures; Process; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Resistance; Role; Signal Transduction; Speech; Speech Intelligibility; Stimulus; Testing; Time; Training Programs; Width; auditory stimulus; base; behavior measurement; design; expectation; experience; hearing impairment; improved; programs; public health relevance; response; speech recognition

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Speech is an inherently dynamic signal and spectral dynamics are integral to perception of both consonants and vowels. The rate, direction, and extent of formant movements provide cues to consonant and vowel identity. The loss of peripheral auditory sensitivity, precise temporal processing, and frequency selectivity associated with hearing loss and aging will disrupt the perception of formant movements. As a result, the reduction or elimination of dynamic spectral cues may impair speech understanding, especially in adverse listening conditions such as background noise or reverberation. The purpose of this program of research is to understand the perception of dynamic acoustic signals by hearing-impaired listeners, with the long-term goal of improving speech understanding by these individuals, especially in adverse listening conditions. The proposed research compares the performance of normally-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners on a number of tasks designed to assess basic perceptual abilities in response to complex, non-speech auditory stimuli that change in frequency over time. Experimental procedures will consist of adaptive tests of spectral change detection and discrimination in non-speech stimuli which possess timing and frequency characteristics to those of speech, and estimation of spectral change detection and discrimination thresholds in several types of competing background noise and with simulated reverberation. Speech recognition ability in background noise and reverberation will also be assessed. Based on the results of these behavioral measures of spectral change perception and speech recognition, a computational model will be developed that can account for differences in speech intelligibility due to hearing status and stimulus characteristics. The effectiveness of the computational model will be evaluated by comparing model predictions with actual listener performance. The application of information regarding spectral change perception to a model of speech recognition will have implications for the development of new hearing aid processing strategies and rehabilitative auditory training programs that may enhance speech intelligibility and reduce listening effort in hearing-impaired individuals.

描述（由申请人提供）：语音本质上是一种动态信号，频谱动态对于辅音和元音的感知都是不可或缺的。共振峰运动的速率、方向和范围为辅音和元音的识别提供了线索。与听力损失和衰老相关的外周听觉敏感性、精确时间处理和频率选择性的丧失将扰乱共振峰运动的感知。因此，动态频谱线索的减少或消除可能会损害语音理解，尤其是在背景噪声或混响等不利的聆听条件下。该研究计划的目的是了解听力受损的听众对动态声学信号的感知，长期目标是提高这些人的语音理解能力，特别是在不利的听力条件下。拟议的研究比较了正常听力和听力受损的听众在多项任务中的表现，这些任务旨在评估响应频率随时间变化的复杂非语音听觉刺激的基本感知能力。实验程序将包括非语音刺激中频谱变化检测和辨别的自适应测试，这些刺激具有语音的时序和频率特征，以及几种类型的竞争背景噪声和模拟混响中频谱变化检测和辨别阈值的估计。还将评估背景噪声和混响中的语音识别能力。基于频谱变化感知和语音识别的这些行为测量的结果，将开发一种计算模型，该模型可以解释由于听力状态和刺激特征而导致的语音清晰度差异。将通过将模型预测与实际收听者表现进行比较来评估计算模型的有效性。将有关频谱变化感知的信息应用于语音识别模型将对新的助听器处理策略和康复听觉训练计划的开发产生影响，这些策略和康复听觉训练计划可能会提高听力障碍人士的言语清晰度并减少听力努力。