New Technologies and Applications using the Speech-evoked Frequency Following Response

使用语音诱发频率跟随响应的新技术和应用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-03990
• 负责人: Dajani, Hilmi
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: University of Ottawa
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739608
• 关键词: New; Technologies; Applications; using; Speech

Hearing impairment is an important health problem in Canada, and there is a need to develop improved technologies to objectively evaluate hearing. When sound reaches the ear, small electrical pulses propagate through the auditory centers in the brain, eventually resulting in the sensation of hearing. Much about this process is not well-understood, but by placing surface electrodes on the scalp we can non-invasively record the electrical activity originating in these auditory centers. In particular, it is possible to record auditory brainstem responses, which allow audiologists to diagnose hearing problems and locate their origin in the brain. The sound that audiologists most commonly use for this test is a brief loud click. However, a click does not provide sufficient information to allow assessing the ability to hear speech. As a result, there is increasing interest in recording the brain's electrical responses that follow the temporal and frequency patterns of speech. Recently, our group has recorded Speech-evoked Frequency Following Responses (sFFRs) with natural and synthetic speech stimuli, and we have shown that these responses can provide an important window into auditory processing of speech. The sFFR is so similar to the speech waveform, that if it is converted to a sound and played back, it is perceived as intelligible speech. This means that this signal allows us to "listen in" on the internal representation of speech within the brain. One impediment to progress in this field has been that excessive recording times are often required. The proposed research program aims to develop more efficient techniques to detect the sFFR that are inspired by speech enhancement algorithms developed for noisy communication environments. Moreover, because the sFFR has been recorded in response to a limited set of speech stimuli, experimental and theoretical work will be performed with listeners who have normal hearing to clarify the basic properties of the responses, with a diverse set of speech samples and in different realistic acoustic environments. A new brain-computer interface technology based on the sFFR will also be developed to automatically optimize hearing aid fitting, which is often a challenging task. The proposed research program is expected to have a significant impact in the field of Biomedical Engineering and on hearing assistive technologies. Novel techniques for the assessment of hearing function will be developed, including new signal processing algorithms and instrumentation for detecting speech-evoked responses, improved models of human auditory processing of speech, and new technologies for objective hearing aid fitting. Moreover, Doctoral and Master's students will be trained in interdisciplinary and collaborative research, and so will develop skills of value to the Canadian biomedical and hearing devices industries, the hearing and speech research communities, and healthcare.

在加拿大，听力障碍是一个重要的健康问题，需要开发更好的技术来客观地评估听力。当声音到达耳朵时，小的电脉冲通过大脑中的听觉中心传播，最终导致听觉。关于这个过程的很多东西还不太清楚，但是通过在头皮上放置表面电极，我们可以非侵入性地记录起源于这些听觉中心的电活动。特别是，可以记录听觉脑干反应，这使得听力学家能够诊断听力问题并定位其在大脑中的起源。听力学家在这项测试中最常用的声音是短暂的响亮的点击声。然而，点击不能提供足够的信息来允许评估听到语音的能力。因此，人们对记录大脑的电反应越来越感兴趣，这些电反应遵循语音的时间和频率模式。最近，我们的小组已经记录了语音诱发的频率跟随响应（sFFR）与自然和合成的语音刺激，我们已经表明，这些反应可以提供一个重要的窗口到语音的听觉处理。sFFR与语音波形非常相似，如果将其转换为声音并回放，则其被感知为可理解的语音。这意味着这个信号允许我们“收听”大脑内语音的内部表征。在这一领域取得进展的一个障碍是，往往需要过多的记录时间。所提出的研究计划旨在开发更有效的技术来检测sFFR，这些技术受到为噪声通信环境开发的语音增强算法的启发。此外，由于sFFR是响应于有限的一组语音刺激而记录的，因此将使用具有正常听力的收听者来执行实验和理论工作，以澄清具有不同语音样本组和不同现实声学环境中的响应的基本属性。还将开发基于sFFR的新脑机接口技术，以自动优化助听器验配，这通常是一项具有挑战性的任务。拟议的研究计划预计将在生物医学工程和听力辅助技术领域产生重大影响。将开发评估听力功能的新技术，包括新的信号处理算法和检测语音诱发反应的仪器，改进的人类语音听觉处理模型，以及客观助听器验配的新技术。此外，博士生和硕士生将接受跨学科和合作研究的培训，因此将培养对加拿大生物医学和听力设备行业，听力和语音研究社区以及医疗保健有价值的技能。