Directional Hearing in Complex Auditory Environments

描述（由申请人提供）：人类大部分时间都在复杂和混响的听觉环境中度过。听觉系统的一项重要而持续的任务是将目标信号从干扰声中分离出来并抑制回波。众所周知，双耳系统在实现这些目标方面非常重要。本研究将探讨多声源和混响声环境下的定向听觉。我们将研究正常听力成人和双侧人工耳蜗使用者的声音定位、回声抑制和言语清晰度。目标1将使用比以前使用的更多的日常范例来研究优先效应（PE），使用语音刺激和多回声模式，这些模式在数量、方向特性、强度和频谱内容上都有所不同。在目标2中，我们将研究这些回声模式对语音可理解性的影响，这些声音的内容和空间位置是不同的。当听众对竞争声音的数量、内容和位置感到不确定时，我们将测试“信息掩蔽”的假设。在Aim 3中，我们将通过控制双耳同步的专用硬件研究双耳CI用户的双耳机制。研究将测量定位、回声抑制、复杂声学环境下的语音可理解性以及基本的双耳过程。这项研究解决了有关人类在日常听力情况下的能力的基本问题。这种环境中的问题通常由听力受损的个体报告。Aim 3的研究可能有助于未来设计利用双耳线索的助听器和人工耳蜗，并补偿在嘈杂和混响环境中功能的退化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans spend a majority of their time in auditory environments that are complex and reverberant. An important and ongoing task for the auditory system is the segregation of target signals from interfering sounds and the suppression of echoes. The binaural system is known to be important in accomplishing these goals. The proposed research will investigate directional hearing in multi-source and reverberant acoustic environments. We will study sound localization, suppression of echoes, and speech intelligibility, in human adults with normal hearing, and with bilaterally-implanted cochlear implant users. Aim 1 will investigate the precedence effect (PE) using more everyday paradigms than those previously employed, with speech stimuli and multiple-echo patterns that vary in number, directional properties, intensity and spectral content. In Aim 2 we will investigate the impact of these echo patterns on speech intelligibility in the presence of competing sounds whose content and spatial locations and will be varied. We will test the hypothesis that "informational masking" can be induced when listeners experience uncertainty regarding the number, content and locations of competing sounds. In Aim 3 we will study binaural mechanisms in bilateral CI users through specialized hardware that controls the binaural synchronization between the two ears. Studies will measure localization, echo suppression, speech in intelligibility in complex acoustic environments, and basic binaural processes. This research addressed fundamental issues concerning the ability of humans to function in everyday listening situations. Problems in such environments are commonly reported by hearing impaired individuals. Studies in Aim 3 might contribute to the future design of hearing aids and cochlear implants that take advantage of binaural cues and compensate for the degradation of functioning in noisy and reverberant environments.