Disentangling the effects of hearing loss and age on amplitude modulation frequency selectivity.

The processing and perception of amplitude modulation (AM) in the auditory system reflect a frequency-selective process, often described as a modulation filterbank. Previous studies on perceptual AM masking reported similar results for older listeners with hearing impairment (HI listeners) and young listeners with normal hearing (NH listeners), suggesting no effects of age or hearing loss on AM frequency selectivity. However, recent evidence has shown that age, independently of hearing loss, adversely affects AM frequency selectivity.

The Role of Average Fundamental Frequency Difference on the Intelligibility of Real-Life Competing Sentences.

Purpose: The average fundamental frequency separation (∆) between two competing voices has been shown to provide an important cue for target-speech intelligibility. However, some of the previous investigations used speech materials with linguistic properties and characteristics that may not be typical of realistic acoustic scenarios. This study investigated to what extent the effect of ∆ generalizes to more real-life speech.

Age-related reduction of amplitude modulation frequency selectivity.

The perception of amplitude modulations (AMs) has been characterized by a frequency-selective process in the temporal envelope domain and simulated in computational auditory processing and perception models using a modulation filterbank. Such AM frequency-selective processing has been argued to be critical for the perception of complex sounds, including speech. This study aimed at investigating the effects of age on behavioral AM frequency selectivity in young (n = 11, 22-29 years) versus older (n = 10, 57-77 years) listeners with normal hearing, using a simultaneous AM masking paradigm with a sinusoidal carrier (2.

Baseline pupil size encodes task-related information and modulates the task-evoked response in a speech-in-noise task.

Pupillometry data are commonly reported relative to a baseline value recorded in a controlled pre-task condition. In this study, the influence of the experimental design and the preparatory processing related to task difficulty on the baseline pupil size was investigated during a speech intelligibility in noise paradigm. Furthermore, the relationship between the baseline pupil size and the temporal dynamics of the pupil response was assessed.

Speech intelligibility prediction based on modulation frequency-selective processing.

Speech intelligibility models can provide insights regarding the auditory processes involved in human speech perception and communication. One successful approach to modelling speech intelligibility has been based on the analysis of the amplitude modulations present in speech as well as competing interferers. This review covers speech intelligibility models that include a modulation-frequency selective processing stage i.

A speech-based computational auditory signal processing and perception model.

A new speech intelligibility prediction model is presented which is based on the Computational Auditory Signal Processing and Perception model (CASP) of Jepsen, Ewert, and Dau [(2008). J. Acoust.

Predicting the effects of periodicity on the intelligibility of masked speech: An evaluation of different modelling approaches and their limitations.

Four existing speech intelligibility models with different theoretical assumptions were used to predict previously published behavioural data. Those data showed that complex tones with pitch-related periodicity are far less effective maskers of speech than aperiodic noise. This so-called masker-periodicity benefit (MPB) far exceeded the fluctuating-masker benefit (FMB) obtained from slow masker envelope fluctuations.

Predicting speech intelligibility based on a correlation metric in the envelope power spectrum domain.

Unlabelled: A speech intelligibility prediction model is proposed that combines the auditory processing front end of the multi-resolution speech-based envelope power spectrum model [mr-sEPSM; Jørgensen, Ewert, and Dau (2013). J. Acoust.