Objective: Our aim was to explore the consequences for speech understanding of leaving a gap in frequency between a region of acoustic hearing and a region stimulated electrically. Our studies were conducted with normal-hearing listeners, using an acoustic simulation of combined electric and acoustic (EAS) stimulation.
Design: Simulations of EAS were created by low-pass filtering speech at 0.5 kHz (90 dB octave roll-off) and adding amplitude-modulated sine waves at higher frequencies. The gap in frequency between acoustic and simulated electric hearing was varied over the range 0.5 kHz to 3.2 kHz. Stimuli included sentences in quiet, sentences in noise, and consonants and vowels. Three experiments were conducted with sample sizes of 12 listeners.
Results: Scores were highest in conditions that minimized the frequency gap between acoustic and electric stimulation. In quiet, vowels and consonant place of articulation showed the most sensitivity to the frequency gap. In noise, scores in the simulated EAS condition were higher than the sum of the scores from the acoustic-only and simulated electric-only conditions.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that both deep and shallow insertions of electrodes could improve the speech understanding abilities of patients with residual hearing to 500 Hz. However, performance levels will be maximized if the gap between acoustic and electric stimulation is minimized.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00003446-200508000-00001 | DOI Listing |
Hear Res
January 2025
Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
The cortical tracking of the acoustic envelope is a phenomenon where the brain's electrical activity, as recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) signals, fluctuates in accordance with changes in stimulus intensity (the acoustic envelope of the stimulus). Understanding speech in a noisy background is a key challenge for people with hearing impairments. Speech stimuli are therefore more ecologically valid than clicks, tone pips, or speech tokens (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Internet Res
January 2025
ENT Institute and Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Background: Tinnitus is a major health issue, but currently no tinnitus elimination treatments exist for chronic subjective tinnitus. Acoustic therapy, especially personalized acoustic therapy, plays an increasingly important role in tinnitus treatment. With the application of smartphones, personalized acoustic stimulation combined with smartphone apps will be more conducive to the individualized treatment and management of patients with tinnitus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Anat
January 2025
Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan.
The anatomical innovation of sound-producing organs, which gives rise to a wide variety of sound signals, is one of the most fundamental factors leading to the explosive speciation of modern birds. Despite being a key clue to resolving the homology of sound-controlling muscles among birds, only few studies have explored the embryonic development of syringeal muscles. Using serial histological sections and immunohistochemistry, we described the three-dimensional anatomy and development of the cartilage, muscle, and innervation pattern of the tracheobronchi in three avian species: domestic fowls, cockatiels, and zebra finches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeerJ
January 2025
Institute of Science and Environment, University of Saint Joseph, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.
While soundscapes shape the structure and function of auditory systems over evolutionary timescales, there is limited information regarding the adaptation of wild fish populations to their natural acoustic environments. This is particularly relevant for freshwater ecosystems, which are extremely diverse and face escalating pressures from human activities and associated noise pollution. The Siamese fighting fish is one of the most important cultured species in the global ornamental fish market and is increasingly recognized as a model organism for genetics and behavioural studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement (Amst)
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry Rambam Health Care Campus Haifa Israel.
Background: Late-life depression (LLD) is a heterogenous disorder related to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative processes, raising a need for the development of novel biomarkers. We sought to provide preliminary evidence for acoustic speech signatures sensitive to LLD and their relationship to depressive dimensions.
Methods: Forty patients (24 female, aged 65-82 years) were assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).
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