Auditory temporal resolution in adaptive tasks. Gap detection investigation (original) (raw)
Related papers
Minimum stimulus levels for temporal gap resolution in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1987
The minimum sensation levels required for optimal temporal gap resolution were measured in five listeners with moderately severe degrees of sensorineural hearing loss. The stimuli were three continuous octave-band noises centered at 0.5, 2.0, and 4.0 kHz. Subjects used a B•k•sy tracking procedure to determine the minimum signal levels needed to resolve periodic temporal gaps of fixed durations. Analysis of data across subjects and signal revealed only a weak correlation between this minimum SL and the corresponding HLs; most listeners resolved threshold gaps at minimum levels of 25-35 dB SL, independent of degree of hearing loss. The results differ from those of normal subjects with masking-induced hearing loss [Fitzgibbons, Percept. Psychophys. 35, 446-450 (1984) ], which showed an inverse relationship between HL and the SLs required for gap threshold. The findings indicate that assessment of optimal gap resolution in listeners with cochlear impairment requires stimulus presentation levels of at least 25-35 dB SL. Even with sufficient stimulus intensity, each of the hearing-impaired listeners exhibited abnormal gap resolution for each octave-band signal.
Human Auditory Brainstem Response to Temporal Gaps in
2000
Gap detection is a commonly used measure of temporal resolution, although the mechanisms underlying gap detection are not well understood. To the extent that gap detection depends on processes within, or peripheral to, the auditory brainstem, one would predict that a measure of gap threshold based on the auditory brainstem response (ABR) would be similar to the psychophysical gap detection
Human Auditory Brainstem Response to Temporal Gaps in Noise
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2001
Gap detection is a commonly used measure of temporal resolution, although the mechanisms underlying gap detection are not well understood. To the extent that gap detection depends on processes within, or peripheral to, the auditory brainstem, one would predict that a measure of gap threshold based on the auditory brainstem response (ABR) would be similar to the psychophysical gap detection threshold. Three experiments were performed to examine the relationship between ABR gap threshold and gap detection. Thresholds for gaps in a broadband noise were measured in young adults with normal hearing, using both psychophysical techniques and electrophysiological techniques that use the ABR. The mean gap thresholds obtained with the two methods were very similar, although ABR gap thresholds tended to be lower than psychophysical gap thresholds. There was a modest correlation between psychophysical and ABR gap thresholds across participants.
Marking time: The precise measurement of auditory gap detection across the lifespan
Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics, 2016
Deficits of temporal resolution are thought to contribute to speech understanding in noise difficulties and may be documented using auditory gap detection thresholds (GDTs). It is important to establish the appropriate methods to measure GDTs clinically. The USF Psychoaoustics Lab has established GDTs for a variety of stimuli, ages (7-90 years), equipment, degrees of hearing loss, psychophysical paradigms, neurophysiological paradigms, marker relationships (within-channel, across-channel), time points, and presentation ears (left, right, diotic). A number of important findings are discussed: 1. Best stimulus for measurement of GDTs is narrow-band noise. 2. GDTs improve from 7 to 9 years of age, stabilize between 9 and 40 years of age, and deteriorate with age thereafter. 3. GDTs may be measured reliably using a variety of equipment. 4. Hearing loss has a minor impact on GDTs. 5. A 2-interval psychophysical paradigm may be used to measure GDTs. 6. GDTs may be documented using the P1-N1-P2 auditory evoked potential. 7. Across-channel GDTs provide different information than within-channel GDTs. 8. GDTs are reliable within and across test sessions. 9. GDTs do not differ across ear conditions. A stable and sensitive measure of temporal resolution that may be used in a clinical setting to assess temporal resolution is recommended and discussed.
Independence of frequency channels in auditory temporal gap detection
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2000
The ability of listeners to detect a temporal gap in a 1600-Hz-wide noiseband ͑target͒ was studied as a function of the absence and presence of concurrent stimulation by a second 1600-Hz-wide noiseband ͑distractor͒ with a nonoverlapping spectrum. Gap detection thresholds for single noisebands centered on 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 5.0 kHz were in the range from 4 to 6 ms, and were comparable to those described in previous studies. Gap thresholds for the same target noisebands were only modestly improved by the presence of a synchronously gated gap in a second frequency band. Gap thresholds were unaffected by the presence of a continuous distractor that was either proximate or remote from the target frequency band. Gap thresholds for the target noiseband were elevated if the distractor noiseband also contained a gap which ''roved'' in time in temporal proximity to the target gap. This effect was most marked in inexperienced listeners. Between-channel gap thresholds, obtained using leading and trailing markers that differed in frequency, were high in all listeners, again consistent with previous findings. The data are discussed in terms of the levels of the auditory perceptual processing stream at which the listener can voluntarily access auditory events in distinct frequency channels.
Ear and contralateral masker effects on auditory temporal gap detection thresholds
Hearing research, 2008
A temporal processing advantage is thought to underlie the left hemisphere dominance for language. One measure of a temporal processing advantage is temporal acuity or resolution. A standard paradigm for measuring auditory temporal resolution is gap detection in its ''within-channel" and ''between-channel" forms. Previous experiments investigating a right ear advantage for within-channel gap detection have yielded conflicting results, and between-channel gap detection has not previously been studied for ear differences. In the present study, the two types of gap detection task were employed, under each of three contralateral masking conditions (no noise, continuous noise and interrupted noise). An adaptive tracking procedure was used to measure the minimal detectable gap at each ear (and therefore, the temporal acuity of the contralateral hemisphere). A significant effect of masking noise was observed in both of the gap detection tasks. Within-channel gap threshold durations were longer in the interrupted noise condition for both ears. Between-channel gap threshold durations were shorter in the interrupted noise condition at the left ear, with a trend in the same direction at the right ear. The study found no significant difference between the ears in thresholds in either gap detection task in any of the masking conditions. This suggests that if the left cerebral hemisphere has a temporal processing advantage, then it is not in the form of acuity for temporal gap detection.
Temporal gap resolution in listeners with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1987
Temporal gap resolution was measured in five normal-hearing listeners and five cochlearimpaired listeners, whose sensitivity losses were restricted to the frequency regions above 1000 Hz. The stimuli included a broadband noise and three octave band noises centered at 0.5, 1.0, and 4.0 kHz. Results for the normal-hearing subjects agree with previous findings and reveal that gap resolution improves progressively with an increase in signal frequency. Gap resolution in the impaired listeners was significantly poorer than normal for all signals including those that stimulated frequency regions with normal pure-tone sensitivity. Smallest gap thresholds for the impaired listeners were observed with the broadband signal at high levels. This result agrees with data from other experiments and confirms the importance of high-frequency signal audibility in gap detection. The octave band data reveal that resolution deficits can be quite large within restricted frequency regions, even those with minimal sensitivity loss.
PSYCHOPHYSICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF AUDITORY TEMPORAL PROCESSING
During the past two decades there has been an increasing interest in how the auditory system extracts information from dynamically varying sounds, sounds whose amplitude and/or frequency vary over time. The importance of such information has been clearly demonstrated in speech perception, sound localization, and in many basic aspects of monaural hearing. This chapter reviews recent experimental and theoretical findings that provide insights into the basic mechanisms involved in temporal processing, specifically those involved in monaural envelope processing. One area of interest is the possibility that the auditory system is "tuned" for envelope periodicity, i.e., that there are filters selectively tuned to the modulation frequency of amplitude modulation (AM). A powerful and provocative theoretical account has recently been proposed based on this notion. New psychophysical data relevant to this issue are discussed and a psychophysically-oriented approach for analyzing physiological data on envelope processing is presented. The second area to be considered is the role of timing information, "phase locking", in monaural hearing. Several contemporary models have proposed that fine-structure timing information in the auditory nerve is fundamental in auditory coding. We present psychophysical data on octave phase effects that can be explained qualitatively by a simple model that does not involve the use of fine-structure information. This suggests that except for relatively slow envelope fluctuations, timing information may play a negligible role in monaural hearing.
International journal of audiology, 2018
The effects of rate on auditory-evoked potentials (AEP) to short noise gaps (12 ms) recorded at high sampling rates using wide-band filters were investigated. Auditory brainstem (ABR), middle latency (MLR), late latency (LLR) and steady-state (ASSR) responses were simultaneously recorded in adult subjects at four gap rates (0.5, 1, 5 and 40 Hz). Major components (V, Na, Pa, Nb, Pb, N1 and P2) were identified at each rate and analysed for latency/amplitude characteristics. Gap responses at 40 Hz were recovered from Quasi-ASSRs (QASSR) using the CLAD deconvolution method. Fourteen right ears of young normal hearing subjects were tested. All major components were present in all subjects at 1 Hz. P1 (P50) appeared as a low-pass filtered component of Pa and Pb waves. At higher rates, N1 and P2 disappeared completely while major ABR-MLR components were identified. Peak latencies were mostly determined by noise onsets slightly delayed by offset responses. Major AEP components can be record...