Deficits in auditory frequency discrimination and speech recognition in cochlear implant users

Turgeon, Christine; Champoux, François; Leporé, Franco; Ellemberg, Dave

doi:10.1179/1754762814y.0000000091

Cited by 15 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The DLF thresholds of the CI users in the current study were not associated with the F0, VTL, or F0 + VTL discrimination thresholds nor were they associated with age at implantation. Nevertheless, they were markedly reduced when compared to the NH DLF thresholds as was shown in previous studies (Goldsworthy et al 2013;Kopelovich et al 2010;Turgeon et al 2015). These findings may also favor the view that age at implantation affects high-order auditory functions rather than it affects low-level spectral resolving abilities.…”

Section: Psychophysicssupporting

confidence: 76%

Voice Discrimination by Adults with Cochlear Implants: the Benefits of Early Implantation for Vocal-Tract Length Perception

Zaltz

Goldsworthy

Kishon‐Rabin

et al. 2018

JARO

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Cochlear implant (CI) users find it extremely difficult to discriminate between talkers, which may partially explain why they struggle to understand speech in a multi-talker environment. Recent studies, based on findings with postlingually deafened CI users, suggest that these difficulties may stem from their limited use of vocal-tract length (VTL) cues due to the degraded spectral resolution transmitted by the CI device. The aim of the present study was to assess the ability of adult CI users who had no prior acoustic experience, i.e., prelingually deafened adults, to discriminate between resynthesized "talkers" based on either fundamental frequency (F0) cues, VTL cues, or both. Performance was compared to individuals with normal hearing (NH), listening either to degraded stimuli, using a noise-excited channel vocoder, or non-degraded stimuli. Results show that (a) age of implantation was associated with VTL but not F0 cues in discriminating between talkers, with improved discrimination for those subjects who were implanted at earlier age; (b) there was a positive relationship for the CI users between VTL discrimination and speech recognition score in quiet and in noise, but not with frequency discrimination or cognitive abilities; (c) early-implanted CI users showed similar voice discrimination ability as the NH adults who listened to vocoded stimuli. These data support the notion that voice discrimination is limited by the speech processing of the CI device. However, they also suggest that early implantation may facilitate sensory-driven tonotopicity and/or improve higher-order auditory functions, enabling better perception of VTL spectral cues for voice discrimination.

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Section: Psychophysicssupporting

confidence: 76%

Voice Discrimination by Adults with Cochlear Implants: the Benefits of Early Implantation for Vocal-Tract Length Perception

Zaltz

Goldsworthy

Kishon‐Rabin

et al. 2018

JARO

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“…Numerous studies have reported that post-lingual CI users have significantly poorer frequency discrimination ability than NH listeners (Gfeller et al, 2007; Kang et al, 2009; Limb & Roy, 2014; Turgeon et al, 2015). Several factors have been reported to negatively affect the ability to discriminate frequencies in CI users.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The capability of discerning small frequency changes and fine cues in the spectral dimension plays a crucial role in speech understanding (Gifford et al, 2014; Won et al, 2014; Kenway et al, 2015). Numerous studies reported that post-lingual CI users demonstrate poor frequency discrimination (Gfeller et al, 2007; Kang et al, 2009; Limb & Roy, 2014; Turgeon et al, 2015). Moreover, the frequency discrimination performance varies substantially among patients, who typically have heterogeneous demographic variables (e.g., duration of deafness, age of implantation, and the degree of residual hearing etc.).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been well documented that CI users’ speech perception performance varies significantly (Leung et al, 2005; Finley et al, 2008; Gfeller et al, 2008; Holden et al, 2013). Multiple psychoacoustic studies have shown that the speech outcome of CI users is highly associated with the capability of frequency change detection (Litvak et al, 2007; Gifford et al,2014; Won et al, 2014; Kenway et al, 2015; Sheft et al, 2015; Turgeon et al, 2015; Won et al, 2015). Detecting frequency changes may play an important role in pitch-based tasks that are typically challenging for CI users, including melody contour identification, talker gender identification, and speech perception in noise (Stickney et al, 2007; Cullington & Zeng, 2011; Gfeller et al, 2012; Zeng et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cortical Processing of Frequency Changes Reflected by the Acoustic Change Complex in Adult Cochlear Implant Users

et al. 2018

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The purpose of this study was to examine neural substrates of frequency change detection in cochlear implant (CI) recipients using the acoustic change complex (ACC), a type of cortical auditory evoked potential elicited by acoustic changes in an ongoing stimulus. A psychoacoustic test and electroencephalographic recording were administered in 12 postlingually deafened adult CI users. The stimuli were pure tones containing different magnitudes of upward frequency changes. Results showed that the frequency change detection threshold (FCDT) was 3.79% in the CI users, with a large variability. The ACC N1’ latency was significantly correlated with the FCDT and the clinically collected speech perception score. The results suggested that the ACC evoked by frequency changes can serve as a useful objective tool in assessing frequency change detection capability and predicting speech perception performance in CI users.

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“…Previous studies have used frequency discrimination or pitch ranking tasks, in which participants are required to identify the target frequency that is different from the reference frequency or to determine which of the presented sounds is higher in pitch. These studies have shown that CI users' ability to discriminate frequencies is significantly correlated with speech performance (Kenway et al, 2015;Turgeon et al, 2015). Because speech or melody perception requires the ability to detect dynamic frequency changes or relative pitch (McDermott and Oxenham, 2008), it is important to examine CI users' ability to detect frequency changes contained within a stimulus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Preliminary Study of the Effects of Attentive Music Listening on Cochlear Implant Users’ Speech Perception, Quality of Life, and Behavioral and Objective Measures of Frequency Change Detection

Firestone

McGuire

Liang

et al. 2020

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Introduction: Most cochlear implant (CI) users have difficulty in listening tasks that rely strongly on perception of frequency changes (e.g., speech perception in noise, musical melody perception, etc.). Some previous studies using behavioral or subjective assessments have shown that short-term music training can benefit CI users' perception of music and speech. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings may reveal the neural basis for music training benefits in CI users. Objective: To examine the effects of short-term music training on CI hearing outcomes using a comprehensive test battery of subjective evaluation, behavioral tests, and EEG measures. Design: Twelve adult CI users were recruited for a home-based music training program that focused on attentive listening to music genres and materials that have an emphasis on melody. The participants used a music streaming program (i.e., Pandora) downloaded onto personal electronic devices for training. The participants attentively listened to music through a direct audio cable or through Bluetooth streaming. The training schedule was 40 min/session/day, 5 days/week, for either 4 or 8 weeks. The pre-training and post-training tests included: hearing thresholds, Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ12) questionnaire, psychoacoustic tests of frequency change detection threshold (FCDT), speech recognition tests (CNC words, AzBio sentences, and QuickSIN), and EEG responses to tones that contained different magnitudes of frequency changes. Results: All participants except one finished the 4-or 8-week training, resulting in a dropout rate of 8.33%. Eleven participants performed all tests except for two who did not participate in EEG tests. Results showed a significant improvement in the FCDTs as

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Deficits in auditory frequency discrimination and speech recognition in cochlear implant users

Abstract: The present findings suggest an association between auditory frequency discrimination and speech recognition proficiency in cochlear implant users. Although no causal link can be drawn from these data, possible reasons for this association are discussed.

Cited by 15 publications

References 31 publications

Voice Discrimination by Adults with Cochlear Implants: the Benefits of Early Implantation for Vocal-Tract Length Perception

Voice Discrimination by Adults with Cochlear Implants: the Benefits of Early Implantation for Vocal-Tract Length Perception

Cortical Processing of Frequency Changes Reflected by the Acoustic Change Complex in Adult Cochlear Implant Users

A Preliminary Study of the Effects of Attentive Music Listening on Cochlear Implant Users’ Speech Perception, Quality of Life, and Behavioral and Objective Measures of Frequency Change Detection

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