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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... 2014The 'rapid temporal processing' and the 'temporal sampling framework' hypotheses have been proposed to account for the deficits in language and literacy development seen... (Review)
Review
The 'rapid temporal processing' and the 'temporal sampling framework' hypotheses have been proposed to account for the deficits in language and literacy development seen in specific language impairment and dyslexia. This paper reviews these hypotheses and concludes that the proposed causal chains between the presumed auditory processing deficits and the observed behavioural manifestation of the disorders are vague and not well established empirically. Several problems and limitations are identified. Most data concern correlations between distantly related tasks, and there is considerable heterogeneity and variability in performance as well as concerns about reliability and validity. Little attention is paid to the distinction between ostensibly perceptual and metalinguistic tasks or between implicit and explicit modes of performance, yet measures are assumed to be pure indicators of underlying processes or representations. The possibility that diagnostic categories do not refer to causally and behaviourally homogeneous groups needs to be taken seriously, taking into account genetic and neurodevelopmental studies to construct multiple-risk models. To make progress in the field, cognitive models of each task must be specified, including performance domains that are predicted to be deficient versus intact, testing multiple indicators of latent constructs and demonstrating construct reliability and validity.
Topics: Cognition; Humans; Language Development Disorders; Models, Psychological; Psychoacoustics; Time Factors
PubMed: 24324245
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0090 -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Nov 2019What is universal about music, and what varies? We built a corpus of ethnographic text on musical behavior from a representative sample of the world's societies, as well...
What is universal about music, and what varies? We built a corpus of ethnographic text on musical behavior from a representative sample of the world's societies, as well as a discography of audio recordings. The ethnographic corpus reveals that music (including songs with words) appears in every society observed; that music varies along three dimensions (formality, arousal, religiosity), more within societies than across them; and that music is associated with certain behavioral contexts such as infant care, healing, dance, and love. The discography-analyzed through machine summaries, amateur and expert listener ratings, and manual transcriptions-reveals that acoustic features of songs predict their primary behavioral context; that tonality is widespread, perhaps universal; that music varies in rhythmic and melodic complexity; and that elements of melodies and rhythms found worldwide follow power laws.
Topics: Anthropology, Cultural; Auditory Perception; Behavior; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Dancing; Humans; Infant Care; Infant, Newborn; Love; Music; Psychoacoustics; Religion; Singing
PubMed: 31753969
DOI: 10.1126/science.aax0868 -
Neuroscience Oct 2018Predictive coding is possibly one of the most influential, comprehensive, and controversial theories of neural function. While proponents praise its explanatory... (Review)
Review
Predictive coding is possibly one of the most influential, comprehensive, and controversial theories of neural function. While proponents praise its explanatory potential, critics object that key tenets of the theory are untested or even untestable. The present article critically examines existing evidence for predictive coding in the auditory modality. Specifically, we identify five key assumptions of the theory and evaluate each in the light of animal, human and modeling studies of auditory pattern processing. For the first two assumptions - that neural responses are shaped by expectations and that these expectations are hierarchically organized - animal and human studies provide compelling evidence. The anticipatory, predictive nature of these expectations also enjoys empirical support, especially from studies on unexpected stimulus omission. However, for the existence of separate error and prediction neurons, a key assumption of the theory, evidence is lacking. More work exists on the proposed oscillatory signatures of predictive coding, and on the relation between attention and precision. However, results on these latter two assumptions are mixed or contradictory. Looking to the future, more collaboration between human and animal studies, aided by model-based analyses will be needed to test specific assumptions and implementations of predictive coding - and, as such, help determine whether this popular grand theory can fulfill its expectations.
Topics: Animals; Auditory Cortex; Humans; Models, Neurological; Motivation; Neurons; Psychoacoustics
PubMed: 28782642
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.07.061 -
Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology 2020Tinnitus is characterized by the presence of a sound in the absence of external sound stimulus. In individuals with normal audiometry, it may be associated with auditory...
INTRODUCTION
Tinnitus is characterized by the presence of a sound in the absence of external sound stimulus. In individuals with normal audiometry, it may be associated with auditory attention difficulty, especially in those who report high tinnitus annoyance.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate auditory attention ability in individuals with tinnitus complaint.
METHODS
Cross-sectional analytical observational study. We evaluated 30 volunteers with normal hearing (up to 25dBHL): 15 with tinnitus (test group) and 15 with no complaints (control group), aged between 18-40 years. The volunteers answered the tinnitus handicap inventory questionnaire and a visual analogue scale. Subsequently, a basic audiological evaluation (meatoscopy, tonal and vocal audiometry, and imittanciometry) and psychoacoustic measures of tinnitus (loudness and pitch) were performed. To evaluate auditory attention, the following tests were performed: auditory cognitive evoked potential (P300), central auditory processing tests (dichotic digits test and speech-in-noise test) and sustained auditory attention ability test.
RESULTS
In the tinnitus handicap inventory, individuals with tinnitus had a mean score of 37.78 (±27.05), characterized as moderate degree. In the dichotic digits test (binaural separation), a difference was observed between the groups in both ears. Moreover, there was a difference in the speech-in-noise test in both ears (RE: p=0.044; LE: p=0.019), in P300 (p=0.049) and in total sustained auditory attention ability test (p=0.032). Also, there is a negative correlation between sustained auditory attention ability test, decrease in attentiveness and binaural integration (RE: p=0.044; LE: p=0.048).
CONCLUSIONS
Individuals with tinnitus had a poorer performance compared to the control group regarding auditory attention ability. Therefore, it is inferred that tinnitus is associated with poor performance in selective and sustained auditory attention in the assessed volunteers. These aspects should be considered for the management of patients with tinnitus.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Adolescent; Adult; Attention; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Psychoacoustics; Tinnitus; Young Adult
PubMed: 30926455
DOI: 10.1016/j.bjorl.2019.01.011 -
Hearing Research Sep 2013Spoken language is rarely heard in silence, and a great deal of interest in psychoacoustics has focused on the ways that the perception of speech is affected by... (Review)
Review
Spoken language is rarely heard in silence, and a great deal of interest in psychoacoustics has focused on the ways that the perception of speech is affected by properties of masking noise. In this review we first briefly outline the neuroanatomy of speech perception. We then summarise the neurobiological aspects of the perception of masked speech, and investigate this as a function of masker type, masker level and task. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Annual Reviews 2013".
Topics: Auditory Cortex; Cognition; Comprehension; Functional Neuroimaging; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Noise; Perceptual Masking; Positron-Emission Tomography; Psychoacoustics; Speech; Speech Perception
PubMed: 23685149
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2013.05.001 -
European Archives of... Apr 2020It is not easy to assess how severe and annoying a patient's snoring is. Solid parameters are lacking; snorers cannot deliver a reliable self-assessment and it is... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
PURPOSE
It is not easy to assess how severe and annoying a patient's snoring is. Solid parameters are lacking; snorers cannot deliver a reliable self-assessment and it is uncertain whether bed partners' statements can be relied upon. The purpose of the present study was therefore to investigate whether and how well snoring assessment based on acoustic parameters and bed partners' reporting agree.
METHODS
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on snoring treatment, several acoustic parameters [snoring index (SI), percentage snoring time (ST), sound pressure level, sound energy, loudness, psychoacoustic annoyance and psychoacoustic snore score (PSS)] were measured in 18 subjects during 24 polysomnographies. Bed partners also assessed snoring annoyance and loudness as well as treatment outcome.
RESULTS
No correlation was found between the subjective annoyance caused by snoring and the acoustic parameters. Regarding perceived loudness, there was a moderate, significant correlation with loudness (N) and PSS over the hour with the highest SI. SI, ST, LAeq and maximum sound pressure level dB(A) showed no significant correlation. After the intervention only mean sound energy LAeq over the entire night showed a significant correlation (r = 0.782; p = 0.022) with bed partners' assessments. However, this result was not confirmed in the second control night.
CONCLUSIONS
The non-existent or only weak correlation between bed partners' ratings and objective parameters indicate that snoring severity should be evaluated with caution. Neither acoustic parameters, at least for one measurement over just one night, nor bed partners' ratings should be used as the sole basis for snoring assessment.
Topics: Acoustics; Humans; Polysomnography; Psychoacoustics; Snoring; Sound Spectrography
PubMed: 32016523
DOI: 10.1007/s00405-020-05813-2 -
Hearing Research Jul 2010Harmonic complex tones are a particularly important class of sounds found in both speech and music. Although these sounds contain multiple frequency components, they are... (Review)
Review
Harmonic complex tones are a particularly important class of sounds found in both speech and music. Although these sounds contain multiple frequency components, they are usually perceived as a coherent whole, with a pitch corresponding to the fundamental frequency (F0). However, when two or more harmonic sounds occur concurrently, e.g., at a cocktail party or in a symphony, the auditory system must separate harmonics and assign them to their respective F0s so that a coherent and veridical representation of the different sounds sources is formed. Here we review both psychophysical and neurophysiological (single-unit and evoked-potential) findings, which provide some insight into how, and how well, the auditory system accomplishes this task. A survey of computational models designed to estimate multiple F0s and segregate concurrent sources is followed by a review of the empirical literature on the perception and neural coding of concurrent harmonic sounds, including vowels, as well as findings obtained using single complex tones with mistuned harmonics.
Topics: Auditory Pathways; Auditory Perception; Computer Simulation; Evoked Potentials, Auditory; Humans; Models, Neurological; Music; Perceptual Masking; Pitch Discrimination; Pitch Perception; Psychoacoustics; Sound; Sound Spectrography; Speech Perception; Time Factors
PubMed: 19788920
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2009.09.012 -
The Journal of the Acoustical Society... Jan 2021No agreed-upon method currently exists for objective measurement of perceived voice quality. This paper describes validation of a psychoacoustic model designed to fill...
No agreed-upon method currently exists for objective measurement of perceived voice quality. This paper describes validation of a psychoacoustic model designed to fill this gap. This model includes parameters to characterize the harmonic and inharmonic voice sources, vocal tract transfer function, fundamental frequency, and amplitude of the voice, which together serve to completely quantify the integral sound of a target voice sample. In experiment 1, 200 voices with and without diagnosed vocal pathology were fit with the model using analysis-by-synthesis. The resulting synthetic voice samples were not distinguishable from the original voice tokens, suggesting that the model has all the parameters it needs to fully quantify voice quality. In experiment 2 parameters that model the harmonic voice source were removed one by one, and the voice tokens were re-synthesized with the reduced model. In every case the lower-dimensional models provided worse perceptual matches to the quality of the natural tokens than did the original set, indicating that the psychoacoustic model cannot be reduced in dimensionality without loss of fit to the data. Results confirm that this model can be validly applied to quantify voice quality in clinical and research applications.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Psychoacoustics; Speech; Speech Acoustics; Voice; Voice Disorders; Voice Quality
PubMed: 33514179
DOI: 10.1121/10.0003331 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jan 2021We are on the cusp of a revolution in the aviation sector, driven by the significant progress in electric power and battery technologies, and autonomous systems. Several... (Review)
Review
We are on the cusp of a revolution in the aviation sector, driven by the significant progress in electric power and battery technologies, and autonomous systems. Several industry leaders and governmental agencies are currently investigating the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or "drones" as commonly known, for an ever-growing number of applications-from blue light services to parcel delivery and urban mobility. Undoubtedly, the operation of UAVs will lead to noise exposure, which has the potential to become a significant public health issue. This paper first describes the main acoustic and operational characteristics of UAVs, as an unconventional noise source compared to conventional civil aircraft. Gaps in the literature and the regulations on the noise metrics and acceptable noise levels are identified and discussed. The state-of-the-art evidence on human response to aircraft and other environmental noise sources is reviewed and its application for UAVs discussed. A methodological framework is proposed for building psychoacoustic knowledge, to inform systems and operations development to limit the noise impact on communities.
Topics: Aircraft; Aviation; Humans; Psychoacoustics
PubMed: 33466937
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18020682 -
The Journal of the Acoustical Society... Sep 2019Little is known about the nature or extent of everyday variability in voice quality. This paper describes a series of principal component analyses to explore within- and...
Little is known about the nature or extent of everyday variability in voice quality. This paper describes a series of principal component analyses to explore within- and between-talker acoustic variation and the extent to which they conform to expectations derived from current models of voice perception. Based on studies of faces and cognitive models of speaker recognition, the authors hypothesized that a few measures would be important across speakers, but that much of within-speaker variability would be idiosyncratic. Analyses used multiple sentence productions from 50 female and 50 male speakers of English, recorded over three days. Twenty-six acoustic variables from a psychoacoustic model of voice quality were measured every 5 ms on vowels and approximants. Across speakers the balance between higher harmonic amplitudes and inharmonic energy in the voice accounted for the most variance (females = 20%, males = 22%). Formant frequencies and their variability accounted for an additional 12% of variance across speakers. Remaining variance appeared largely idiosyncratic, suggesting that the speaker-specific voice space is different for different people. Results further showed that voice spaces for individuals and for the population of talkers have very similar acoustic structures. Implications for prototype models of voice perception and recognition are discussed.
Topics: Adult; Biological Variation, Individual; Biological Variation, Population; Female; Humans; Male; Phonetics; Psychoacoustics; Speech Acoustics; Voice
PubMed: 31590565
DOI: 10.1121/1.5125134