Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-08-04DOI: 10.1177/23312165261454531
Carl Rushworth, Alexander J Hardy, Magdalena Sereda, Ben J Gurer, Julien Besle, Susan T Francis, Rebecca S Dewey, Denis Schluppeck, Justin M Ales, Vassilis Pelekanos, Michael A Akeroyd, Katrin Krumbholz
{"title":"Reinterpreting the Frequency Dependence of Cortical Auditory-Evoked Response Amplitudes in Light of Current Understanding of Cortical Tonotopic Organization.","authors":"Carl Rushworth, Alexander J Hardy, Magdalena Sereda, Ben J Gurer, Julien Besle, Susan T Francis, Rebecca S Dewey, Denis Schluppeck, Justin M Ales, Vassilis Pelekanos, Michael A Akeroyd, Katrin Krumbholz","doi":"10.1177/23312165261454531","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261454531","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tonotopy is a fundamental feature of auditory cortical organization, yet its influence on cortical auditory-evoked responses (AERs) remains unclear. Consequently, key properties of cortical AERs-such as their marked amplitude reduction with increasing stimulus frequency-still lack a coherent mechanistic explanation. To address this gap, we combined a meta-analysis of frequency-specific AER amplitudes with forward simulations of AERs informed by current knowledge of auditory cortical tonotopic layout and functional organization. The meta-analysis used a semi-systematic search covering all known automatic cortical AER components-both transient-evoked and steady-state-along with selected subcortical components for comparison. Forward simulations were based on a functional parcellation of the human supratemporal auditory region into subdivisions forming distinct tonotopic maps, and an idealized model of each division's intrinsic tonotopic layout. Parcellation was achieved using a novel, largely automated procedure applied to high-field (3 T) and ultra-high-field (7 T) functional and microstructural MRI mapping data from 30 individual hemispheres. Meta-analytic results revealed that, whilst all cortical AER components consistently show frequency-related amplitude reduction, reduction is greater in steady-state compared to transient-evoked components. Simulations indicated that frequency-related amplitude reduction arising from cortical morphology is confined to the highly myelinated central portion of Heschl's gyrus, suggesting that differences in reduction amount between steady-state and transient-evoked components may reflect differences in the relative strengths of their primary contributions. Our findings provide a new perspective on cortical AER generation. They represent an important step toward explaining morphology-related variability in AER amplitudes and establishing a quantitative link to underlying source strengths.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261454531"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13438238/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148674316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-08-28DOI: 10.1177/23312165261477779
Armand Schwarz, Paul Avan, Patrick Susini, Emmanuel Ponsot
{"title":"Perceptual Distortions in Aided Hearing-Impaired Listeners: Psychophysical Evidence of Excessive Loudness Growth and Altered Timbre Representation.","authors":"Armand Schwarz, Paul Avan, Patrick Susini, Emmanuel Ponsot","doi":"10.1177/23312165261477779","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261477779","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hearing aid users often report that some everyday sounds are abnormally intrusive or salient. This issue may stem from distorted coding of sound features due to peripheral impairments and/or hearing aid processing. This study investigates whether aided hearing-impaired (aHI) listeners experience (1) abnormal loudness processing and (2) distorted timbre perception, both of which may contribute to this problem. In Experiment 1, we measured loudness functions using sounds varying in four timbre dimensions (brightness, spectral flux, attack time, roughness) in normal-hearing (NH) and aHI listeners. In Experiment 2, we assessed timbre perception via dissimilarity judgments based on a similar set of sounds. We tested NH listeners with and without a hearing loss simulator and a hearing aid simulator, as well as aHI listeners with the hearing aid simulator. The results of Experiment 1 revealed steeper loudness functions in aHI participants, in particular for low-to-moderate level sounds with center frequency above 1 kHz, suggesting that hearing aids fail to fully restore normal loudness growth above a certain degree of threshold loss. The characterization of timbre perception in aHI listeners obtained in Experiment 2 showed enhanced weighting of temporal envelope features, likely emphasized by hearing aid expansion at low level, as well as non-linear distortions in the perceptual coding of roughness. These findings suggest that both loudness and timbre dimensions are distorted in aided impaired hearing. We propose that these distortions may underlie the excessive salience of certain everyday sounds, though direct measurement of salience effects will be important in future work.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261477779"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13527366/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-03-07DOI: 10.1177/23312165261421698
Petra von Gablenz, Inga Holube, Nadja Schinkel-Bielefeld
{"title":"Beyond the Moment: How EMA Reporting Periods Affect Sampled Situations and Sensitivity to Hearing Aid Differences.","authors":"Petra von Gablenz, Inga Holube, Nadja Schinkel-Bielefeld","doi":"10.1177/23312165261421698","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261421698","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a timely method for capturing differences between hearing aids (HAs) or HA features in real-world environments. Studies vary greatly in reporting periods, specifically how long ago an event can have occurred to still be reported and how events are selected when not summarizing over a period of time. The potential effects of different reporting periods on HA or HA feature contrast remain unexplored. In a 14-day EMA study, 22 hearing-aid users assessed both a basic and an advanced HA program, which were switched daily without participant control. Several times daily, participants used a smartphone app to report on satisfaction with the HA program, overall listening experience, sound quality, and listening effort. The app had participants focus on the current situation, denoting a momentary reporting period, and the worst listening experience within the previous 30 min, denoting a short-term retrospective period. Participants also completed an end-of-day questionnaire. Sound-pressure levels and HA classifier data were recorded continuously. Mixed modeling was used to examine the impact of reporting periods on ratings. Main findings showed no rating differences between the two HA programs in momentary or end-of-day assessments. However, differences emerged in short-term retrospective reporting, thus in the assessments of the worst experience within the preceding 30 min. Various time effects were also observed. Depending on the reporting period, the analysis of sound-pressure levels and HA classifier data revealed variations in real-world snapshots. In conclusion, this study underscores the need to diligently define reporting periods in hearing-related EMA research.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261421698"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12967378/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147370529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-30DOI: 10.1177/23312165261446374
Luca Wiederschein, Anna Schließ, Florian Denk, Hendrik Husstedt
{"title":"Characterizing Perception of Impulse Sounds Through Subjective Ratings and Pupillometric Responses.","authors":"Luca Wiederschein, Anna Schließ, Florian Denk, Hendrik Husstedt","doi":"10.1177/23312165261446374","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261446374","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Impulse sounds such as clinking dishes or slamming objects are often perceived as particularly intense or uncomfortable, yet their perceptual characterization remains insufficiently understood. The present study systematically examined subjective and physiological responses to ecologically valid impulse sounds in young normal-hearing adults. Twenty-seven participants rated nine impulse sounds presented at peak levels between 80 and 120 dB SPL in three acoustic conditions: anechoic, reverberant (room-convolved), and anechoic embedded in the International Speech Test Signal (ISTS) at 65 dB SPL. Loudness and discomfort were assessed using categorical rating scales, and pupil dilation was recorded as an index of autonomic arousal. Both perceptual scales followed Stevens-type growth functions. Loudness increased gradually with level, whereas discomfort showed a delayed onset, but steeper growth once activated. Test-retest reliability was excellent for both scales (ICC ≈0.88). Acoustic condition significantly influenced perception: reverberant stimuli yielded higher perceived intensity and lower 50% thresholds than anechoic presentations for most impulse types, while embedding impulses in speech produced comparatively small effects. Mean pupil dilation increased with presentation level and was significantly associated with both loudness and discomfort ratings. Linear mixed-effects modeling demonstrated that subjective ratings explained pupil dilation more strongly than physical level once both were included in the model. Neither uncomfortable loudness levels nor self-reported sound sensitivity significantly predicted ratings or physiological responses. These findings provide a systematic characterization of impulse sound perception in a normal-hearing population and demonstrate a close correspondence between subjective intensity judgments and autonomic responses under controlled laboratory conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261446374"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13153538/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147786428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-03-16DOI: 10.1177/23312165261428755
Lida C Alampounti, Hannah Cooper, Stuart Rosen, Jennifer K Bizley
{"title":"Assessing Visual Contributions to the Perception of Speech in Noise.","authors":"Lida C Alampounti, Hannah Cooper, Stuart Rosen, Jennifer K Bizley","doi":"10.1177/23312165261428755","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261428755","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Investigations of the role of audiovisual integration in speech-in-noise perception have largely focused on the benefits provided by lipreading cues. Nonetheless, audiovisual temporal coherence can offer a complementary advantage in auditory selective attention tasks. We developed an audiovisual speech-in-noise test to assess the benefit of visually-conveyed phonetic information and visual contributions to auditory streaming. The test was a video version of the Children's Coordinate Response Measure with a noun as the second keyword (vCCRMn). The vCCRMn allowed us to measure speech reception thresholds in the presence of two competing talkers under three visual conditions: a full naturalistic video (AV), a video which was interrupted during the target word presentation (Inter), thus, providing no lipreading cues, and a static image of a talker with audio (A). In each case, the video/image could display either the target talker or one of the two competing maskers. We assessed speech reception thresholds in each visual condition in 37 young (≤35 years old) normal-hearing participants. Lipreading ability was independently assessed with the test of adult speechreading (TAS). Results showed that both target-coherent AV and Inter visual conditions offer participants a listening benefit over the static image with audio condition. Target coherent visual information provided the greatest listening advantage in the full audiovisual condition, but a robust advantage was also seen in the interrupted condition, where listeners were unable to lipread the target words. Together, our results are consistent with visual information providing multiple benefits to listening, through lipreading and enhanced auditory streaming.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261428755"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13009578/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147469836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-09-03DOI: 10.1177/23312165261440453
Adrian Mai, Tanja Biehl, Matthias Latzel, Stefan Launer, Daniel J Strauss, Farah I Corona-Strauss
{"title":"Hearing Aid Noise Reduction Algorithms Support Neural Speech Tracking by Enhancing Spectrotemporal Consistency of Phase-Locked Brain Responses to Acoustic Edges.","authors":"Adrian Mai, Tanja Biehl, Matthias Latzel, Stefan Launer, Daniel J Strauss, Farah I Corona-Strauss","doi":"10.1177/23312165261440453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23312165261440453","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous works that have analyzed electroencephalographic (EEG) speech envelope encoding in hearing-aid users using stimulus reconstruction (SR) approaches have shown that noise reduction (NR) algorithms can improve the neural tracking of speech in noise. Beyond enhancing speech envelope encoding, NR may also restore the perceptibility of acoustic edges that trigger auditory late responses (ALRs), likely promoting more consistent ALR elicitation and thus enhancing brain-to-speech synchronization. To investigate this hypothesis, 26 hearing-impaired listeners were fitted with bilateral hearing aids and participated in an EEG experiment with the instruction to listen to a continuous single-speaker speech stimulus under speech-in-quiet conditions and speech-in-noise conditions with and without NR. Event-related potential analyses of neural responses to acoustic edges in the speech onset envelope revealed that P1 component amplitudes in averaged ALRs decreased significantly for speech-in-noise compared to speech-in-quiet conditions, but partially recovered when NR was activated. These observations correlated significantly with the degree of spectrotemporal consistency across single-trials for the associated ALR time-frequency component. Additionally, a SR analysis for the speech onset envelope produced qualitatively identical results that were highly correlated with those from the spectrotemporal consistency analysis. These findings suggest that hearing aid NR algorithms partly enhance neural speech tracking by restoring neural responses to acoustic edges. In turn, our results may support the future development of hearing aid processing strategies that could facilitate neural tracking of speech based on neural principles.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261440453"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148888888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-23DOI: 10.1177/23312165261434074
Jie Bai, Ying Li, Zhihan Lin, Xin Jin, Vicky W Zhang, Teresa Yc Ching, Haihong Liu
{"title":"Developmental Trajectories and Influencing Factors of Aural/Oral Performance in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Cochlear Implants Using the PEACH Scale.","authors":"Jie Bai, Ying Li, Zhihan Lin, Xin Jin, Vicky W Zhang, Teresa Yc Ching, Haihong Liu","doi":"10.1177/23312165261434074","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261434074","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The trend of cochlear implantation at a younger age has become increasingly prominent in recent years. However, early intervention also presents significant challenges to postoperative assessment. Parent-reported questionnaires have demonstrated notable advantages in outcome evaluation for infants and young children. In the present study, we investigate the auditory development of Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) using the Chinese version of the Parents' Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH). A total of 187 children with CIs participated. According to their age at implantation, the children were classified into five groups: <12 months, 13-18 months, 19-24 months, 25-42 months, and >42 months. Evaluations were administered at CIs switch-on (baseline), and at 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 months post switch-on, resulting in 933 records. We employed a linear mixed-effects model to identify key factors influencing PEACH performance. Results show that the PEACH scores enter a stable plateau phase after approximately 20 months of CI use. Notably, children who received CIs at a younger age exhibited faster improvements in auditory functional performances. This advantage is particularly prominent in children implanted before 18 months of age. Analysis indicated that significant influencing factors include age at implantation, duration of CI use, development quotient, and preoperative residual hearing level. This study explores the longitudinal trends of early aural/oral performance in children with CIs. The findings emphasize the critical importance of early cochlear implantation for improving outcomes while revealing the challenges associated with the late-implanted children.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261434074"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13121480/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147786380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-27DOI: 10.1177/23312165261439202
Shimin Mo, Claude Alain, Kristen E Li, Andrew Dimitrijevic
{"title":"Electrophysiological Assessment of Semantic Processing of Cochlear Implant Users Using an Audiobook.","authors":"Shimin Mo, Claude Alain, Kristen E Li, Andrew Dimitrijevic","doi":"10.1177/23312165261439202","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261439202","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cochlear implants (CI) afford listeners with limited spectral resolution, thereby constraining semantic processing. Prior research has predominantly used isolated words or sentences without context, a method that lacks ecological validity and may place greater demands on working memory (WM) due to the absence of contextual linguistic information. This study examined the semantic processing of experienced CI users (<i>N</i> = 21) and age-matched normal-hearing controls (NH, <i>N</i> = 21) using an audiobook. We measured neuroelectric brain activity while participants listened to a story in which we inserted an incongruent word every 45 s, herein, the E45 condition. WM and behavioral semantic judgment were quantified with a listening span test. Temporal response functions, linear models that characterize how continuous stimulus features are temporally mapped onto neural responses, were used to quantify speech neural tracking of audio features (envelope, word onset, word surprisal) during ongoing speech. Results showed reliable neural tracking of acoustic features and word surprisal. Compared to the Control condition, E45 elicited larger TRF-N400 responses in both groups. Although TRF-N400 amplitudes were comparable between CI and NH listeners, CI users exhibited delayed responses. In NH listeners, larger N400 effects were associated with greater semantic judgment accuracy, linking neural responses to behavioral performance. These results show the validity of an ecologically valid paradigm that does not require an explicit behavioral response to quantify semantic processing in CI users.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261439202"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13133447/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147786378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-02-23DOI: 10.1177/23312165261416179
Tobias Goehring, Robert P Carlyon
{"title":"A Web-Based Listening Test System for Cochlear Implant Research and its Validation for Remote Testing.","authors":"Tobias Goehring, Robert P Carlyon","doi":"10.1177/23312165261416179","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261416179","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Web-based applications are increasingly used in clinical audiology, driven by the development of mobile, remote technology, and strong demand. Remote applications also have large potential to increase statistical power, accessibility, and diversity in research studies, but their utility and validity are still unclear. We developed and evaluated a web-based listening test system called AUDITO for cochlear implant (CI) research. By exploiting the advances in wireless streaming technology and personal mobile devices, AUDITO can be used to flexibly implement and administer a wide range of listening tests remotely or in-the-lab. The system was designed to be easy to use without programming. Technical features were implemented to ensure signal quality over wireless streaming. A pilot study with 20 experienced CI recipients was performed to evaluate the validity of remote testing across test paradigms. Comparisons of interest included the presentation of stimuli via cable versus Bluetooth streaming and testing remotely versus in-the-lab. Three listening tests were implemented to measure speech perception for sentences, digits in noise and spectro-temporal resolution. A questionnaire was administered to collect user feedback. The system worked reliably with various Bluetooth-compatible setups including desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones. Test results were consistent between listening modalities and across tested conditions, confirming the validity of web-based testing for these measures. User feedback was positive for system usability and function, while signal quality was not reported to be compromised via streaming. Web-based systems such as AUDITO can facilitate data collection, enable research collaboration and improve accessibility and inclusion in CI research.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261416179"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12929878/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147277293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trends in HearingPub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-07-01DOI: 10.1177/23312165261465060
Lily Cassandra Paulick, David López-Ramos, Léo Varnet, Peter Neri, Emmanuel Ponsot
{"title":"Probing the Underlying Mechanisms of Spectro-Temporal Modulation Discrimination.","authors":"Lily Cassandra Paulick, David López-Ramos, Léo Varnet, Peter Neri, Emmanuel Ponsot","doi":"10.1177/23312165261465060","DOIUrl":"10.1177/23312165261465060","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Speech perception relies critically on the processing of spectro-temporal modulations (STMs), yet the mechanisms supporting STM perception and their role in explaining individual variability remain incompletely understood. This study employed a reverse-correlation paradigm, previously used for STM detection, to investigate how listeners discriminate between upward- and downward-moving STMs of identical temporal and spectral rates. Normal-hearing participants completed the task under three surround conditions: (i) no surround sound, (ii) surround sound consisting of the upward-moving STM and (iii) surround sound consisting of the downward-moving STM. Each stimulus was perturbed with structured spectro-temporal noise, from which perceptual kernels were derived. The data showed that listeners primarily weighted upward-moving targets, showing limited evidence of simultaneous monitoring of both directions. Sensitivity was selectively reduced in the downward-moving surround condition, suggesting orientation-specific interference. Simulations with a modulation filterbank model under different configurations, as well as behavioural performance differences across different experimental conditions, further supported the conclusion that participants relied predominantly on upward-target templates, with phase sensitivity additionally playing a critical role in replicating behavioural patterns. Nonetheless, substantial variability was observed in individual perceptual kernels that could not be captured by the model in its normal-hearing configuration. Overall, the results provide new insights into the mechanisms of STM discrimination and demonstrate the utility of reverse-correlation approaches for evaluating auditory models and probing perceptual decision strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"30 ","pages":"23312165261465060"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13323669/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148363287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}