Effects of degree and symmetricity of bilateral spectral smearing, carrier frequency, and subject sex on amplitude of evoked auditory steady-state response signal

Abstract

The characteristics of an auditory steady-state response (ASSR) signal can be affected by the pathophysiological statuses of the left and right ears, such as a smeared sensation by native spectral smearing owing to sensorineural hearing impairment, because they can affect the perception of the stimulus, the degree of concentration on the stimulus and comfort in concentration. However, to date, few studies have examined the effects of such smeared sensations on the amplitude of the evoked ASSR signal. In this study, we synthesized various auditory stimuli with different degrees of spectral smearing using a hearing loss simulator to match the age of participant groups with different degrees of spectral smearing. We then performed three subjective tests, representing symmetric and asymmetric bilateral spectral smearing, with 16 normalhearing individuals to observe the effects of the severity and symmetricity of bilateral spectral smearing, the value of the carrier frequency of auditory stimuli, and the sex of the individual on the amplitude in evoked ASSR signals. The experimental results demonstrated the following: (1) the application of spectral smearing to normal sounds may result in amplitude-reduced ASSR signals, (2) the effect of spectral smearing on the amplitude of the ASSR signals is most significant when the degrees of bilateral spectral smearing are asymmetric, (3) the selection of carrier frequency in an auditory stimulus can affect the amplitude of evoked ASSR signals regardless of the degree of spectral smearing, and (4) the sex of the individual can affect the amplitude of the evoked ASSR signal in various test conditions. The results of this study can help estimate the effects of smeared sensation by spectral smearing owing to sensorineural hearing impairment on the amplitude of evoked ASSR signals.

Envelope following responses for hearing diagnosis: Robustness and methodological considerations

“…The ASSR is similar to the EFR and generated by the frequency of a sinusoidal modulator imposed on a pure tone (Picton et al, 2003). One study compared ASSRs with the same spectral stimulus smearing level for different carrier frequencies (e.g., 500 and 2000 Hz) and found significantly different ASSRs (Hwang et al, 2019). Our EFR magnitudes did exhibit significant differences between the younger and older groups when changing the carrier frequency from 2 to 4 to 6 kHz.…”

Brain activity during time to contact estimation: an EEG study

“…The goal of this study was not investigating the difference between male and female participants. In an EEG study on the auditory signals, the effect of gender on the amplitude of the auditory evoked potentials was studied (Hwang et al 2019), but there is not any study concerning the effect of gender on TTC estimation. In our study, the same individuals participated in head-on motion experiment and transversal motion experiment.…”