Enhancing Speech Intelligibility: Interactions Among Context, Modality, Speech Style, and Masker

Engen, Kristin J. Van; Phelps, Jasmine E. B.; Smiljanić, Rajka; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

doi:10.1044/jslhr-h-13-0076

Cited by 86 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…All participants reported no previous history of language and hearing problems. Consistent with our previous studies (e.g., Van Engen, Phelps, Smiljanic, & Chandrasekaran, 2014), all participants underwent a hearing screening to ensure threshold ≤25 dB Hearing Level (HL) at 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz and 4000 Hz for each ear. All participants provided written informed consent and received monetary compensation for their participation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…All participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests on various aspects about executive function (see section 4 in Material and methods for details). Consistent with previous studies (e.g., Van Engen, et al, 2014), all participants underwent a hearing screening to ensure threshold ≤25 dB HL at 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz and 4000 Hz for each ear. Although thresholds (and oto-acoustic emissions) may have provided a more sophisticated profile of hearing acuity, our extensive neuropsychological screening battery, cognitive tests, experiments, as well as collecting a genetic screen did not allow enough time to develop a more comprehensive hearing profile for the participants.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 80%

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Dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene modulates the influence of informational masking on speech recognition

et al. 2015

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Listeners vary substantially in their ability to recognize speech in noisy environments. Here we examined the role of genetic variation on individual differences in speech recognition in various noise backgrounds. Background noise typically varies in the levels of energetic masking (EM) and informational masking (IM) imposed on target speech. Relative to EM, release from IM is hypothesized to place greater demand on executive function to selectively attend to target speech while ignoring competing noises. Recent evidence suggests that the long allele variant in exon III of the DRD4 gene, primarily expressed in the prefrontal cortex, may be associated with enhanced selective attention to goal-relevant high-priority information even in the face of interference. We investigated the extent to which this polymorphism is associated with speech recognition in IM and EM conditions. In an unscreened adult sample (Experiment 1) and a larger screened replication sample (Experiment 2), we demonstrate that individuals with the DRD4 long variant show better recognition performance in noise conditions involving significant IM, but not in EM conditions. In Experiment 2, we also obtained neuropsychological measures to assess the underlying mechanisms. Mediation analyses revealed that this listening condition-specific advantage was mediated by enhanced executive attention/working memory capacity in individuals with the long allele variant. These findings suggest that DRD4 may contribute specifically to individual differences in speech recognition ability in noise conditions that place demands on executive function.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 80%

Dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene modulates the influence of informational masking on speech recognition

et al. 2015

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“…This issue is particularly interesting given that visual enhancement varies as a function of acoustic clarity and linguistic content (Van Engen, Phelps, Smiljanic, & Chandrasekaran, 2014), suggesting that audiovisual integration can be tailored to specific listening situations. Given the multiple cues provided by visual speech, it would be surprising if only a single dimension was useful for listeners.…”

Section: Visual Enhancement During Speech Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction and constraint in audiovisual speech perception

Peelle

Sommers

2015

Cortex

208

196

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During face-to-face conversational speech listeners must efficiently process a rapid and complex stream of multisensory information. Visual speech can serve as a critical complement to auditory information because it provides cues to both the timing of the incoming acoustic signal (the amplitude envelope, influencing attention and perceptual sensitivity) and its content (place and manner of articulation, constraining lexical selection). Here we review behavioral and neurophysiological evidence regarding listeners' use of visual speech information. Multisensory integration of audiovisual speech cues improves recognition accuracy, particularly for speech in noise. Even when speech is intelligible based solely on auditory information, adding visual information may reduce the cognitive demands placed on listeners through increasing precision of prediction. Electrophysiological studies demonstrate oscillatory cortical entrainment to speech in auditory cortex is enhanced when visual speech is present, increasing sensitivity to important acoustic cues. Neuroimaging studies also suggest increased activity in auditory cortex when congruent visual information is available, but additionally emphasize the involvement of heteromodal regions of posterior superior temporal sulcus as playing a role in integrative processing. We interpret these findings in a framework of temporally-focused lexical competition in which visual speech information affects auditory processing to increase sensitivity to auditory information through an early integration mechanism, and a late integration stage that incorporates specific information about a speaker's articulators to constrain the number of possible candidates in a spoken utterance. Ultimately it is words compatible with both auditory and visual information that most strongly determine successful speech perception during everyday listening. Thus, audiovisual speech perception is accomplished through multiple stages of integration, supported by distinct neuroanatomical mechanisms.

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“…Examining the linkage between susceptibility to lexical influences and speech processing in more complex listening conditions that resemble daily listening scenarios has the potential to inform hearing rehabilitation programs. On one hand, reliance on high-level contextual knowledge (e.g., lexical-semantic) may compensate for degraded signals in less-than-optimal listening conditions (e.g., Van Engen, Phelps, Smiljanic, & Chandrasekaran, 2014). On the other hand, there are also conditions wherein overreliance on high-level information may impair speech recognition (Norris, McQueen, & Cutler, 2000).…”

Section: Ganong Effect and Speech-in-speech Processing Is Associated mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Downside of Greater Lexical Influences: Selectively Poorer Speech Perception in Noise

Lam

Xie

Tessmer

et al. 2017

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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,d,e Purpose: Although lexical information influences phoneme perception, the extent to which reliance on lexical information enhances speech processing in challenging listening environments is unclear. We examined the extent to which individual differences in lexical influences on phonemic processing impact speech processing in maskers containing varying degrees of linguistic information (2-talker babble or pink noise). Method: Twenty-nine monolingual English speakers were instructed to ignore the lexical status of spoken syllables (e.g., gift vs. kift) and to only categorize the initial phonemes (/g/ vs. /k/ ). The same participants then performed speech recognition tasks in the presence of 2-talker babble or pink noise in audio-only and audiovisual conditions.Results: Individuals who demonstrated greater lexical influences on phonemic processing experienced greater speech processing difficulties in 2-talker babble than in pink noise. These selective difficulties were present across audio-only and audiovisual conditions. Conclusion: Individuals with greater reliance on lexical processes during speech perception exhibit impaired speech recognition in listening conditions in which competing talkers introduce audible linguistic interferences. Future studies should examine the locus of lexical influences/ interferences on phonemic processing and speechin-speech processing.

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Enhancing Speech Intelligibility: Interactions Among Context, Modality, Speech Style, and Masker

Abstract: Because intelligibility-enhancing cues influence each other and depend on masking condition, multiple maskers and enhancement cues should be used to accurately assess individuals' speech-in-noise perception.

Cited by 86 publications

References 48 publications

Dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene modulates the influence of informational masking on speech recognition

Dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene modulates the influence of informational masking on speech recognition

Prediction and constraint in audiovisual speech perception

The Downside of Greater Lexical Influences: Selectively Poorer Speech Perception in Noise

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