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Noise-Induced Changes of the Auditory Brainstem Response to Speech: a Measure of Neural Desynchronisation?

de Boer, Jessica; Nuttall, Helen E.; Krumbholz, Katrin

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Authors

Helen E. Nuttall



Abstract

It is commonly assumed that difficulty in listening to speech in noise is at least partly due to deficits in neural temporal processing. Given that noise reduces the temporal fidelity of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) to speech, it has been suggested that the speech ABR may serve as an index of such neural deficits. However, the temporal fidelity of ABRs, to both speech and non-speech sounds, is also known to be influenced by the cochlear origin of the response, as responses from higher-frequency cochlear regions are faster and more synchronous than responses from lower-frequency regions. Thus, if noise caused a reweighting of response contributions from higher- to lower-frequency cochlear regions, the temporal fidelity of the aggregate response should be reduced even in the absence of any changes in neural processing. This ‘place mechanism’ has been demonstrated for non-speech ABRs. The aim of this study was to test whether it also applies to speech ABRs. We used the so-called ‘derived-band’ method to isolate response contributions from frequency-limited cochlear regions. Broadband and derived-band speech ABRs were measured both in quiet and in noise. Whilst the noise caused significant changes to the temporal properties of the broadband response, its effects on the derived-band responses were mostly restricted to the response amplitudes. Importantly, the amplitudes of the higher-frequency derived-band responses were much more strongly affected than those of the lower-frequency responses, suggesting that the noise indeed caused a reweighting effect. Our results indicate that, as for non-speech ABRs, the cochlear place mechanism can represent a potentially substantial confound to speech-ABR-in-noise measurements.

Citation

de Boer, J., Nuttall, H. E., & Krumbholz, K. (2020). Noise-Induced Changes of the Auditory Brainstem Response to Speech: a Measure of Neural Desynchronisation?. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 21, 183–197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-020-00750-7

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 12, 2020
Online Publication Date Apr 13, 2020
Publication Date Apr 13, 2020
Deposit Date May 4, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Print ISSN 1525-3961
Electronic ISSN 1438-7573
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 21
Pages 183–197
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-020-00750-7
Keywords Sensory Systems; Otorhinolaryngology
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4309509
Publisher URL https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10162-020-00750-7
Additional Information Received: 18 March 2019; Accepted: 12 March 2020; First Online: 13 April 2020; : The experimental procedures complied with the Declaration of Helsinki guidelines (Version 6, 2008), but were not formally pre-registered online as set out in the Declaration’s 2014 amendment. They were approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Nottingham Medical School.; : The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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