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[Early auditory evoked potentials in children with language development disorders].

One of the prerequisites for normal language development is a highly sensitive auditory perception. An auditory perception deficit is therefore likely to affect the normal course of language acquisition. To test this hypothesis, we studied the BAEPs in 25 preschool boys with an expressive developmental language disorder and 12 boys with a history of stuttering. These children had no hearing disorders. Comparisons with the control group (49 neurologically healthy male subjects with normal hearing) revealed a statistically significant delay of waves III, IV and V in the language impaired subjects, whereas no significant differences were detected in the group of stutterers. Our findings suggest that a delayed or altered conduction of acoustic stimuli is important to the pathogenesis of developmental language disorders.

Adolescent↗

Perceptions of auditory components of stuttered speech.

Two student groups, one of speech pathology majors and one a class of mixed background fulfilling a humanities requirement, listened to the same set of sentences spoken first in nonstuttered and then in stuttered form. Subjects rated each replication along a set of 114 semantic differential-type adjectives but on 10-point unipolar scales. These scales had previously been factor analyzed and represented 31 positive and 29 negative perceptual factors. The results indicate that all college students react favorably to stuttered speech. However, six factor differences significant at the 0.05 level or above emerged between the two groups when evaluating the stuttered version. These results suggest that pathology students do not perceive stuttered speech as do nonpathology students; they are more favorably disposed on every dimemsion.

Auditory Perception↗

Perception modulates auditory cortex activation.

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging signal change in Heschl's gyrus and the planum temporale was found to reflect sensory decisions about target presence. In a dichotic listening task, activation was higher for target present responses, irrespective of actual target presence. In fact, activation was highest for false alarms, that is, 'present' responses in the absence of a target stimulus, and lowest for missed targets. This shows that activity at the earliest stage of cortical auditory processing reflects subjective perceptual decisions. Whether this activation is driven by bottom-up or top-down factors remains to be investigated.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Lateralized auditory spatial perception and the contralaterality of cortical processing as studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) were used to study the relationships between lateralized auditory perception in humans and the contralaterality of processing in auditory cortex. Subjects listened to rapidly presented streams of short FM-sweep tone bursts to detect infrequent, slightly deviant tone bursts. The stimulus streams consisted of either monaural stimuli to one ear or the other or binaural stimuli with brief interaural onset delays. The onset delay gives the binaural sounds a lateralized auditory perception and is thought to be a key component of how our brains localize sounds in space. For the monaural stimuli, fMRI revealed a clear contralaterality in auditory cortex, with a contralaterality index (contralateral activity divided by the sum of contralateral and ipsilateral activity) of 67%. In contrast, the fMRI activations from the laterally perceived binaural stimuli indicated little or no contralaterality (index of 51%). The MEG recordings from the same subjects performing the same task converged qualitatively with the fMRI data, confirming a clear monaural contralaterality, with no contralaterality for the laterally perceived binaurals. However, the MEG monaural contralaterality (55%) was less than the fMRI and decreased across the several hundred millisecond poststimulus time period, going from 57% in the M50 latency range (20-70 ms) to 53% in the M200 range (170-250 ms). These data sets provide both quantification of the degree of contralaterality in the auditory pathways and insight into the locus and mechanism of the lateralized perception of spatially lateralized sounds.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Levodopa's awakening effect on patients with Parkinsonism.

The effects of levodopa on tests measuring auditory and visual perception, auditory, and visual short-term memory, verbal learning, and on attention and concentration were studied in 29 patients with Parkinsonism. Thirty-two control subjects matched with the Parkinsonism patients on age, educational level, and verbal IQ were administered the same tests to control for practice effects. Significant improvement occurred for the Parkinsonism patients in verbal learning (an intermediate memory test) and in auditory perception. These improvements were unrelated to changes in anticholinergic medications, increases in alertness or concentration, lessening of depression, or improved motor ability or control. There was no test evidence of levodopa improving visual perception, short-term auditory or visual memory, alertness or concentration. Thus, there is no objective test evidence for levodopa producing a generalized awakening or an alerting effect in Parkinsonism patients who are intellectually alert and well-orientated. Interpretation of the test findings suggests a specific awakening effect, that of improvement in intermediate memory but not in short-term memory. Overall, the Parkinsonism group scored below the control group on all tests, suggesting that cognitive impairment accompanies Parkinson's disease even in patients who are intellectually intact and well oriented.

Adult↗

Auditory-visual speech perception and auditory-visual enhancement in normal-hearing younger and older adults.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of age on the ability to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech information, relative to listening or speechreading alone. In addition, the study was designed to compare visual enhancement (VE) and auditory enhancement (AE) for consonants, words, and sentences in older and younger adults. DESIGN: Forty-four older adults and 38 younger adults with clinically normal thresholds for frequencies of 4 kHz and below were asked to identify vowel-consonant-vowels (VCVs), words in a carrier phrase, and semantically meaningful sentences in auditory-only (A), visual-only (V), and auditory-visual (AV) conditions. All stimuli were presented in a background of 20-talker babble, and signal-to-babble ratios were set individually for each participant and each stimulus type to produce approximately 50% correct in the A condition. RESULTS: For all three types of stimuli, older and younger adults obtained similar scores for the A condition, indicating that the procedure for individually adjusting signal-to-babble ratios was successful at equating A scores for the two age groups. Older adults, however, had significantly poorer performance than younger adults in the AV and V modalities. Analyses of both AE and VE indicated no age differences in the ability to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech signals after controlling for age differences in the V condition. Correlations between scores for the three types of stimuli (consonants, words, and sentences) indicated moderate correlations in the V condition but small correlations for AV, AE, and VE. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the findings suggest that the poorer performance of older adults in the AV condition was a result of reduced speechreading abilities rather than a consequence of impaired integration capacities. The pattern of correlations across the three stimulus types indicates some overlap in the mechanisms mediating AV perception of words and sentences and that these mechanisms are largely independent from those used for AV perception of consonants.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Auditory looming perception: influences on anticipatory judgments.

Several studies in the auditory-perception literature hint that listeners may be able to anticipate the time of arrival of an approaching sound source. Two experiments are reported in which listeners judged the time of arrival of an approaching car on the basis of various portions of its auditory signal. Subjects pressed a computer key to indicate when the car would have just passed them, assuming that the car maintained a constant approach velocity. A number of variables were tested including (a) the time between the offset of the signal and the virtual time of passage, (b) duration of the signal, and (c) feedback concerning judgment accuracy. Results indicate that increasing the time between signal offset and virtual time of passage decreases judgment accuracy whereas the actual duration of the signal had no significant effect. Feedback significantly improved performance overall.

Adult↗

Assessing auditory distance perception using perceptually directed action.

Three experiments investigated auditory distance perception under natural listening conditions in a large open field. Targets varied in egocentric distance from 3 to 16 m. By presenting visual targets at these same locations on other trials, we were able to compare visual and auditory distance perception under similar circumstances. In some experimental conditions, observers made verbal reports of target distance. In others, observers viewed or listened to the target and then, without further perceptual information about the target, attempted to face the target, walk directly to it, or walk along a two-segment indirect path to it. The primary results were these. First, the verbal and walking responses were largely concordant, with the walking responses exhibiting less between-observer variability. Second, different motoric responses provided consistent estimates of the perceived target locations and, therefore, of the initially perceived distances. Third, under circumstances for which visual targets were perceived more or less correctly in distance using the more precise walking response, auditory targets were generally perceived with considerable systematic error. In particular, the perceived locations of the auditory targets varied only about half as much in distance as did the physical targets; in addition, there was a tendency to underestimate target distance, except for the closest targets.

Auditory Perception↗

Auditory image perception and analysis: the basis for hearing.

The premise of this paper is that the auditory system's primary function is its ability to determine the sources of sound. Auditory image perception and analysis are defined as the basis for sound source determination. Few studies in the literature have focused on understanding these abilities and the paper argues that more attention should be paid to auditory image perception and analysis. Four questions are posed for understanding auditory image formation and seven physical variables are described which might be used for auditory image perception. The paper relates auditory image perception and analysis to a number of other topics in the hearing sciences in order to reinforce the argument that auditory image perception and analysis are the basis of hearing.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

The effects of age on auditory speech perception development in cochlear-implanted prelingually deaf children.

One of the most important factors in auditory speech perception of cochlear-implanted children is age. The goal of this study was to compare auditory speech perception among children implanted from 6 different age groups: 0 to 3, 4 to 5, 6 to 7, 8 to 9, 10 to 11, and >12 years. The subjects of this study were matched based on socioeconomic status, residual hearing before cochlear implantation, the kinds of cochlear implant device, speech processing strategy, communication mode after implantation, and primary language in family. All of them have used the device minimally for 2 years. The subjects were tested with a range of closed and open-set auditory speech perception tests, and the levels of auditory speech perception in different age groups were compared. Results showed that the children who received an implant at 0 to 3 years of age had maximum auditory speech perception.

Adolescent↗

[Aspects of auditory speech perception in cochlear implant and hearing aid managed children].

Speech perception is a valuable tool for the assessment of auditory (re-)habilitation of children with hearing impairments. We tested 3 groups of prelingually deaf children. For the evaluation of speech recognition abilities the test of auditory perception of speech in children (TAPS) was used. Hearing aid fitted children of a school for hard of hearing and school of the deaf (n = 12 and n = 10, respectively) and cochlear implant users (n = 12) of the same age group were tested. A positive correlation of the speech perception abilities with the aided thresholds was found. Hearing aid fitted children of the school of hard of hearing with aided thresholds between 20 and 40 dB HL including 4000 Hz showed best results. Students of the same school with aided thresholds in the range of 45 to 70 dB HL performed comparable to the lesser cochlear implant users fitted with a single channel analogue system. Hearing aid fitted students of a school for the deaf with the same degree of hearing loss and amplification showed significantly poorer results.

Auditory Threshold↗

Application of the entropy theory of perception to auditory intensity discrimination.

The entropy theory of perception has been developed from principles of information theory and predicts both psychophysical data and firing rates of sensory receptors or primary afferents. It has demonstrated how mathematical relationships subsist among many previously unrelated phenomena, such as adaptation processes, reaction times and subjective magnitudes and can be applied to most modalities of perception. The current study demonstrates how the theory can be applied to intensity discrimination of auditory pure tones. A psychophysical experiment of intensity discrimination was carried out under computer control in three practiced normal hearing listeners. Three different derivations for the entropic description of intensity discrimination were applied to the data and analyzed in terms of computer generated best-fitting parameters. The physiological meaning of these parameters is discussed.

Audiometry, Pure-Tone↗

Dose-dependent attenuation of auditory phantom perception (tinnitus) by PET-guided repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Recent data suggest that chronic tinnitus is a "phantom auditory perception" caused by maladaptive neuroplasticity and subsequent hyperactivity in an extended neuronal network including the primary auditory cortex, higher-order association areas, and parts of the limbic system. It was suggested that attenuation of this tinnitus-associated hyperactivity may offer a rational option for lasting tinnitus reduction. Here, we tested the hypothesis that tinnitus loudness can be attenuated by low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) individually navigated to cortical areas with excessive tinnitus-related activity as assessed by [(15)O]H(2)O positron-emission tomography (PET). Nine patients with chronic tinnitus underwent this combined functional imaging and rTMS-study. Group analysis of the PET data showed tinnitus-related increases of regional cerebral blood flow in the left middle and inferior temporal as well as right temporoparietal cortex and posterior cingulum. Repetitive TMS was performed at 1 Hz and 120% of the motor threshold for 5, 15, and 30 min, navigated to the individual maximum of tinnitus-related cortical hyperactivity. A noncortical stimulation site with the same distance to the ear served as sham control. Tinnitus loudness was reduced after temporoparietal, PET-guided low-frequency rTMS. This reduction, lasting up to 30 min, was dependent on the number of stimuli applied, differed from sham stimulation, and was negatively correlated with the length of the medical history of tinnitus in our patients. These data show the feasibility and effectiveness of rTMS guided by individual functional imaging to induce a lasting, dose-dependent attenuation of tinnitus. Of note, these effects were related to stimulation of cortical association areas, not primary auditory cortex, emphasizing the crucial role of higher-order sensory processing in the pathophysiology of chronic tinnitus.

Aged↗

Cognition in anxious children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a comparison with clinical and normal children.

BACKGROUND: Cognition in children with anxiety disorders (ANX) and comorbid Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) has received little attention, potentially impacting clinical and academic interventions in this highly disabled group. This study examined several cognitive features relative to children with either pure condition and to normal controls. METHODS: One hundred and eight children ages 8-12 and parents were diagnosed by semi-structured parent interview and teacher report as having: ANX (any anxiety disorder except OCD or PTSD; n = 52), ADHD (n = 21), or ANX + ADHD (n = 35). All completed measures of academic ability, emotional perception, and working memory. Clinical subjects were compared to 35 normal controls from local schools. RESULTS: Groups did not differ significantly on age, gender, or estimated IQ. On analyses of variance, groups differed on academic functioning (Wide Range Achievement Test, p < .001), perception of emotion (auditory perception of anger, p < .05), and working memory (backwards digits, p < .01; backwards finger windows, p < .05; Chipasat task, p < .001). ANX + ADHD and children with ADHD did poorly relative to controls on all differentiating measures except auditory perception of anger, where ANX + ADHD showed less sensitivity than children with ANX or with ADHD. CONCLUSION: Though requiring replication, findings suggest that ANX + ADHD relates to greater cognitive and academic vulnerability than ANX, but may relate to reduced perception of anger.

Journal Article↗

[Sensory information processing during general anesthesia. The effect of propofol and ketamine on mid-latency auditory evoked potentials].

Experimental evidence from various neuropsychological and neurophysiological fields indicates that an oscillatory brain mechanism in a frequency range of 30-40 Hz is necessary for adequate sensory information processing. An oscillatory component of that particular frequency range can also be observed in the mid-latency auditory evoked potentials. Thus general anesthesia can be defined as a suppression of sensory information processing, and the effect of the i.v. anesthetics, Propofol and ketamine, on auditory perception and auditory-evoked potentials was therefore studied. In 22 patients anesthesia was induced with Propofol (2.5 mg/kg body weight, group I: n = 10) or ketamine (2 mg/kg body weight, group II: n = 12). Auditory-evoked potentials were recorded before, during, and after induction of general anesthesia. In the awake state, an oscillatory component with an energetically dominant 30-40 Hz frequency was present between 20 and 100 ms poststimulus latency. Propofol suppressed the mid-latency oscillatory component, whereas the component persisted under ketamine. Under Propofol, the 30-40 Hz leading frequency shifted to the lower frequency range, whereas under ketamine, the AEP were still dominated by a 30-40 Hz oscillation. Propofol suppresses the oscillatory brain mechanism necessary for adequate sensory information processing like various other general anesthetics. In contrast to Propofol, ketamine does not alter auditory perception. Suppression of sensory information processing must take place at a higher cortical level in a dissociative manner. The persistence of a 30-40 Hz oscillation must be seen in connection with dreams and hallucinations as reported for the drug and may be interpreted as insufficient suppression of sensory information processing under ketamine anesthesia.

Adult↗