Spatial Release From Masking in Children: Effects of Simulated Unilateral Hearing Loss

The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to determine the effect of an acute simulated unilateral hearing loss on children’s spatial release from masking in two-talker speech and speech-shaped noise, and 2) to develop a procedure to be used in future studies that will assess spatial release from masking in children who have permanent unilateral hearing loss. There were three main predictions. First, spatial release from masking was expected to be larger in two-talker speech than speech-shaped noise. Second, simulated unilateral hearing loss was expected to worsen performance in all listening conditions, but particularly in the spatially separated two-talker speech masker. Third, spatial release from masking was expected to be smaller for children than for adults in the two-talker masker

Development of Open-Set Word Recognition in Children: Speech-Shaped Noise and Two-Talker Speech Maskers

The goal of this study was to establish the developmental trajectories for children’s open-set recognition of monosyllabic words in each of two maskers: two-talker speech and speech-shaped noise

Assessing Panic: Bridging the Gap Between Fundamental Mechanisms and Daily Life Experience

Panic disorder (PD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. Recurrent, unexpected panic attacks (PAs) are the primary symptom and strongly impact patients’ quality of life. Clinical manifestations are very heterogeneous between patients, emphasizing the need for a dimensional classification integrating various aspects of neurobiological and psychological circuits in line with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) proposed by the US National Institute of Mental Health. To go beyond data that can be collected in the daily clinical situation, experimental panic provocation is widely used, which has led to important insights into involved brain regions and systems. Genetic variants can determine the sensitivity to experimental models such as carbon dioxide (CO2) exposure and can increase the risk to develop PD. Recent developments now allow to better assess the dynamic course of PAs outside the laboratory in patients’ natural environment. This can provide novel insights into the underlying mechanisms and the influence of environmental factors that can alter gene regulation by changing DNA methylation. In this mini review, we discuss assessment of PAs in the clinic, in the laboratory using CO2 exposure, genetic associations, and the benefits of real-life assessment and epigenetic research

Spatial Release from Masking: Effects of Simulated Unilateral Hearing Loss

The overall objective of this program of research is to understand how unilateral hearing loss (UHL) impacts children's functional auditory skills. The aim of the present study was to develop a feasible method to assess the effects of UHL on children's masked speech perception and their use of spatial cues in the context of substantial informational and energetic masking. There is no consensus regarding the best approach for managing UHL in children (e.g., Fitzpatrick et al. 2010). This is partly due to the lack of evidence regarding which children with UHL have the greatest need for intervention, which intervention is most beneficial, and when intervention is necessary . Most studies examining the extent to which UHL affects children's auditory skills have used relatively steadystate maskers which may not fully capture children's everyday listening difficulties (e.g., Lieu et al. 2013). Studies using psychoacoustic methods and more complex auditory tasks that assess contributions of both energetic and information masking may more accurately capture functional auditory skills of children with UHL, which would inform future clinical procedures to identify at-risk children and guide intervention

Effects of Nonlinear Frequency Compression on Speech Identification in Children With Hearing Loss

This study evaluated effects of nonlinear frequency compression (NLFC) processing in children with hearing loss for consonant identification in quiet and for spondee identification in competing noise or speech. It was predicted that participants would benefit from NLFC for consonant identification in quiet when access to high-frequency information was critical, but that NLFC would be less beneficial, or even detrimental, when identification relied on mid-frequency cues. Further, it was hypothesized that NLFC could result in greater susceptibility to masking in the spondee task. The rationale for these predictions is that improved access to high-frequency information comes at the cost of decreased spectral resolution

Influence of Hearing Loss on Children’s Identification of Spondee Words in a Speech-Shaped Noise or a Two-Talker Masker

This study compared spondee identification performance in presence of speech-shaped noise or two competing talkers across children with hearing loss and age-matched children with normal hearing. The results showed a greater masking effect for children with hearing loss compared to children with normal hearing for both masker conditions. However, the magnitude of this group difference was significantly larger for the two-talker compared to the speech-shaped noise masker. These results support the hypothesis that hearing loss influences children’s perceptual processing abilities