Speech recognition in noise task among children and young-adults: a pupillometry study

IntroductionChildren experience unique challenges when listening to speech in noisy environments. The present study used pupillometry, an established method for quantifying listening and cognitive effort, to detect temporal changes in pupil dilation during a speech-recognition-in-noise task among school-aged children and young adults.MethodsThirty school-aged children and 31 young adults listened to sentences amidst four-talker babble noise in two signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) conditions: high accuracy condition (+10 dB and  + 6 dB, for children and adults, respectively) and low accuracy condition (+5 dB and + 2 dB, for children and adults, respectively). They were asked to repeat the sentences while pupil size was measured continuously during the task.ResultsDuring the auditory processing phase, both groups displayed pupil dilation; however, adults exhibited greater dilation than children, particularly in the low accuracy condition. In the second phase (retention), only children demonstrated increased pupil dilation, whereas adults consistently exhibited a decrease in pupil size. Additionally, the children’s group showed increased pupil dilation during the response phase.DiscussionAlthough adults and school-aged children produce similar behavioural scores, group differences in dilation patterns point that their underlying auditory processing differs. A second peak of pupil dilation among the children suggests that their cognitive effort during speech recognition in noise lasts longer than in adults, continuing past the first auditory processing peak dilation. These findings support effortful listening among children and highlight the need to identify and alleviate listening difficulties in school-aged children, to provide proper intervention strategies

Music Therapy Intervention in an Open Bay Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Room Is Associated with Less Noise and Higher Signal to Noise Ratios: A Case-Control Study

Background: Noise reduction in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is important for neurodevelopment, but the impact of music therapy on noise is not yet known. Objective: To investigate the effect of music therapy (MT) on noise levels, and whether individual MT (IMT) or environmental MT (EMT) increases meaningful signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Study design: This case-control study was conducted in a level III NICU. Noise levels were recorded simultaneously from two open bay rooms, with a maximum of 10 infants in each room: one with MT and the other without. MT sessions were carried out for approximately 45 min with either IMT or EMT, implemented according to the Rhythm Breath and Lullaby principles. Noise production data were recorded for 4 h on 26 occasions of EMT and IMT, and analyzed using R version 4.0.2 software. Results: Overall average equivalent continuous noise levels (Leq) were lower in the room with MT as compared to the room without MT (53.1 (3.6) vs. 61.4 (4.7) dBA, p = 0.02, d = 2.1 (CI, 0.82, 3.42). IMT was associated with lower overall Leq levels as compared to EMT (51.2 vs. 56.5 dBA, p = 0.04, d = 1.6 (CI, 0.53, 1.97). The lowest sound levels with MT occurred approximately 60 min after the MT started (46 ± 3.9 dBA), with a gradual increase during the remaining recording time, but still significantly lower compared to the room without MT. The SNR was higher (18.1 vs. 10.3 dBA, p = 0.01, d = 2.8 (CI, 1.3, 3.86)) in the room with MT than in the room without MT. Conclusion: Integrating MT modalities such as IMT and EMT in an open bay NICU room helps reduce noise. Both MT modalities resulted in higher SNR compared to the control room, which may indicate that they are meaningful for the neurodevelopment of preterm infants.publishedVersio

Music Therapy Intervention in an Open Bay Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Room Is Associated with Less Noise and Higher Signal to Noise Ratios:A Case-Control Study

Background: Noise reduction in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is important for neurodevelopment, but the impact of music therapy on noise is not yet known. Objective: To investigate the effect of music therapy (MT) on noise levels, and whether individual MT (IMT) or environmental MT (EMT) increases meaningful signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Study design: This case-control study was conducted in a level III NICU. Noise levels were recorded simultaneously from two open bay rooms, with a maximum of 10 infants in each room: one with MT and the other without. MT sessions were carried out for approximately 45 min with either IMT or EMT, implemented according to the Rhythm Breath and Lullaby principles. Noise production data were recorded for 4 h on 26 occasions of EMT and IMT, and analyzed using R version 4.0.2 software. Results: Overall average equivalent continuous noise levels (Leq) were lower in the room with MT as compared to the room without MT (53.1 (3.6) vs. 61.4 (4.7) dBA, p = 0.02, d = 2.1 (CI, 0.82, 3.42). IMT was associated with lower overall Leq levels as compared to EMT (51.2 vs. 56.5 dBA, p = 0.04, d = 1.6 (CI, 0.53, 1.97). The lowest sound levels with MT occurred approximately 60 min after the MT started (46 ± 3.9 dBA), with a gradual increase during the remaining recording time, but still significantly lower compared to the room without MT. The SNR was higher (18.1 vs. 10.3 dBA, p = 0.01, d = 2.8 (CI, 1.3, 3.86)) in the room with MT than in the room without MT. Conclusion: Integrating MT modalities such as IMT and EMT in an open bay NICU room helps reduce noise. Both MT modalities resulted in higher SNR compared to the control room, which may indicate that they are meaningful for the neurodevelopment of preterm infants

The Effect of Age, Type of Noise, and Cochlear Implants on Adaptive Sentence-in-Noise Task

Adaptive tests of sentences in noise mimic the challenge of daily listening situations. The aims of the present study were to validate an adaptive version of the HeBio sentence test on normal hearing (NH) adults; to evaluate the effect of age and type of noise on speech reception threshold in noise (SRTn); and to test it on prelingual adults with cochlear implants (CI). In Experiment 1, 45 NH young adults listened to two lists accompanied by four-talker babble noise (4TBN). Experiment 2 presented the sentences amidst 4TBN or speech-shaped noise (SSN) to 80 participants in four age groups. In Experiment 3, 18 CI adult users with prelingual bilateral profound hearing loss performed the test amidst SSN, along with HeBio sentences and monosyllabic words in quiet and forward digits span. The main findings were as follows: SRTn for NH participants was normally distributed and had high test–retest reliability; SRTn was lower among adolescents and young adults than middle-aged and older adults, and were better for SSN than 4TBN; SRTn for CI users was higher and more variant than for NH and correlated with speech perception tests in quiet, digits span, and age at first CI. This suggests that the adaptive HeBio can be implemented in clinical and research settings with various populations