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Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task

CONTEXT: The ability to detect important auditory signals while performing visual tasks may be further compounded by background chatter. Thus, it is important to know how task performance may interact with background chatter to hinder signal detection. AIM: To examine any interactive effects of spee...

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Autor principal: Rawool, Vishakha W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5227007/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27991458
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1463-1741.195801
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author Rawool, Vishakha W.
author_facet Rawool, Vishakha W.
author_sort Rawool, Vishakha W.
collection PubMed
description CONTEXT: The ability to detect important auditory signals while performing visual tasks may be further compounded by background chatter. Thus, it is important to know how task performance may interact with background chatter to hinder signal detection. AIM: To examine any interactive effects of speech spectrum noise and task performance on the ability to detect signals. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The setting was a sound-treated booth. A repeated measures design was used. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Auditory thresholds of 20 normal adults were determined at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz in the following conditions presented in a random order: (1) quiet with attention; (2) quiet with a visuo-spatial task or puzzle (distraction); (3) noise with attention and (4) noise with task. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) with three repeated factors (quiet versus noise, visuo-spatial task versus no task, signal frequency). RESULTS: MANOVA revealed significant main effects for noise and signal frequency and significant noise–frequency and task–frequency interactions. Distraction caused by performing the task worsened the thresholds for tones presented at the beginning of the experiment and had no effect on tones presented in the middle. At the end of the experiment, thresholds (4 kHz) were better while performing the task than those obtained without performing the task. These effects were similar across the quiet and noise conditions. CONCLUSION: Detection of auditory signals is difficult at the beginning of a distracting visuo-spatial task but over time, task learning and auditory training effects can nullify the effect of distraction and may improve detection of high frequency sounds.
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spelling pubmed-52270072017-02-03 Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task Rawool, Vishakha W. Noise Health Original Article CONTEXT: The ability to detect important auditory signals while performing visual tasks may be further compounded by background chatter. Thus, it is important to know how task performance may interact with background chatter to hinder signal detection. AIM: To examine any interactive effects of speech spectrum noise and task performance on the ability to detect signals. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The setting was a sound-treated booth. A repeated measures design was used. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Auditory thresholds of 20 normal adults were determined at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz in the following conditions presented in a random order: (1) quiet with attention; (2) quiet with a visuo-spatial task or puzzle (distraction); (3) noise with attention and (4) noise with task. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) with three repeated factors (quiet versus noise, visuo-spatial task versus no task, signal frequency). RESULTS: MANOVA revealed significant main effects for noise and signal frequency and significant noise–frequency and task–frequency interactions. Distraction caused by performing the task worsened the thresholds for tones presented at the beginning of the experiment and had no effect on tones presented in the middle. At the end of the experiment, thresholds (4 kHz) were better while performing the task than those obtained without performing the task. These effects were similar across the quiet and noise conditions. CONCLUSION: Detection of auditory signals is difficult at the beginning of a distracting visuo-spatial task but over time, task learning and auditory training effects can nullify the effect of distraction and may improve detection of high frequency sounds. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2016 /pmc/articles/PMC5227007/ /pubmed/27991458 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1463-1741.195801 Text en Copyright: © 2016 Noise & Health http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
spellingShingle Original Article
Rawool, Vishakha W.
Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task
title Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task
title_full Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task
title_fullStr Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task
title_full_unstemmed Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task
title_short Detection of Auditory Signals in Quiet and Noisy Backgrounds while Performing a Visuo-spatial Task
title_sort detection of auditory signals in quiet and noisy backgrounds while performing a visuo-spatial task
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5227007/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27991458
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/1463-1741.195801
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