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Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners

Spatial attention may be used to select target speech in one location while suppressing irrelevant speech in another. However, if perceptual resolution of spatial cues is weak, spatially focused attention may work poorly, leading to difficulty communicating in noisy settings. In electroencephalograp...

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Autores principales: Bonacci, Lia M., Dai, Lengshi, Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Acoustical Society of America 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7273515/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31671991
http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.5129055
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author Bonacci, Lia M.
Dai, Lengshi
Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.
author_facet Bonacci, Lia M.
Dai, Lengshi
Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.
author_sort Bonacci, Lia M.
collection PubMed
description Spatial attention may be used to select target speech in one location while suppressing irrelevant speech in another. However, if perceptual resolution of spatial cues is weak, spatially focused attention may work poorly, leading to difficulty communicating in noisy settings. In electroencephalography (EEG), the distribution of alpha (8–14 Hz) power over parietal sensors reflects the spatial focus of attention [Banerjee, Snyder, Molholm, and Foxe (2011). J. Neurosci. 31, 9923–9932; Foxe and Snyder (2011). Front. Psychol. 2, 154.] If spatial attention is degraded, however, alpha may not be modulated across parietal sensors. A previously published behavioral and EEG study found that, compared to normal-hearing (NH) listeners, hearing-impaired (HI) listeners often had higher interaural time difference thresholds, worse performance when asked to report the content of an acoustic stream from a particular location, and weaker attentional modulation of neural responses evoked by sounds in a mixture [Dai, Best, and Shinn-Cunningham (2018). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 115, E3286]. This study explored whether these same HI listeners also showed weaker alpha lateralization during the previously reported task. In NH listeners, hemispheric parietal alpha power was greater when the ipsilateral location was attended; this lateralization was stronger when competing melodies were separated by a larger spatial difference. In HI listeners, however, alpha was not lateralized across parietal sensors, consistent with a degraded ability to use spatial features to selectively attend.
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spelling pubmed-72735152020-06-05 Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners Bonacci, Lia M. Dai, Lengshi Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G. J Acoust Soc Am Psychological and Physiological Acoustics Spatial attention may be used to select target speech in one location while suppressing irrelevant speech in another. However, if perceptual resolution of spatial cues is weak, spatially focused attention may work poorly, leading to difficulty communicating in noisy settings. In electroencephalography (EEG), the distribution of alpha (8–14 Hz) power over parietal sensors reflects the spatial focus of attention [Banerjee, Snyder, Molholm, and Foxe (2011). J. Neurosci. 31, 9923–9932; Foxe and Snyder (2011). Front. Psychol. 2, 154.] If spatial attention is degraded, however, alpha may not be modulated across parietal sensors. A previously published behavioral and EEG study found that, compared to normal-hearing (NH) listeners, hearing-impaired (HI) listeners often had higher interaural time difference thresholds, worse performance when asked to report the content of an acoustic stream from a particular location, and weaker attentional modulation of neural responses evoked by sounds in a mixture [Dai, Best, and Shinn-Cunningham (2018). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 115, E3286]. This study explored whether these same HI listeners also showed weaker alpha lateralization during the previously reported task. In NH listeners, hemispheric parietal alpha power was greater when the ipsilateral location was attended; this lateralization was stronger when competing melodies were separated by a larger spatial difference. In HI listeners, however, alpha was not lateralized across parietal sensors, consistent with a degraded ability to use spatial features to selectively attend. Acoustical Society of America 2019-10 2019-10-23 /pmc/articles/PMC7273515/ /pubmed/31671991 http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.5129055 Text en © 2020 Author(s). 0001-4966/2019/146(4)/2577/13/$30.00 All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Psychological and Physiological Acoustics
Bonacci, Lia M.
Dai, Lengshi
Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.
Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
title Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
title_full Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
title_fullStr Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
title_full_unstemmed Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
title_short Weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
title_sort weak neural signatures of spatial selective auditory attention in hearing-impaired listeners
topic Psychological and Physiological Acoustics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7273515/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31671991
http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.5129055
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