Assessing cognitive and perceptual abilities by manipulating task requirements when listening to speech in noise

Abstract

Speech recognition involves both cognitive and perceptual processing that can be differentially affected by the task requirements. This study assessed the degree to which different cognitive and perceptual abilities explained speech recognition using the Coordinate Response Measure (CRM). Speech recognition was assessed by varying the requirements of attention (i.e., selective or divided attention), and by assessing perceptual processes related to speech glimpsing (i.e., steady-state noise versus speech-modulated noise). Additional cognitive and perceptual tasks assessed cognitive interference, working memory, and amplitude modulation detection at 4 and 10 Hz. Results demonstrated that masking release (was most associated with modulation detection, indicating that the ability to take advantage of momentary dips in the masker (i.e., glimpsing) requires better amplitude modulation detection abilities. In contrast, when attentional constraints were imposed, a measure of cognitive interference was most predictive of performance for reporting keywords spoken by both the target talker (i.e., accurate responses) and competitor (i.e., intrusion responses). Interestingly, our measure of working memory was not correlated with any of the CRM tasks. These results suggest that conditions in which the CRM task is administered (i.e. manipulating noise or attention) can differentially weight separate perceptual and cognitive skills. [Work supported, in part, by NIH/NIDCD.]Speech recognition involves both cognitive and perceptual processing that can be differentially affected by the task requirements. This study assessed the degree to which different cognitive and perceptual abilities explained speech recognition using the Coordinate Response Measure (CRM). Speech recognition was assessed by varying the requirements of attention (i.e., selective or divided attention), and by assessing perceptual processes related to speech glimpsing (i.e., steady-state noise versus speech-modulated noise). Additional cognitive and perceptual tasks assessed cognitive interference, working memory, and amplitude modulation detection at 4 and 10 Hz. Results demonstrated that masking release (was most associated with modulation detection, indicating that the ability to take advantage of momentary dips in the masker (i.e., glimpsing) requires better amplitude modulation detection abilities. In contrast, when attentional constraints were imposed, a measure of cognitive interference was most predic...