Speech in noise perception improved by training fine auditory discrimination: far and applicable transfer of perceptual learning

Xiang Gao,Yu-Xuan Zhang,Ting Huang,Xiaoli Li,Tingting Yan

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76295-9

Xiang Gao, Yu-Xuan Zhang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76295-9

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Abstract

A longstanding focus of perceptual learning research is learning specificity, the difficulty for learning to transfer to tasks and situations beyond the training setting. Previous studies have focused on promoting transfer across stimuli, such as from one sound frequency to another. Here we examined whether learning could transfer across tasks, particularly from fine discrimination of sound features to speech perception in noise, one of the most frequently encountered perceptual challenges in real life. Separate groups of normal-hearing listeners were trained on auditory interaural level difference (ILD) discrimination, interaural time difference (ITD) discrimination, and fundamental frequency (F0) discrimination with non-speech stimuli delivered through headphones. While ITD training led to no improvement, both ILD and F0 training produced learning as well as transfer to speech-in-noise perception when noise differed from speech in the trained feature. These training benefits did not require similarity of task or stimuli between training and application settings, construing far and wide transfer. Thus, notwithstanding task specificity among basic perceptual skills such as discrimination of different sound features, auditory learning appears readily transferable between these skills and their “upstream” tasks utilizing them, providing an effective approach to improving performance in challenging situations or challenged populations.

Highlights

A longstanding focus of perceptual learning research is learning specificity, the difficulty for learning to transfer to tasks and situations beyond the training setting
Though interaural time difference (ITD) discrimination has been shown to improve with training under some circumstances[23,24], the lack of interaural level difference (ILD) comparable training effect was consistent with previous r eports[21,37]
ITD discrimination training could serve as active control for ILD discrimination training, indicating that the time, exposure, and effort involved in training were insufficient, and that learning of the trained task was necessary, to produce the far transfer

Summary

Introduction

A longstanding focus of perceptual learning research is learning specificity, the difficulty for learning to transfer to tasks and situations beyond the training setting. A more direct test of the prediction is whether training basic perceptual skills should benefit “up-stream” tasks employing those skills, with the trained skills themselves serving as shared processes Towards this end, we examined whether speech perception in noise, one of the most frequently encountered real-life perceptual challenges, could benefit from training fine discrimination of sound features useful for signal–noise separation with non-speech stimuli. Human discrimination of ILDs21,22, ITDs23,24, and F0 25 has been demonstrated, to various extent, to improve with training These cues were chosen to test whether learning of basic auditory skills can transfer, across task and stimulus differences, to speech perception in noise

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