Auditory Information Processing Research Articles

423. Biomarkers of Auditory Information Processing and Neural Synchrony Predict Targeted Cognitive Training Exercise Completion in a Transdiagnostic Population

423. Biomarkers of Auditory Information Processing and Neural Synchrony Predict Targeted Cognitive Training Exercise Completion in a Transdiagnostic Population

Effects of Metrical Context on the P1 Component.

: The temporal structure of sound, characterized by regular patterns, plays a crucial role in optimizing the processing of auditory information. The meter, representing a well-organized sequence of evenly spaced beats in music, exhibits a hierarchical arrangement, with stronger beats occupying higher metrical positions. Moreover, the meter has been shown to influence behavioral and neural processing, particularly the N1, P2, and mismatch negativity components. However, the role of the P1 component in the context of metrical hierarchy remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the effects of metrical hierarchy on the P1 component and compare the responses between musicians and non-musicians. : Thirty participants (15 musicians and 15 non-musicians) were enrolled in the study. Auditory stimuli consisted of a synthesized speech syllable presented together with a repeating series of four tones, establishing a quadruple meter. Electrophysiological recordings were performed to measure the P1 component. : The results revealed that metrical position had a significant effect on P1 amplitude, with the strongest beat showing the lowest amplitude. This contrasts with previous findings, in which enhanced P1 responses were typically observed at on-the-beat positions. The reduced P1 response on the strong beat can be interpreted within the framework of predictive coding and temporal prediction, where a higher predictability of pitch changes at the strong beat leads to a reduction in the P1 response. Furthermore, higher P1 amplitudes were observed in musicians compared to non-musicians, suggesting that musicians have enhanced sensory processing. : This study demonstrates the effects of metrical hierarchy on the P1 component, thereby enriching our understanding of auditory processing. The results suggest that predictive coding and temporal prediction play important roles in shaping sensory processing. Further, they suggest that musical training may enhance P1 responses.

Lack of habituation of visual-evoked potential in the interictal period is not a consistent neurophysiological marker of migraine: A cross-sectional analytical study

Objectives: Migraine is a frequent incapacitating neurovascular illness characterized by severe headache bouts. Individuals suffering from migraine appear to process auditory and visual information differently from those without migraine. The visual-evoked potential (VEP) is a commonly used standardized test to measure excitability in the occipital cortex. Patients with migraine exhibit amplification rather than habituation of stimulus-induced brain responses, between attacks. Our objective is to compare the amplitude of P100 and the latencies of N75, P100, and N145 (N and P represent negative and positive peaks, respectively, with average latency being subscripted with the alphabet) in the fourth block between migraine patients and controls and to determine the various clinical factors associated with the P100 mean amplitude and latency differences between the first and the fourth block in migraine patients. Materials and Methods: The study compared 20 migraine patients (with or without aura) and 20 apparently healthy subjects with no history of migraines or secondary headaches, focusing on the habituation of the VEP. Four blocks of 200 responses were recorded during the headache-free period, and the latencies and amplitudes of N75, P100, and N145 components were analyzed. Results: There was a statistically significant (P < 0.05) decrement in the P100 amplitude in the fourth block when compared to the first block in both eyes in the controls as well as migraine patients. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between controls and migraine sufferers in the P100 amplitude of the fourth block in either eye. The N145 latency in the fourth block was shorter in both eyes in migraine patients compared to controls (P < 0.05). The mean P100 amplitude difference between the first and fourth block correlated negatively with age and positively with headache frequency, while there was a moderate negative correlation with headache duration. The mean P100 latency difference between the first and fourth block correlated positively with age and negatively with headache frequency, while there was a moderate positive correlation with headache duration. Conclusion: In our study, VEP habituation was not lacking in migraine patients which means that habituation of the P100 wave was noted in migraineurs. The VEP reveals neurological changes due to ischemia injury or neurotransmitter imbalances. Migraine alters cortical excitability, but it is unclear if these changes are due to altered excitatory connections, damaged inhibitory networks or subcortical pre-activation. Our findings suggest that at least during the interictal period, lack of habituation cannot be employed as a consistent neurophysiological marker of migraine across laboratories.

Early auditory processing abnormalities alter individual learning trajectories and sensitivity to computerized cognitive training in schizophrenia.

Auditory system plasticity is a promising target for neuromodulation, cognitive rehabilitation and therapeutic development in schizophrenia (SZ). Auditory-based targeted cognitive training (TCT) is a 'bottom up' intervention designed to enhance the speed and accuracy of auditory information processing, which has been shown to improve neurocognition in certain SZ patients. However, the dynamics of TCT learning as a function of training exercises and their impact on neurocognitive functioning and therapeutic outcomes are unknown. Forty subjects (SZ, n = 21; healthy subjects (HS), n = 19) underwent comprehensive clinical, cognitive, and auditory assessments, including measurements of auditory processing speed (APS) at baseline and after 1-h of TCT. SZ patients additionally completed 30-hours of TCT and repeated assessments ~10-12 weeks later. SZ patients were deficient in APS at baseline (d = 0.96, p < 0.005) relative to HS. After 1-h of TCT, analyses revealed significant main effects of diagnosis (d = 1.75, p = 0.002) and time (d = 1.04, p < 0.001), and a diagnosis × time interaction (d = 0.85, p = 0.02) on APS. APS learning effects were robust after 1-h in SZ patients (d = 1.47, p < 0.001) and persisted throughout the 30-h of training. Baseline APS was associated with verbal learning gains after 30-h of TCT (r = 0.51, p = 0.02) in SZ. TCT learning metrics may have prognostic utility and aid in the prospective identification of individuals likely to benefit from TCT. Future experimental medicine studies may advance predictive algorithms that enhance TCT-related clinical, cognitive and functional outcomes.

Changes in Cortical Grey Matter Volumes After Plasticity-based Auditory Information Processing Remediation Training in Adults with a Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Study

Changes in Cortical Grey Matter Volumes After Plasticity-based Auditory Information Processing Remediation Training in Adults with a Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Study

The Correlation between HUIT English Majors’ Short - Term Memory and Listening Comprehension Skills at Different Language Proficiency Levels

The study of short-term memory (STM) is crucial to the study of second language acquisition. STM plays an important role in language acquisition and development since it is an on-line capacity for processing and elaborating new information. A fundamental skill in learning English is listening comprehension. The ability to listen is crucial when learning a foreign language because receiving language input is the key to language learning. More and more academics at home and abroad have started to focus on the relationship between STM and listening comprehension in recent years. STM has been demonstrated to be a crucial component of listening comprehension, making it extremely vital to increase listening comprehension in second languages. STM helps in the immediate processing of incoming auditory information when listening in a second language. This essay investigates the relationship between short-term memory and listening comprehension skills of English - majored students from Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade. The results' implications suggest that improving short-term memory capacity is necessary to get students ready for the listening IELTS examination.

근원적 인지 메커니즘을 통한 난독증 탐구

Objectives The purpose of this paper is to identify dyslexia among various types of learning disabilities, explain its manifestation mechanism, and demonstrate it clinically.&#x0D; Methods This paper shows that through the fundamental cognitive mechanism, not only can the characteristics of dyslexia be understood in the most fundamental, essential, and holistic way, but also a better understanding of how dyslexia is fundamentally manifested. For clinical proof, non-verbal intelligence test (K-CTONI-2), Korean version of Children's Visual Perception Development Test (K-DTVP-3), the Korean Reading Test (KOLRA), and speech hearing test were administered to 7 elementary school students who continued to experience difficulties despite receiving reading education.&#x0D; Results Dyslexia begins with an excessively imbalanced structure of the brain's large visual and small auditory cognitive spaces. Due to the imbalance between the two cognitive spaces, visual acuity and visual memory appear strong, while auditory acuity and auditory memory appear weak, resulting in auditory internal attention deficit, which is the most important cognitive condition for language development. Auditory internal attention deficit in turn interferes with auditory information processing, resulting in serious difficulties in written language development and various symptoms observed in dyslexic children. The test results showed a low auditory function score compared to a high visual function score.&#x0D; Conclusions Dyslexia occurs due to functional defects in hierarchical cognitive processes such as auditory sensation, memory, and thought processing caused by an imbalance between the brain's small auditory cognitive space and large visual cognitive space. This paper presents directions for effective dyslexia treatment based on research results.&#x0D;

Sleep- and sleep deprivation-related changes of vertex auditory evoked potentials during the estrus cycle in female rats

The estrus cycle in female rodents has been shown to affect a variety of physiological functions. However, little is known about its presumably thorough effect on auditory processing during the sleep–wake cycle and sleep deprivation. Vertex auditory evoked potentials (vAEPs) were evoked by single click tone stimulation and recorded during different stages of the estrus cycle and sleep deprivation performed in metestrus and proestrus in female rats. vAEPs showed a strong sleep-dependency, with the largest amplitudes present during slow wave sleep while the smallest ones during wakefulness. Higher amplitudes and longer latencies were seen in the light phase during all vigilance stages. The largest amplitudes were found during proestrus (light phase) while the shortest latencies were seen during estrus (dark phase) compared to the 2nd day diestrus baseline. High-amplitude responses without latency changes were also seen during metestrus with increased homeostatic sleep drive. More intense and faster processing of auditory information during proestrus and estrus suggesting a more effective perception of relevant environmental cues presumably in preparation for sexual receptivity. A 4-h sleep deprivation resulted in more pronounced sleep recovery in metestrus compared to proestrus without difference in delta power replacement suggesting a better tolerance of sleep deprivation in proestrus. Sleep deprivation decreased neuronal excitability and responsiveness in a similar manner both during metestrus and proestrus, suggesting that the negative consequences of sleep deprivation on auditory processing may have a limited correlation with the estrus cycle stage.

The effective connectivity analysis of fMRI based on asymmetric detection of transfer brain entropy.

It is important to explore causal relationships in functional magnetic resonance imaging study. However, the traditional effective connectivity analysis method is easy to produce false causality, and the detection accuracy needs to be improved. In this paper, we introduce a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging effective connectivity method based on the asymmetry detection of transfer entropy, which quantifies the disparity in predictive information between forward and backward time, subsequently normalizing this disparity to establish a more precise criterion for detecting causal relationships while concurrently reducing computational complexity. Then, we evaluate the effectiveness of this method on the simulated data with different level of nonlinearity, and the results demonstrated that the proposed method outperforms others methods on the detection of both linear and nonlinear causal relationships, including Granger Causality, Partial Granger Causality, Kernel Granger Causality, Copula Granger Causality, and traditional transfer entropy. Furthermore, we applied it to study the effective connectivity of brain functional activities in seafarers. The results showed that there are significantly different causal relationships between different brain regions in seafarers compared with non-seafarers, such as Temporal lobe related to sound and auditory information processing, Hippocampus related to spatial navigation, Precuneus related to emotion processing as well as Supp_Motor_Area associated with motor control and coordination, which reflects the occupational specificity of brain function of seafarers.

Dbx1 is a dorsal midbrain-specific determinant of GABAergic neuron fate and regulates differentiation of the dorsal midbrain into the inferior and superior colliculi.

The mechanism underlying the differentiation of the dorsal midbrain into two morphologically and functionally distinct compartments, the inferior colliculus (IC) and superior colliculus (SC), which process auditory and visual information, respectively, remains largely unexplored. By using null and conditional alleles, we uncover the roles of a homeodomain transcription factor Dbx1 in the regulation of IC and SC differentiation. We show that Dbx1 regulates GABAergic neuron development in the dorsal midbrain. In the absence of Dbx1 function, the dorsal-most m1-m2 progenitor domains in the midbrain fail to activate GABAergic neuron-specific gene expression and instead switch to a glutamatergic phenotype. These results identify Dbx1 as a dorsal midbrain-specific GABAergic determinant that regulates the selector genes, Helt, Gata2, and Tal2. Furthermore, we demonstrate that maturation of the dorsal midbrain into the IC and SC is dependent on Dbx1. Null mutation of Dbx1 impairs the identity and fate of IC and SC neurons. Surprisingly, Dbx1 is required for preventing IC into SC fate switch and thus Dbx1-deficient IC neurons undergo acquisition of SC identity. Conditional inactivation of Dbx1 at late developmental phase leads to alteration in the identity and fate of the IC, but not the SC. These results suggest that SC differentiation is dependent on the early function of Dbx1, and that the IC requires the prolonged action for its normal formation. Furthermore, we uncover that Tcf7l2 acts downstream of Dbx1 selectively to promote IC differentiation. Altogether, our study identifies a molecular mechanism underlying spatial and temporal control of dorsal midbrain development.

Cochlear Implantation in Children Affected by Single-Sided Deafness: A Comprehensive Review.

Children with single-sided deafness (SSD) may experience delays in language and speech development. Reduced speech discrimination and poor sound localization abilities in young SSD patients may result in greater cognitive efforts required to focus and process auditory information, as well as increased listening-related fatigue. Consequently, these children can have a higher risk of academic failure and are often in need of extra help at school. Recently, cochlear implants (CIs) have been introduced as a rehabilitative option for these children, but their effectiveness is still a topic of debate. A literature review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines, searching the Medline database from inception to October 2023. The research identified nine papers that met the inclusion criteria. Data extracted from the selected studies included 311 children affected by SSD and cochlear implants. The reported audiological outcomes were further analyzed. Overall, a high level of satisfaction was described by parents of children with SSD and CI, and those who received a CI under the age of 3 presented better results. However, a proportion of patients did not use the device daily. Our review highlights the possible, and still controversial, role of CI for the hearing rehabilitation of children with unilateral deafness, underlining the need for further research in this field. To date, careful and comprehensive counseling with the child and the family is necessary before considering this option.

Attention Drives Visual Processing and Audiovisual Integration During Multimodal Communication.

During communication in real-life settings, our brain often needs to integrate auditory and visual information and at the same time actively focus on the relevant sources of information, while ignoring interference from irrelevant events. The interaction between integration and attention processes remains poorly understood. Here, we use rapid invisible frequency tagging and magnetoencephalography to investigate how attention affects auditory and visual information processing and integration, during multimodal communication. We presented human participants (male and female) with videos of an actress uttering action verbs (auditory; tagged at 58 Hz) accompanied by two movie clips of hand gestures on both sides of fixation (attended stimulus tagged at 65 Hz; unattended stimulus tagged at 63 Hz). Integration difficulty was manipulated by a lower-order auditory factor (clear/degraded speech) and a higher-order visual semantic factor (matching/mismatching gesture). We observed an enhanced neural response to the attended visual information during degraded speech compared to clear speech. For the unattended information, the neural response to mismatching gestures was enhanced compared to matching gestures. Furthermore, signal power at the intermodulation frequencies of the frequency tags, indexing nonlinear signal interactions, was enhanced in the left frontotemporal and frontal regions. Focusing on the left inferior frontal gyrus, this enhancement was specific for the attended information, for those trials that benefitted from integration with a matching gesture. Together, our results suggest that attention modulates audiovisual processing and interaction, depending on the congruence and quality of the sensory input.

Spontaneous emergence of rudimentary music detectors in deep neural networks

Music exists in almost every society, has universal acoustic features, and is processed by distinct neural circuits in humans even with no experience of musical training. However, it remains unclear how these innate characteristics emerge and what functions they serve. Here, using an artificial deep neural network that models the auditory information processing of the brain, we show that units tuned to music can spontaneously emerge by learning natural sound detection, even without learning music. The music-selective units encoded the temporal structure of music in multiple timescales, following the population-level response characteristics observed in the brain. We found that the process of generalization is critical for the emergence of music-selectivity and that music-selectivity can work as a functional basis for the generalization of natural sound, thereby elucidating its origin. These findings suggest that evolutionary adaptation to process natural sounds can provide an initial blueprint for our sense of music.

Auditory processing abilities in school-aged children in the region of Vojvodina

Auditory processing is the process of decoding an auditory stimulus along the hearing pathways in the central nervous system. Children with auditory processing difficulties face challenges in the transmission, processing, organisation, and use of auditory information. This affects their spoken language, reading abilities, writing acquisition, and academic achievements. The aim of this study was to assess the auditory processing abilities of school-aged children from the region of Vojvodina using the Battery test for Auditory Processing Disorders PSP1 (Heđever, 2017). This study also aimed to examine the influence of age, gender, and school success on auditory processing abilities in school-aged children. The study sample consisted of 162 children between the ages of 6.7 and 11.6 years. The PSP-1 test battery consists of 4 subtests: filtered words test, speech-in-noise test, dichotic word test, and dichotic sentence test. Results have shown that 8 (4.94%) respondents on the PSP1 test achieved below average results, indicating auditory processing difficulties. Among these respondents, two were female (1.24%) and six were male (3.70%). Four respondents (2.48%) belonged to the second age group (from 7.7 to 8.6 years) and two respondents (1.24%) belonged to the first (from 6.7 to 7.6 years) and the fourth age group (from 9.7 to 10.6 years) each. Statistically significant differences were observed in the auditory processing abilities of the respondents in relation to their age (p &lt; 0.001) and gender (p &lt; 0.05). Girls had significantly better results on the total score of the PSP1 test, as well as in two subtests: the filtered words test and the dichotic word test. In addition, there was a statistically significant correlation between auditory processing abilities and school success.

The scalp time-varying network of auditory spatial attention in “cocktail-party” situations

Sound source localization in "cocktail-party" situations is a remarkable ability of the human auditory system. However, the neural mechanisms underlying auditory spatial attention are still largely unknown. In this study, the "cocktail-party" situations are simulated through multiple sound sources and presented through head-related transfer functions and headphones. Furthermore, the scalp time-varying network of auditory spatial attention is constructed using the high-temporal resolution electroencephalogram, and its network properties are measured quantitatively using graph theory analysis. The results show that the time-varying network of auditory spatial attention in "cocktail-party" situations is more complex and partially different than in simple acoustic situations, especially in the early- and middle-latency periods. The network coupling strength increases continuously over time, and the network hub shifts from the posterior temporal lobe to the parietal lobe and then to the frontal lobe region. In addition, the right hemisphere has a stronger network strength for processing auditory spatial information in "cocktail-party" situations, i.e., the right hemisphere has higher clustering levels, higher transmission efficiency, and more node degrees during the early- and middle-latency periods, while this phenomenon disappears and appears symmetrically during the late-latency period. These findings reveal different network patterns and properties of auditory spatial attention in "cocktail-party" situations during different periods and demonstrate the dominance of the right hemisphere in the dynamic processing of auditory spatial information.

Auditory stimulus reconstruction from ECoG with DNN and self-attention modules

Auditory stimulus reconstruction is a technique that predicts sound from neural activities. Decoding speech from human brains using neuronal networks allows us to understand auditory information processing and study hearing abilities effectively. However, current approaches produce low-quality reconstruction of speech which is problematic for applications of the reconstruction technology to practical uses such as evaluation of hearing characteristics of individuals or functional preservation during neurosurgical procedures. To tackle this issue, we used a self-attention (SA) module which are showing promising advances in deep neural network studies. We investigated the effect of including neural activity from a longer span on the reconstruction accuracy, and the learning behavior of self-attention modules. Our results showed that self-attention modules that focus on the presence or absence of auditory stimuli used relationships between features over a longer period (over 1000 ms) and produced better reconstructions than a convoluted neural network (CNN) model using features over a shorter period (300 ms) and a multilayer perceptron (MLP) model not using the features and reconstructed with attention to presence and absence of auditory stimuli. These findings imply that long and sparse relationships of time-series information on neural activities derived from SA modules improve the reconstruction performance.

Language and gesture neural correlates: A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies.

Humans often use co-speech gestures to promote effective communication. Attention has been paid to the cortical areas engaged in the processing of co-speech gestures. To investigate the neural network underpinned in the processing of co-speech gestures and to observe whether there is a relationship between areas involved in language and gesture processing. We planned to include studies with neurotypical and/or stroke participants who underwent a bimodal task (i.e., processing of co-speech gestures with relative speech) and a unimodal task (i.e., speech or gesture alone) during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session. After a database search, abstract and full-text screening were conducted. Qualitative and quantitative data were extracted, and a meta-analysis was performed with the software GingerALE 3.0.2, performing contrast analyses of uni- and bimodal tasks. The database search produced 1024 records. After the screening process, 27 studies were included in the review. Data from 15 studies were quantitatively analysed through meta-analysis. Meta-analysis found three clusters with a significant activation of the left middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, and bilateral middle occipital gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus. There is a close link at the neural level for the semantic processing of auditory and visual information during communication. These findings encourage the integration of the use of co-speech gestures during aphasia treatment as a strategy to foster the possibility to communicate effectively for people with aphasia. What is already known on this subject Gestures are an integral part of human communication, and they may have a relationship at neural level with speech processing. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge During processing of bi- and unimodal communication, areas related to semantic processing and multimodal processing are activated, suggesting that there is a close link between co-speech gestures and spoken language at a neural level. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Knowledge of the functions related to gesture and speech processing neural networks will allow for the adoption of model-based neurorehabilitation programs to foster recovery from aphasia by strengthening the specific functions of these brain networks.

Hemispheric asymmetry of auditory oddball detection: An MEG study.

The capacity of the human brain to detect unattended deviant information from frequent information in our environment shows a hemispheric asymmetry, with stronger brain activation in the right temporal area. This lateralization is distinct from the functional left-ward asymmetry of auditory information processing.

Abnormal grey matter structural changes in patients with end-stage kidney disease and mild cognitive impairment: correlations with clinical features

End-stage kidney disease and mild cognitive impairment (ESKD-MCI) affect the quality of life and long-term treatment outcomes of patients affected by these diseases. Clarifying the morphological changes from brain injuries in ESKD-MCI and their relationship with clinical features is helpful for the early identification and intervention of MCI before it progresses to irreversible dementia. This study gathered data from 23 patients with ESKD-MCI, 24 patients with ESKD and non-cognitive impairment (NCI), and 27 health controls (HCs). Structural magnetic resonance studies, cognitive assessments, and general clinical data were collected from all participants. Voxel-based morphometry analysis was performed to compare grey matter (GM) volume differences between the groups. The patients’ GM maps and clinical features were subjected to univariate regression to check for possible correlations. Patients with ESKD-MCI displayed significantly more impairments in multiple cognitive domains, including global cognition, visuospatial and executive function, and memory, compared to patients with ESKD-NCI. Using a more liberal threshold (P < 0.001, uncorrected), we found that compared to patients with ESKD-NCI, patients with ESKD-MCI exhibited clusters of regions with lower GM volumes, including the right hippocampus (HIP), parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), Rolandic operculum, and supramarginal gyrus. The volumes of the right HIP and PHG were negatively correlated with serum calcium levels. ESKD-MCI was associated with a subtle volume reduction of GM in several brain areas known to be involved in memory, language, and auditory information processing. We speculate that these slight morphometric impairments may be associated with disturbed calcium metabolism.

Development and Standardization of Low-Verbal Material for Assessment of Central Auditory Processing in Arabic Language

Development and Standardization of Low-Verbal Material for Assessment of Central Auditory Processing in Arabic Language