Perception Of Environmental Sounds Research Articles

Development of Environmental Sound Perception in Children with Cochlear Implant within 4 Months of Implantation

Development of Environmental Sound Perception in Children with Cochlear Implant within 4 Months of Implantation

Similarity visualization of soundscapes in ecology and music

The concept of a soundscape is found in both ecology and music studies. Nature soundscapes and soundscape compositions are analyzed by both disciplines, respectively, to understand their biological diversity and ecosystem functioning and to interpret their compositional structure. A major challenge for both disciplines is visualizing the information embedded in a large variety of soundscapes and to share it with different audiences, from non-professionals to experts. To analyze soundscapes, both disciplines have independently developed similarity visualizations. However, no attempt has been made yet to combine these two fields of research to improve our ecological and musical perception of environmental sounds through shared similarity analysis methods. In this paper, we introduce a new visualization tool, the soundscape chord diagram (SCD), a circular similarity representation method that can be applied to any type of soundscape, either in ecoacoustics or electroacoustic studies. Our approach consists of visualizing spectral similarities between predefined sound segments based on the computation of a β-diversity acoustic index and on automatic clustering. SCDs were tested on two ecoacoustic forest databases and two electroacoustic soundscape compositions. SCDs were performant for the identification of specific acoustic events and highlighted known diel periods for nature soundscapes and written parts for soundscape compositions. This new visualization tool allows us to easily decipher the structure of musical and ecological acoustic data. SCDs could be applied to a large variety of soundscapes and promote their knowledge and preservation. This study opens a new way of investigating soundscapes at the interface between ecology and music, bringing together science and the arts.

Influence of visual information on the perception of environmental sounds

The purpose of this study is to clarify the influence of visual information on perception of environmental sounds. Audiovisual stimuli (360-degree video and ambisonic recordings) sampled at 6 locations in a region were presented to subjects through VR system with headphone and were rated by subjects in various evaluation items on a 7-step categorical scale. Stimuli presentation has three modes: only auditory stimulation (auditory single-mode), only visual stimulation (visual single-mode), and simultaneous presentation of audiovisual stimulation (multi-mode). Evaluation results were subjected to analysis of variance, significance tests and factor analysis to clarify differences in evaluation tendencies between modes. The dispersion of the evaluation values for auditory aspect under multi-mode tends to be smaller than that under auditory single-mode. It was found that visual information generally has the influence of relieving the impression of prominent environmental sounds. In addition, multi-mode evaluation tends to be related with evaluation obtained in visual single-mode, especially in evaluation items common to audio and visual. And it will be tried to explain the evaluation results in relation to the expected sound state for visual stimuli.

Assessment of environmental sound perception among listeners with hearing loss and cochlear implants

Perception of environmental sounds (PES), encompassing informationally and/or aesthetically salient nonspeech, nonmusical sounds, is crucial for safety, independence, and quality-of-life among listeners with hearing loss. The aims of this study were (1) to systematically review methodologies used to assess PES among cochlear implant (CI) users and identify performance trends in this population, and (2) to present preliminary data using a novel PES task requiring inference of materials and actions generating environmental sounds. For aim 1, PES in quiet using open- or closed-set response formats were most commonly used. PES accuracy in pediatric (3 studies) and adult (16 studies) CI users was highly variable but generally mediocre (mean correct: 31–87%). Most studies were cross-sectional; only two evaluated PES prospectively before and after CI. No significant differences in accuracy were reported between CI candidates and CI users. PES correlated in with measures of speech perception and spectro-temporal processing. For aim 2, we present preliminary findings on identification of materials and actions responsible for generating environmental sounds among normal hearing listeners and listeners with hearing loss using hearing aids or CIs. We discuss the types of materials and actions that are most difficult for listeners with hearing loss and common sources of confusion.

Evaluation of perception of music, environmental sounds, and speech in right versus left cerebral stroke patients

BackgroundStroke is a leading cause of disability and about a third of stroke survivors have aphasia. Stroke also may affect all levels of the auditory pathway and lead to hearing reception and/or perception deficits for different sound types.Aim of the workThe aim of the work is to evaluate the perception of music, environmental sounds, and speech in post-stroke patients in order to determine if there is a difference in the basic auditory perceptual abilities in right versus left cerebral stroke.Subjects and methodsA group of 30 healthy adults and a group of 30 right and left cerebral stroke patients with an age range from 35 to 75 years old were included. The participants were evaluated using a 10-item designed questionnaire for auditory abilities and a test of auditory perceptual/recognition skills. The questionnaire addressed some of the basic auditory skills of attention, discrimination, and recognition of environmental sounds and human voice. The test consisted of non-verbal and verbal domains. The non-verbal domain involved music recognition, discrimination, perception, performance, and environmental sound recognition tasks. While the verbal domain included; recognition of the sound related to speech stimuli and syllable/word recognition tasks.ResultsBetter significant scores in right versus left stroke patients regarding questionnaire results for attention to sound sources either near or fear (p value < 0.001) and discriminating prosodic intonation of statement or interrogation (p value = < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the right cerebral stroke group and the left cerebral stroke group regarding the score of music perception and music performance tasks of the non-verbal domain of the auditory perceptual/recognition skills assessment. Better significant scores were found in the right cerebral stroke patients than the left cerebral stroke patients regarding the scores of both the non-verbal and verbal domains of the auditory perceptual/recognition skills assessment.ConclusionStroke of both right and left cerebral hemispheres has a specific negative effect on some aspects of perception of music, environmental sounds, and speech that need to be addressed in both evaluation protocols and rehabilitation programs.

Environmental sound perception in adults with hearing loss and cochlear implants

Perception of environmental sounds is crucial for safety, independence, and quality-of-life among adults with hearing loss. The objective of this study was (Experiment 1) to longitudinally assess environmental sound recognition (ESR) in a sample of postlingually deafened adults before and after receiving cochlear implants (CIs) and (Experiment 2) to cross-sectionally assess the ability of adults with CIs to identify safety-relevant environmental sounds. For Experiment 1, 20 postlingually deafened adults were tested with hearing aids on the Familiar Environmental Sound Test-Identification pre-CI and 6 months post-CI. A subset of 11 participants were also tested 12-months post-CI. Average ESR accuracy pre-CI (M = 63.60%) was not significantly different from ESR accuracy 6-months (M = 65.40%) or 12-months (M = 69.09%) post-CI. For Experiment 2, 21 experienced adult CI users completed an ESR test consisting of 42 common environmental sounds, 28 of which were safety-relevant, along with 14 control sounds. Overall, ESR accuracy was 57% correct for safety-relevant sounds and 55% correct for control sounds. These findings suggest mediocre ESR in postlingual adult CI users for safety-relevant and other environmental sounds. Deficits in identification of environmental sounds may put CI listeners at increased safety risks and may require specific rehabilitation to improve outcomes.

Environmental sound research today: Perception, cognition, applications

Environmental sounds, defined as semantically rich acoustic signals different from speech or music, are ubiquitous in daily living. Environmental sound research in various forms has been long embedded into many areas of acoustics including noise control, bioacoustics, music, signal processing, speech communication, and psychoacoustics. However, environmental sounds have been typically investigated in the limited context of specific lines of inquiry unique to each of these areas. In this fractured research landscape, there is also a growing body of work which focuses on ecological aspects and elucidates the neurobiological bases of environmental sound perception and cognition. We will review main questions addressed in recent work, including existing theoretical and methodological challenges and opportunities, and suggest directions for developing a more comprehensive framework for future environmental sound research and applications. A better understanding of environmental sound perception and cognition can in turn have practical implications for many diverse areas of acoustics and related fields.

From sounds to scenes: Comprehension of environmental sounds by cochlear implant users

Performance outcomes for cochlear implant (CI) users traditionally focus on measures of speech perception. However, existing research indicates that environmental sound identification tasks also remain challenging for adult CI users compared to normal-hearing (NH) or hearing-impaired (HI) peers. In contrast, anecdotal reports indicate that environmental sound perception improves post-implantation. Methodological choices may contribute to this discrepancy; CI users may be benefiting from more integrative higher-level processes that are not adequately measured by source identification tasks. This study employs two alternative tasks that are designed to assess perception of the semantic properties of environmental sounds. The first is a comprehension tasks, which requires listeners to make inferences about naturalistic sound scene recordings (e.g. which other activities might you expect to take place, or at which time of day does this scene most likely occur). The second task presents a triplet of isolated environmental sound recordings and requires participants to select the sound that does not belong. Preliminary data indicate that CI users are able to perform the tasks with varying levels of proficiency relative to NH and HI listeners. Comprehension tasks focused on context-dependent semantic processing may, thus, complement findings from more traditional single-sound identification tasks.

Chinese-English bilinguals are more sensitive to environmental sound perception than Spanish-English bilinguals through top-down cognitive mechanism

Sensitive perception to environmental sound is important for an individual's daily life since it helps in responding to the environment quickly and avoiding potential risks. It remains unclear, however, whether and how bilingual experiences with different native language backgrounds influence brain responses reflecting environmental sound perception. The present study compared Chinese-English bilinguals, Spanish-English bilinguals, and English monolinguals on their brain response to environmental sound perception and further examined its processing mechanism. The present study did not find the differences between English monolinguals and two bilingual groups on the environmental sound perception. However, we found that compared with Spanish-English bilinguals, Chinese-English bilinguals showed significantly larger mismatch negativity (MMN), indicating that Chinese-English bilinguals were more sensitive to the environmental sounds than that of Spanish-English bilinguals. Further, compared with Spanish-English bilinguals, Chinese-English bilinguals showed significantly larger theta oscillation. In addition, the theta oscillation is significantly correlated with MMN for Chinese-English bilinguals. The results indicated that the advantage of Chinese-English bilingual experience on environmental sound perception may be due to the enhanced top-down cognitive ability. In summary, these findings suggest that compared with the Spanish-English bilinguals, Chinese-English bilinguals showed an advantage in environmental sound perception via enhanced top-down cognitive modulation.

Music in Quarantine: Connections Between Changes in Lifestyle, Psychological States, and Musical Behaviors During COVID-19 Pandemic.

Music is not only the art of organized sound but also a compound of social interaction among people, built upon social and environmental foundations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, containment measures such as shelter-in-place, lockdown, social distancing, and self-quarantine have severely impacted the foundation of human society, resulting in a drastic change in our everyday experience. In this paper, the relationships between musical behavior, lifestyle, and psychological states during the shelter-in-place period of the COVID-19 pandemic are investigated. An online survey on musical experience, lifestyle changes, stress level, musical behaviors, media usage, and environmental sound perception was conducted. The survey was conducted in early June 2020. Responses from 620 people in 24 countries were collected, with the large proportion of the responses coming from the U.S. (55.5%) and India (21.4%). Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed causal relationships between lifestyle, stress, and music behaviors. Elements such as stress-level change, work risk, and staying home contribute to changes in musical experiences, such as moderating emotion with music, feeling emotional with music, and being more attentive to music. Stress-level change was correlated with work risk and income change, and people who started living with others due to the outbreak, especially with their children, indicated less change in stress level. People with more stress-level change tended to use music more purposefully for their mental well-being, such as to moderate emotions, to influence mood, and to relax. In addition, people with more stress-level change tend to be more annoyed by neighbors' noise. Housing type was not directly associated with annoyance; however, attention to environmental sounds decreased when the housing type was smaller. Attention to environmental and musical sounds and the emotional responses to them are highly inter-correlated. Multi-group SEM based on musicians showed that the causal relationship structure for professional musicians differs from that of less-experienced musicians. For professional musicians, staying at home was the only component that caused all musical behavior changes; stress did not cause musical behavior changes. Regarding Internet use, listening to music via YouTube and streaming was preferred over TV and radio, especially among less-experienced musicians, while participation in the online music community was preferred by more advanced musicians. This work suggests that social, environmental, and personal factors and limitations influence the changes in our musical behavior, perception of sonic experience, and emotional recognition, and that people actively accommodated the unusual pandemic situations using music and Internet technologies.

Soundscape in Times of Change: Case Study of a City Neighbourhood During the COVID-19 Lockdown.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown meant a greatly reduced social and economic activity. Sound is of major importance to people’s perception of the environment, and some remarked that the soundscape was changing for the better. But are these anecdotal reports based in truth? Has traffic noise from cars and airplanes really gone down, so that more birdsong can be heard? Have socially distanced people quietened down? This article presents a case study of the human perception of environmental sounds in an urban neighborhood in the Basque Country between 15 March and 25 May 2020. The social restrictions imposed through national legislation divided the 69-day period into three phases. We collected observations, field audio recordings, photography, and diary notes on 50 days. Experts in soundscape and architecture were presented with the recordings, in randomized order, and made two separate perceptual analyses. One group (N = 11) rated the recordings for pleasantness and eventfulness using an adapted version of the Swedish Soundscape Quality Protocol, and a partly overlapping group (N = 12) annotated perceived sound events with free-form semantic labels. The labels were systematically classified into a four-level Taxonomy of Sound Sources, allowing an estimation of the relative amounts of Natural, Human, and Technological sounds. Loudness and three descriptors developed for bioacoustics were extracted computationally. Analysis showed that Eventfulness, Acoustic Complexity, and Acoustic Richness increased significantly over the time period, while the amount of Technological sounds decreased. These observations were interpreted as reflecting changes in people’s outdoor activities and behavior over the whole 69-day period, evidenced in an increased presence of Human sounds of voices and walking, and a significant shift from motorized vehicles toward personal mobility devices, again evidenced by perceived sounds. Quantitative results provided a backdrop against which qualitative analyses of diary notes and observations were interpreted in relation to the restrictions and the architectural specifics of the site. An integrated analysis of all sources pointed at the temporary suspension of human outdoor activity as the main reason for such a change. In the third phase, the progressive return of street life and the usage of personal mobility vehicles seemed to be responsible for a clear increase in Eventfulness and Loudness even in the context of an overall decrease of Technological sounds. Indoor human activity shared through open windows and an increased presence of birdsong emerge as a novel characteristic element of the local urban soundscape. We discuss how such changes in the acoustic environment of the site, in acoustic measurements and as perceived by humans, point toward the soundscape being a crucial component of a comprehensive urban design strategy that aims to improve health and quality of life for increasingly large and dense populations in the future.

Motor engagement relates to accurate perception of phonemes and audiovisual words, but not auditory words

A longstanding debate has surrounded the role of the motor system in speech perception, but progress in this area has been limited by tasks that only examine isolated syllables and conflate decision-making with perception. Using an adaptive task that temporally isolates perception from decision-making, we examined an EEG signature of motor activity (sensorimotor μ/beta suppression) during the perception of auditory phonemes, auditory words, audiovisual words, and environmental sounds while holding difficulty constant at two levels (Easy/Hard). Results revealed left-lateralized sensorimotor μ/beta suppression that was related to perception of speech but not environmental sounds. Audiovisual word and phoneme stimuli showed enhanced left sensorimotor μ/beta suppression for correct relative to incorrect trials, while auditory word stimuli showed enhanced suppression for incorrect trials. Our results demonstrate that motor involvement in perception is left-lateralized, is specific to speech stimuli, and it not simply the result of domain-general processes. These results provide evidence for an interactive network for speech perception in which dorsal stream motor areas are dynamically engaged during the perception of speech depending on the characteristics of the speech signal. Crucially, this motor engagement has different effects on the perceptual outcome depending on the lexicality and modality of the speech stimulus.

Effects of context in environmental sound perception in older normal hearing and cochlear implant listeners

The use of context by individuals with hearing loss has been extensively studied in speech, but not in environmental sound perception. The effect of context on environmental sound perception was investigated in 26 older normal hearing (ONH) and 46 adult postlingual cochlear implant (CI) listeners. Participants first identified 24 individual environmental sounds in isolation and then were presented with the same sounds arranged in 3–5 sound sequences. Half of the sequences were either contextually coherent (i.e., likely to be heard together) and half were incoherent. Results revealed greater accuracy of ONH than CI listeners in identification of isolated environmental sounds. However, no group differences were observed in the identification of sounds sequences. In both groups contextually coherent sequences were identified more accurately than incoherent ones, while accuracy decreased with sequence length. Sequence length interacted with context, with context effect increasing for longer sequences. These findings demonstrate that environmental sound identification remains challenging for CI listeners. Nevertheless, both CI and ONH listeners utilize context to aid in environmental sound identification in perceptually challenging tasks associated with a greater working memory load. Future research may further assess the relationship between environmental sound perception and other ecologically significant aspects of electric hearing.

Basic auditory skills evaluation battery for online testing of cochlear implant users

Cochlear implant (CI) performance varies considerably across domains of auditory function, but clinical testing is typically restricted to speech intelligibility. Although other domains, including environmental sound and music perception or speech comprehension, are considered important to quality-of-life and personal safety, their adaptation into clinical use has been limited. The basic auditory skills evaluation (BASE) battery was developed to provide online access to such comprehensive assessment using the Internet as a test delivery platform. It includes 17 3–5 min tests to evaluate (1) basic spectro-temporal processing, (2) processing of environmental sounds and music, and (3) speech perception and comprehension in quiet and background noise. Two groups of 18 and 25 postlingual adult CI users were tested either at home following online instructions or in the lab by an audiologist. Results revealed a range of performance across tests from near ceiling to close to chance. No significant differences in group performance on any of the tests were observed, suggesting that BASE battery can assess a diverse array of abilities online, with varying difficulty levels. These findings provide preliminary support for the use of the test battery for an Internet-based comprehensive assessment of ecologically relevant aspects of auditory perception in adult CI users.

A Predictive Model for Cochlear Implant Outcome in Children with Cochlear Nerve Deficiency

The outcome of cochlear implantation (CI) in patients with cochlear nerve deficiency (CND) is variable, resulting in a wide range of speech perception performance, from degrees of environmental sound perception to conversation without lip-reading. Twenty-five cochlear implantees with CND were enrolled retrospectively to determine the factors correlated with CI outcome in patients with CND and to develop a predictive model for CI outcome. CI outcome was evaluated using the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) score at 2 years after CI. Patients with negative auditory brainstem response (ABR) showed a significantly lower CAP score than those with positive ABR (2.5 ± 1.7, 4.8 ± 0.7; p = 0.001). The area ratio of vestibulocochlear nerve (VCN) to facial nerve (FN) at the cerebellopontine angle on magnetic resonance images was positively correlated with CI outcome (p < 0.001). With multiple regression analysis, a predictive equation accounting for 66% of variance of CAP score at 2 years after CI was {bf{deduced}}:{bf{CAP}},{bf{score}}{boldsymbol{=}}{bf{0.7}}{boldsymbol{+}}{bf{1.9}}{boldsymbol{ast }}{boldsymbol{(}}{bf{ABR}}{boldsymbol{)}}{boldsymbol{+}}{bf{1.2}}{boldsymbol{ast }}(frac{{boldsymbol{V}}{boldsymbol{C}}{boldsymbol{N}}}{{boldsymbol{F}}{boldsymbol{N}}}). We found that preoperative ABR and area ratio of VCN to FN at the cerebellopontine angle could predict CI outcome in patients with CND. Preoperative counselling based on our predictive model might be helpful to determine treatment modality for auditory rehabilitation and which ear to implant.

A comparative study on auditory perception of environmental sounds by normal hearing and unilateral cochlear implant children

Accurate identification of environmental sounds may lead to better speech perception because properties of sound coming from the environment contain lot of information. It also provides comprehensive assessment of sensory input in early stage of life. The present study was aimed to compare the recognition of environmental-sounds by normal hearing children and children using unilateral cochlear implants in auditory-alone condition. 30 subjects participated in this study which was divided into two groups. Group I consist of 15 normal hearing children with age range of 3-5 years. Group II consists of 15 children using unilateral cochlear implants with an auditory experience of minimum 3years of daily implant use. 20 environmental sounds belonging to different categories such as animal, human, vehicle, mechanical & nature served as the test tool. The findings of this study revealed that Children using cochlear implant obtained lower mean percentage values compared to children with normal hearing. Environmental sound perception ability in cochlear implant children was poorer than normal hearing children. The ability to perceive environmental sounds are often unappreciated and largely unexplored.

Perception of environmental sounds: Recognition-detection gaps

The study was conducted to assess the detection and recognition thresholds for 16 selected environmental sounds and determine the sound pressure level difference between those thresholds, called the recognition-detection gap (RDG). The sounds were recorded with a dummy head and played back through headphones. Recognition and detection thresholds were measured for two groups of listeners—musicians and non-musicians, in two conditions: in quiet and in the presence of multitalker masking noise added to the signal. The results demonstrate that RDG considerably varies, depending on the acoustic characteristics the sound, from about 2 to as much as 20 dB for sounds that are particularly difficult to recognize. The difficulty with which a listener recognizes the sounds, assessed on the basis of RDG, is also reflected by the steepness of psychometric functions for recognition. The present findings do not support a working hypothesis in which it was assumed that musical training results in an enhancement of the ability to recognize sounds at levels close to detection threshold, when not all their acoustic signatures are clearly audible, and manifests itself in smaller RDGs.

Daily Sound Awareness of CI Users

Daily Sound Awareness of CI Users

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMPLEX THERAPY OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE SENSONEURAL OBTUSITY THE EFFICIENCY OF COMPLEX TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS

Hearing – one of the most important feelings of a human body. Permanent decrease in hearing against the background of which perception of environmental sounds and speech communication is at a loss, a bradyacuasia is defined by the term. And the problem of a sharp and sudden sensonevralny bradyacuasia is represented to the most composite significant. Can be the reasons of development of sharp violations of sound perception infectious, immunopathological, physical, chemical and ischemichypoxemic factors. Treatment of a sharp and sudden sensonevralny bradyacuasia is considered as rendering an emergency aid. The gold international standard at the present stage is use of glucocorticosteroids. For minimization of the damaging action of causal factors of development of pathological process, improvement of exchange processes, restitution of the functional activity and an angenesis including a neuroepithelium, use of neurotropic therapy-group B vitamins is shown to patients with sharp sensonevralny bradyacuasia. The most efficient are the medicines containing a complex of B1, B6 and B12 vitamins, one of such combined polyvitaminic pharmaceuticals is Neyromultivit.

Tinnitus Suppression by Intracochlear Electrical Stimulation in Single Sided Deafness - A Prospective Clinical Trial: Follow-Up.

IntroductionEarlier studies show that a Cochlear Implant (CI), capable of providing intracochlear electrical stimulation independent of environmental sounds, appears to suppress tinnitus at least for minutes. The current main objective is to compare the long-term suppressive effects of looped (i.e. repeated) electrical stimulation (without environmental sound perception) with the standard stimulation pattern of a CI (with environmental sound perception). This could open new possibilities for the development of a “Tinnitus Implant” (TI), an intracochlear pulse generator for the suppression of tinnitus.Materials and MethodsTen patients with single sided deafness suffering from unilateral tinnitus in the deaf ear are fitted with a CI (MED-EL Corporation, Innsbruck, Austria). Stimulation patterns are optimized for each individual patient, after which they are compared using a randomized crossover design, with a follow-up of six months, followed by a 3 month period using the modality of patient’s choice.ResultsResults show that tinnitus can be suppressed with intracochlear electrical stimulation independent of environmental sounds, even long term. No significant difference in tinnitus suppression was found between the standard clinical CI and the TI.ConclusionIt can be concluded that coding of environmental sounds is no requirement for tinnitus suppression with intracochlear electrical stimulation. It is therefore plausible that tinnitus suppression by CI is not solely caused by an attention shift from the tinnitus to environmental sounds. Both the standard clinical CI and the experimental TI are potential treatment options for tinnitus. These findings offer perspectives for a successful clinical application of the TI, possibly even in patients with significant residual hearing.Trial RegistrationTrialRegister.nl NTR3374