Speech Understanding In Noise Research Articles

Using consonant confusion to predict unexplained hearing loss

Some listeners have difficulty understanding speech in noise that is not explained by traditional audiometry. Speech perception errors can manifest as consonant confusions such as /s/ for /sh/. Consonant confusions contain information that may be used to detect or quantify unexplained hearing loss. We developed an efficient consonant confusion test, Quick-VC, based on ten vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) phonemes. Speech spectrum noise was added to each VCV to make consonant confusions sensitive to hearing impairment. Puretone threshold averages and consonant confusion matrices were collected from 15 listeners with normal hearing and 45 listeners with hearing loss. A logistic regression with regularized coefficients was performed on principal components of the consonant confusions. After removing the effect of audibility, the model predicted unexplained hearing loss greater than 5 dB for seven individuals with a cross-validated area under the curve (AUC) of 0.757, which is clinically acceptable. Six of these seven listeners reported bilateral tinnitus and four had a history of noise exposure, which implicates the peripheral auditory system. The Quick-VC test may be a valuable tool for identifying and quantifying unexplained hearing difficulties, perhaps due to partial loss of auditory nerve fibers, for which there is currently no clinical test.

Perceptual and neural measures of spectral and temporal cue strength in speech perception

Many listeners experience difficulty understanding speech in noise that may result from limited ability to use important acoustic cues, such as spectral and temporal features. One way of assessing deficits related to perceptual or neural processing is to enhance or degrade specific cues and measure the impact on behavior or neural coding. To do so, we combined a target-word identification task with simultaneous EEG measurement in 20 young and 20 older normal-hearing listeners. Coordinate Response Measure sentences were manipulated in the spectral modulation (SM) and temporal modulation (TM) domains (neutral, degraded, enhanced) and presented in four-talker babble in both passive and attention conditions. Multivariate temporal response function (mTRF) analyses were used to evaluate cortical tracking of the speech envelope. Speech perception in younger listeners improved for both SM and TM enhancement, but older listeners only benefited from TM enhancement. Both groups showed stronger cortical tracking for attention versus passive listening, but only older listeners showed tracking changes across SM and TM conditions. Cortical tracking and perceptual results in older listeners are consistent with cognitive aging theories suggesting that cortical processing changes with age involve both compensation and dedifferentiation to help maintain auditory perceptual performance.

Listening to the room: Disrupting activity of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex impairs learning of room acoustics

Navigating complex sensory environments is critical to survival, and brain mechanisms have evolved to cope with the wide range of surroundings. In noisy spaces listeners place more emphasis on early-arriving sound energy, nevertheless, reverberant energy is highly informative about those spaces per se, and human listeners show improved speech understanding when re-encountering known reverberant environments. We assessed the ability of listeners to perceive speech (Coordinate Response Measure corpus) in noisy and reverberant rooms. We mimicked the acoustic characteristics of real rooms using loudspeakers positioned within an anechoic chamber. Listeners were also exposed to repetitive transcranial stimulation (rTMS) to disrupt the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity (DLFPC), a region believed to play a role in statistical learning. Our data suggest listeners rapidly adapt to statistical characteristics of an acoustic environment to improve speech understanding. This ability is impaired when rTMS is applied bilaterally to the DLPFC. The data demonstrate that speech understanding in noise is best when exposed to a room with reverberant characteristics common to human-built environments. Our findings provide evidence for a reverberation “sweet spot” and the presence of brain mechanisms that might have evolved to cope with the acoustic characteristics of listening environments encountered every day.

The Role of Bone-Anchored Hearing Devices and Remote Microphones in Children with Congenital Unilateral Hearing Loss.

Congenital unilateral hearing loss (UHL) represents a contemporary audiologic challenge. Children with UHL can struggle with understanding speech in noise, localizing sounds, developing language, and maintaining academic performance, leading to low self-esteem, anxiety, and decreased social support. Two specific conditions related to UHL in children are single-sided deafness (SSD) and unilateral auris atresia (UAA). This was a retrospective observational study on a group of children with UHL. The Simplified Italian Matrix Sentence Test was used for the assessment of speech reception threshold (SRT) in different conditions: speech and noise from the front (S0N0), speech at 45° from the side of the better ear and noise at 45° from the opposite side (SbNw), and vice versa (SwNb). Each test was conducted unaided, with a bone-anchored hearing device (BAHD), and with a remote microphone (RM) system. The use of a BAHD and RM led to an improvement in SRT in S0N0 and SwNb conditions. The SSD subgroup demonstrated significant benefits with both devices in SwNb, and the UAA subgroup from the use of BAHD in S0N0. In conclusion, the study underscores the potential benefits of both devices in enhancing speech perception for UHL children, providing insights into effective intervention strategies for these challenging cases.

Speech understanding in noise for cochlear implant recipients using a spatial noise reduction setting in an off the ear sound processor with directional microphones

Purpose Cochlear implant (CI) recipients struggle to hear in competing background noise. ForwardFocus is a spatial noise reduction setting from Cochlear Ltd. (Sydney) that can simultaneously attenuate noise from multiple sources behind the listener. This study assessed hearing performance with ForwardFocus in an off-the-ear (OTE) sound processor. Method Twenty-two experienced adult CI recipients participated. Speech reception data was collected in fixed noise acutely in the clinic. After three to five weeks take home experience, subjective impressions were recorded, and evaluations were conducted for speech reception in quiet and roving noise. Results Group mean speech reception thresholds (SRT) were below 0 dB in two spatially-separated noise test conditions when using ForwardFocus in the OTE sound processor. SRT were −8.5 dB (SD 2.9) in 4-talker babble roving in a rear hemi-field (S0Nrearhemi) and −3.9 dB (SD 3.3) in 12-talker babble presented laterally and behind (S0N3). Results in S0N3 were significantly better with ForwardFocus On (p = 0.0018). Subjective ratings with the OTE were comparable to, or better than, with their walk-in BTE or OTE sound processor. Conclusions ForwardFocus provides significant benefits for speech recognition in competing background noise in an OTE sound processor. These results support clinicians in counselling CI recipients on potential sound processor options to consider.

Amplification of the poorer ear by StereoBiCROS in case of asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss: effect on tinnitus.

Tinnitus is prevalent among patients suffering from Single-Sided Deafness (SSD) and Asymmetrical Hearing Loss (AHL). In addition to bothersome tinnitus in the poorer ear, these patients also report issues with understanding speech in noise and sound localization. The conventional treatment options offered to these patients to improve auditory abilities are cochlear implantation, bone conduction devices or Contralateral Routing Of Signal (CROS) hearing aids. It was recently found that the benefit of cochlear implantation for tinnitus associated with AHL/SSD was greater than the other two approaches. It is conceivable that the lack of stimulation provided to the poorer ear in these last approaches explains their modest impact on tinnitus perception. A new technology that combines the ability to reroute the sound from the poorer ear to the good ear (CROS system) while still stimulating the poorer ear with conventional sound amplification has recently been developed: the StereoBiCROS system. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of this new device on tinnitus. Twelve AHL and two SSD patients aged 70.7 ± 7.9 years with tinnitus were fitted with bilateral hearing aids that included 3 programs: Stereophonic, BiCROS and StereoBiCROS (CROS + bilateral amplification). The short-and long-term effect of the approach on tinnitus was assessed using a tinnitus Loudness Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), respectively. Both the VAS and the THI were used before and one month after the hearing aid fitting. Of the 14 patients who used their hearing aids daily (12.6 ± 1.6 h per day) the StereoBiCROS program was the most used program (81.8 ± 20.5% of the time). The average THI total score decreased from 47 (± 22) to 15 (± 16) (p = 0.002) and the VAS-Loudness score decreased from 7 (± 1) to 2 (± 2) (p < 0.001) after the one-month trial period. In conclusion, StereoBiCROS stimulation strategy seems to offer an effective alternative to reduce tinnitus handicap and loudness for patients with AHL/SSD and tinnitus. This effect may be driven by sound amplification of the poorer ear.

Interaural stimulation timing mismatch in listeners provided with acochlear implant and ahearing aid : Areview focusing on quantification and compensation

Bimodal provision of patients with asymmetric hearing loss with ahearing aid ipsilaterally and acochlear implant (CI) contralaterally is probably the most complicated type of CI provision due to avariety of inherent variables. This review article presents all the systematic interaural mismatches between electric and acoustic stimulation that can occur in bimodal listeners. One of these mismatches is the interaural latency offset, i.e., the time difference of activation of the auditory nerve by acoustic and electric stimulation. Methods for quantifying this offset are presented by registering electrically and acoustically evoked potentials and measuring processing delays in the devices. Technical compensation of the interaural latency offset and its positive effect on sound localization ability in bimodal listeners is also described. Finally, most recent findings are discussed which may explain why compensation of the interaural latency offset does not improve speech understanding in noise in bimodal listeners.

Suprathreshold auditory processes in listeners with normal audiograms but extended high-frequency hearing loss

Hearing loss in the extended high-frequency (EHF) range (>8 kHz) is widespread among young normal-hearing adults and could have perceptual consequences such as difficulty understanding speech in noise. However, it is unclear how EHF hearing loss might affect basic psychoacoustic processes. The hypothesis that EHF hearing loss is associated with poorer auditory resolution in the standard frequencies was tested. Temporal resolution was characterized by amplitude modulation detection thresholds (AMDTs), and spectral resolution was characterized by frequency change detection thresholds (FCDTs). AMDTs and FCDTs were measured in adults with or without EHF loss but with normal clinical audiograms. AMDTs were measured with 0.5- and 4-kHz carrier frequencies; similarly, FCDTs were measured for 0.5- and 4-kHz base frequencies. AMDTs were significantly higher with the 4 kHz than the 0.5 kHz carrier, but there was no significant effect of EHF loss. There was no significant effect of EHF loss on FCDTs at 0.5 kHz; however, FCDTs were significantly higher at 4 kHz for listeners with than without EHF loss. This suggests that some aspects of auditory resolution in the standard audiometric frequency range may be compromised in listeners with EHF hearing loss despite having a normal audiogram.

Investigation of hearing aid users' speech understanding in noise and their spectral-temporal resolution skills

PurposeOur study aims to compare speech understanding in noise and spectral- temporal resolution skills with regard to the degree of hearing loss, age, hearing aid use experience and gender of hearing aid users. MethodsOur study included sixty-eight hearing aid users aged between 40-70 years, with bilateral mild and moderate symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. Random gap detection test, Turkish matrix test and spectral-temporally modulated ripple test were implemented on the participants with bilateral hearing aids. The test results acquired were compared statistically according to different variables and the correlations were examined. ResultsNo statistically significant differences were observed for speech-in-noise recognition, spectral-temporal resolution among older and younger adults in hearing aid users (p>0.05). There wasn’t found a statistically significant difference among test outcomes as regards different hearing loss degrees (p>0.05). Higher performances were obtained in terms of temporal resolution in male participants and participants with more hearing aid use experience (p<0.05). Significant correlations were obtained between the results of speech-in-noise recognition, temporal resolution and spectral resolution tests performed with hearing aids (p<0.05). ConclusionOur study findings emphasized the importance of regular hearing aid use and it showed that some auditory skills can be improved with hearing aids. Observation of correlations among the speech-in-noise recognition, temporal resolution and spectral resolution tests have revealed that these skills should be evaluated as a whole to maximize the patient's communication abilities.

A New Technical Ear Training Game and Its Effect on Critical Listening Skills

Technical ear training has proven to be an effective tool for developing the skills of junior audio engineers and enhancing their proficiency in audio and music production. To provide a comprehensive auditory training experience, the authors have created a gamified training program that encompasses four modules: spectral identification, auditory localization, consistent judgment, and memory of a mix balance. Each module is designed to give trainees closed-loop audiomotor training, allowing them to instantly assess their performance and identify areas where they need to improve. This new ear-training game helped players to be more engaged and resulted in the improvement of trained audio engineering skills. Moreover, the game also benefited a non-trained auditory skill, speech understanding in noise.

Effects of aging on cortical representations of continuous speech.

Understanding speech in a noisy environment is crucial in day-to-day interactions and yet becomes more challenging with age, even for healthy aging. Age-related changes in the neural mechanisms that enable speech-in-noise listening have been investigated previously; however, the extent to which age affects the timing and fidelity of encoding of target and interfering speech streams is not well understood. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we investigated how continuous speech is represented in auditory cortex in the presence of interfering speech in younger and older adults. Cortical representations were obtained from neural responses that time-locked to the speech envelopes with speech envelope reconstruction and temporal response functions (TRFs). TRFs showed three prominent peaks corresponding to auditory cortical processing stages: early (∼50 ms), middle (∼100 ms), and late (∼200 ms). Older adults showed exaggerated speech envelope representations compared with younger adults. Temporal analysis revealed both that the age-related exaggeration starts as early as ∼50 ms and that older adults needed a substantially longer integration time window to achieve their better reconstruction of the speech envelope. As expected, with increased speech masking envelope reconstruction for the attended talker decreased and all three TRF peaks were delayed, with aging contributing additionally to the reduction. Interestingly, for older adults the late peak was delayed, suggesting that this late peak may receive contributions from multiple sources. Together these results suggest that there are several mechanisms at play compensating for age-related temporal processing deficits at several stages but which are not able to fully reestablish unimpaired speech perception.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We observed age-related changes in cortical temporal processing of continuous speech that may be related to older adults' difficulty in understanding speech in noise. These changes occur in both timing and strength of the speech representations at different cortical processing stages and depend on both noise condition and selective attention. Critically, their dependence on noise condition changes dramatically among the early, middle, and late cortical processing stages, underscoring how aging differentially affects these stages.

Age differentially impacts monolingual and bilingual listeners’ understanding of English speech in noise

Some bilinguals may perform worse understanding speech in noise (SIN) in their second language (L2) compared to monolinguals. Poorer performance has been found mostly for late bilinguals (L2 acquired after childhood) listening to sentences containing linguistic context, and less so for simultaneous/early bilinguals (L2 acquired during childhood) and when testing context-free stimuli. However, most studies tested younger participants–little is known about interactions with age. This study addresses this gap by measuring context-free SIN understanding via the Modified Rhyme Test in over 2,000 normal-hearing young and middle-aged bilingual and monolingual adults (ages 18–58; 23% bilinguals, all L2 English). Data collection is ongoing. Interim analyses reveal an interaction of age and group. Word recognition accuracy decreased as age increased for simultaneous and early bilinguals, but was stable for monolinguals and late bilinguals (though worse for bilinguals than monolinguals). Response time was faster for monolinguals but all groups slowed with increasing age at similar rates. These findings suggest an exaggerated age effect for bilingual SIN understanding across early and middle adulthood. [The views expressed in this abstract are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.]

The right ear advantage – a perspective from speech perception in noise test

Objective So far, binaural summation for speech stimuli has been less evaluated in the literature, without the head shadow effect and spatial release from masking. Moreover, the right ear advantage has been shown mostly in the dichotic listening situation, but with conflicting results in the monaural/binaural listening condition. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate binaural hearing advantage utilizing only binaural summation without other factors and to evaluate the right ear advantage in the monaural listening situation. Methods Thirty-seven participants with normal hearing in the range of 0.125–20 kHz participated current study. Evaluation of speech perception in noise (SPIN) performances were conducted by Matrix test. Participants assessed in three different conditions including the right ear condition, the left ear condition and the binaural condition. Test order of the ears was counterbalanced and noises presented ipsilateral for monaural conditions. Results The lowest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values needed for understanding speech in noise were statistically significantly lower in binaural listening conditions compared to monaural listening conditions. In monaural listening conditions, the SNR value needed to understand speech in noise in the right ear was statistically significantly lower than in the left ear. Conclusion The results showed that the rehabilitation/habilitation of hearing-impairment patient should consider binaural amplification options to improve SPIN. In case of the symmetric hearing loss with the encountering compulsory situations which bring about the necessity to use only one ear, then right ear preference for amplification devices can provide better SPIN performance.

Effects of Gamification on Assessment of Spatial Release From Masking.

Difficulty understanding speech in noise is a common communication problem. Clinical tests of speech in noise differ considerably from real-world listening and offer patients limited intrinsic motivation to perform well. In order to design a test that captures motivational aspects of real-world communication, this study investigated effects of gamification, or the inclusion of game elements, on a laboratory spatial release from masking test. Fifty-four younger adults with normal hearing completed a traditional laboratory and a gamified test of spatial release from masking in counterbalanced order. Masker level adapted based on performance, with the traditional test ending after 10 reversals and the gamified test ending when participants solved a visual puzzle. Target-to-masker ratio thresholds (TMRs) with colocated maskers, separated maskers, and estimates of spatial release were calculated after the 10th reversal for both tests and from the last six reversals of the adaptive track from the gamified test. Thresholds calculated from the 10th reversal indicated no significant differences between the traditional and gamified tests. A learning effect was observed with spatially separated maskers, such that TMRs were better for the second test than the first, regardless of test order. Thresholds calculated from the last six reversals of the gamified test indicated better TMRs in the separated condition compared to the traditional test. Adding gamified elements to a traditional test of spatial release from masking did not negatively affect test validity or estimates of spatial release. Participants were willing to continue playing the gamified test for an average of 30.2 reversals of the adaptive track. For some listeners, performance in the separated condition continued to improve after the 10th reversal, leading to better TMRs and greater spatial release from masking at the end of the gamified test compared to the traditional test. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22028789.

Performance with a new bone conduction implant audio processor in patients with single-sided deafness

PurposeThe SAMBA 2 BB audio processor for the BONEBRIDGE bone conduction implant features a new automatic listening environment detection to focus on target speech and to reduce interfering speech and background noises. The aim of this study was to evaluate the audiological benefit of the SAMBA 2 BB (AP2) and to compare it with its predecessor SAMBA BB (AP1).MethodsProspective within-subject comparison study. We compared the aided sound field hearing thresholds, speech understanding in quiet (Freiburg monosyllables), and speech understanding in noise (Oldenburg sentence test) with the AP1 and AP2. Each audio processor was worn for 2 weeks before assessment and seven users with single-sided sensorineural deafness (SSD) participated in the study. For speech understanding in noise, two complex noise scenarios with multiple noise sources including single talker interfering speech were used. The first scenario included speech presented from the front (S0NMIX), while in the second scenario speech was presented from the side of the implanted ear (SIPSINMIX). In addition, subjective evaluation using the SSQ12, APSQ, and the BBSS questionnaires was performed.ResultsWe found improved speech understanding in quiet with the AP2 compared to the AP1 aided condition (on average + 17%, p = 0.007). In both noise scenarios, the AP2 lead to improved speech reception thresholds by 1.2 dB (S0NMIX, p = 0.032) and 2.1 dB (SIPSINMIX, p = 0.048) compared to the AP1. The questionnaires revealed no statistically significant differences, except an improved APSQ usability score with the AP2.ConclusionClinicians can expect that patients with SSD will benefit from the SAMBA 2 BB by improved speech understanding in both quiet and in complex noise scenarios, when compared to the older SAMBA BB.

Clinical Feasibility and Familiarization Effects of Device Delay Mismatch Compensation in Bimodal CI/HA Users.

Subjects utilizing a cochlear implant (CI) in one ear and a hearing aid (HA) on the contralateral ear suffer from mismatches in stimulation timing due to different processing latencies of both devices. This device delay mismatch leads to a temporal mismatch in auditory nerve stimulation. Compensating for this auditory nerve stimulation mismatch by compensating for the device delay mismatch can significantly improve sound source localization accuracy. One CI manufacturer has already implemented the possibility of mismatch compensation in its current fitting software. This study investigated if this fitting parameter can be readily used in clinical settings and determined the effects of familiarization to a compensated device delay mismatch over a period of 3-4 weeks. Sound localization accuracy and speech understanding in noise were measured in eleven bimodal CI/HA users, with and without a compensation of the device delay mismatch. The results showed that sound localization bias improved to 0°, implying that the localization bias towards the CI was eliminated when the device delay mismatch was compensated. The RMS error was improved by 18% with this improvement not reaching statistical significance. The effects were acute and did not further improve after 3 weeks of familiarization. For the speech tests, spatial release from masking did not improve with a compensated mismatch. The results show that this fitting parameter can be readily used by clinicians to improve sound localization ability in bimodal users. Further, our findings suggest that subjects with poor sound localization ability benefit the most from the device delay mismatch compensation.

Age-related changes in auditory temporal processing assessed using forward masking

One of the main complaints of older adults is difficulty understanding speech in noise. For older adults with audiometric thresholds within the normal range this difficulty may partly reflect deficits in temporal processing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of age on the rate of recovery from forward masking. There were seven young participants (four females; mean age 26 years) and seven older participants (six females; mean age 62 years) with normal audiometric thresholds, designated YNH and ONH groups. Signal frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz were used. The level of the 20-ms signal was fixed at 15 dB SL for each participant and frequency. The 200-ms masker was a band of noise centered at the signal frequency with a bandwidth equal to the center frequency. The masker level was varied to determine the masker-to-signal ratio (MSR) required for threshold for masker-signal intervals (MSIs) of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 ms. The MSRs were smaller for the ONH group than for the YNH group, perhaps indicating lower processing efficiency for the former. Importantly, there was a significant interaction between MSI and the group. The change in MSR with increasing MSI was greater for the YNH than for the ONH group, indicating poorer temporal resolution for the latter.

Speech Intelligibility in Noise: The Role of Talker-Listener Accent Similarity and Second Language Experience

According to previous research, several factors influence speech intelligibility in noise, including talker accent, listener experience, and language proficiency. The current study looked at how L2 experience, accent familiarity, and English IETLS score affect speech intelligibility. To determine whether and how these factors affect L2 learners’ speech intelligibility when understanding speech in noise, the researcher recruited 30 Mandarin speakers with controlled English proficiency (the researcher set a threshold and only recruited participants who were above it). Half of them graduated from Chinese universities and have never travelled outside of China, while others have spent at least one year studying in English-speaking countries. They were asked to listen to 360 sentences recorded by two Mandarin speakers and two native English speakers, and they chose one nonsense sentence among three sentences in each trial. In the testing, all the recordings were added signal-to-noise (SNR) ratios of 0 dB to simulate the noisy environment. The results show a significant speaker effect and IELTS score effect but cannot find a significant listener effect. The researcher came up with four potential reasons for the results and some future directions for the L2 research study.

Genetic Hearing Loss Affects Cochlear Processing.

The relationship between speech recognition and hereditary hearing loss is not straightforward. Underlying genetic defects might determine an impaired cochlear processing of sound. We obtained data from nine groups of patients with a specific type of genetic hearing loss. For each group, the affected cochlear site-of-lesion was determined based on previously published animal studies. Retrospectively obtained speech recognition scores in noise were related to several aspects of supra-threshold cochlear processing as assessed by psychophysical measurements. The differences in speech perception in noise between these patient groups could be explained by these factors and partially by the hypothesized affected structure of the cochlea, suggesting that speech recognition in noise was associated with a genetics-related malfunctioning of the cochlea. In particular, regression models indicate that loudness growth and spectral resolution best describe the cochlear distortions and are thus a good biomarker for speech understanding in noise.

Single-Sided Deafness: Emotional and Social Handicap, Impact on Health Status and Quality of Life, Functional Hearing, and the Effects of Cochlear Implantation.

To evaluate the functional and subjective outcomes in individuals with single-sided deafness (SSD) treated with a cochlear implant (CI). Eighty-one adult CI users with SSD participated in this study. Functional assessments consisted of speech in noise testing and localization. Subjective assessments consisted of the Speech Spatial Quality of Hearing Scale, the Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire, the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit questionnaire, the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults questionnaire, and the Glasgow Health Status Inventory and the Glasgow Benefit Inventory questionnaires. SSD has remarkable consequences on quality of life (QoL) and imposes a substantial emotional and social handicap on the individuals. Self-reported QoL improved after CI with tinnitus intrusion significantly reduced as early as 3 months post-CI. A significant improvement was seen in all speech understanding in noise configurations. Localization ability significantly improved with CI on. Our findings demonstrate that SSD reduces social and psychological QoL and imposes a remarkable level of handicap as per general and specific self-assessments tool. CI provided a significant improvement in function including speech understanding in noise and localization ability, as well as improved QoL and reduced tinnitus significantly in both the early and long terms.