National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, Oregon 97239,
J Acoust Soc Am. 2020 Feb;147(2):EL201. doi: 10.1121/10.0000627.
Measures of signal-in-noise neural encoding may improve understanding of the hearing-in-noise difficulties experienced by many individuals in everyday life. Usually noise results in weaker envelope following responses (EFRs); however, some studies demonstrate EFR enhancements. This experiment tested whether noise-induced enhancements in EFRs are demonstrated with simple 500- and 1000-Hz pure tones amplitude modulated at 110 Hz. Most of the 12 young normal-hearing participants demonstrated enhanced encoding of the 110-Hz fundamental in a noise background compared to quiet; in contrast, responses at the harmonics were decreased in noise relative to quiet conditions. Possible mechanisms of such an enhancement are discussed.
信号噪声比神经编码的测量可能有助于理解许多人在日常生活中所经历的噪声环境下的听力困难。通常情况下，噪声会导致包络跟随反应（EFR）减弱；然而，有些研究表明 EFR 会增强。本实验测试了在噪声环境下，110Hz 调制的 500Hz 和 1000Hz 纯音的 EFR 是否会出现增强。与安静环境相比，在噪声环境中，大多数 12 名年轻正常听力的参与者对 110Hz 基频的编码增强；相比之下，在噪声环境中，谐波的反应相对于安静条件降低了。讨论了这种增强的可能机制。
