Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Jean-Uhrmacher-Institute for Clinical ENT-Research,University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Trends Hear. 2024 Jan-Dec;28:23312165231215916. doi: 10.1177/23312165231215916.
When presenting two competing speech stimuli, one to each ear, a right-ear advantage (REA) can often be observed, reflected in better speech recognition compared to the left ear. Considering the left-hemispheric dominance for language, the REA has been explained by superior contralateral pathways (structural models) and language-induced shifts of attention to the right (attentional models). There is some evidence that the REA becomes more pronounced, as cognitive load increases. Hence, it is interesting to investigate the REA in static (constant target talker) and dynamic (target changing pseudo-randomly) cocktail-party situations, as the latter is associated with a higher cognitive load than the former. Furthermore, previous research suggests an increasing REA, when listening becomes more perceptually challenging. The present study examined the REA by using virtual acoustics to simulate static and dynamic cocktail-party situations, with three spatially separated talkers uttering concurrent matrix sentences. Sentences were presented at low sound pressure levels or processed with a noise vocoder to increase perceptual load. Sixteen young normal-hearing adults participated in the study. The REA was assessed by means of word recognition scores and a detailed error analysis. Word recognition revealed a greater REA for the dynamic than for the static situations, compatible with the view that an increase in cognitive load results in a heightened REA. Also, the REA depended on the type of perceptual load, as indicated by a higher REA associated with vocoded compared to low-level stimuli. The results of the error analysis support both structural and attentional models of the REA.
当将两个竞争的演讲刺激物分别呈现给每只耳朵时，通常可以观察到右耳优势（REA），这反映了与左耳相比更好的语音识别能力。考虑到语言的左半球优势，REA 可以通过对侧通路的优势（结构模型）和语言引起的注意力向右侧转移（注意模型）来解释。有一些证据表明，随着认知负荷的增加，REA 变得更加明显。因此，研究静态（恒定目标说话者）和动态（目标随机变化）鸡尾酒会情况下的 REA 很有趣，因为后者比前者与更高的认知负荷相关。此外，先前的研究表明，当听力变得更具感知挑战性时，REA 会增加。本研究通过使用虚拟声学来模拟静态和动态鸡尾酒会情况，三个空间分离的说话者同时说出连续的矩阵句子，来研究 REA。句子以低声压级呈现，或通过噪声声码器处理以增加感知负荷。16 名年轻的正常听力成年人参加了这项研究。通过单词识别分数和详细的错误分析来评估 REA。单词识别结果表明，动态情况比静态情况的 REA 更大，这与认知负荷增加导致 REA 增加的观点一致。此外，REA 取决于感知负荷的类型，因为与低水平刺激相比，与语音编码相关的 REA 更高。错误分析的结果支持 REA 的结构和注意模型。
