Thibodeau Linda, Freeman Emma, Kronenberger Kristin, Suarez Emily, Kim Hyun-Woong, Qi Shuang, Lee Yune Sang
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.
Audiol Res. 2025 May 13;15(3):59. doi: 10.3390/audiolres15030059.
Previous research has shown that listeners may use acoustic cues for speech processing that are perceived during brief segments in the noise when there is an optimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This "glimpsing" effect requires higher cognitive skills than the speech tasks used in typical audiometric evaluations.
The aim of this study was to investigate the use of an online test of speech processing in noise in listeners with typical hearing sensitivity (TH, defined as thresholds ≤ 25 dB HL) who were asked to determine the gender of the subject in sentences that were presented in increasing levels of continuous and interrupted noise. This was a repeated-measures design with three factors (SNR, noise type, and syntactic complexity).
Participants with self-reported TH (N = 153, ages 18-39 years, mean age = 20.7 years) who passed an online hearing screening were invited to complete an online questionnaire.
Participants completed a sentence recognition task under four SNRs (-6, -9, -12, and -15 dB), two syntactic complexity settings (subjective-relative and objective-relative center-embedded), and two noise types (interrupted and continuous). They were asked to listen to 64 sentences through their own headphones/earphones that were presented in an online format at a user-selected comfortable listening level. Their task was to identify the gender of the person performing the action in each sentence. Significant main effects of all three factors as well as the SNR by noise-type two-way interaction were identified ( < 0.05). This interaction indicated that the effect of SNR on sentence comprehension was more pronounced in the continuous noise compared to the interrupted noise condition. Listeners with self-reported TH benefited from the glimpsing effect in the interrupted noise even under low SNRs (i.e., -15 dB). The evaluation of glimpsing may be a sensitive measure of auditory processing beyond the traditional word recognition used in clinical evaluations in persons who report hearing challenges and may hold promise for the development of auditory training programs.
先前的研究表明，当存在最佳信噪比（SNR）时，听众可能会在噪声中的短暂片段中利用感知到的声学线索进行语音处理。这种“瞥见”效应比典型听力评估中使用的语音任务需要更高的认知技能。
本研究的目的是调查听力敏感度正常（TH，定义为阈值≤25 dB HL）的听众在噪声中进行语音处理的在线测试的使用情况，这些听众被要求在连续和间断噪声水平不断增加的句子中确定说话者的性别。这是一个具有三个因素（信噪比、噪声类型和句法复杂性）的重复测量设计。
自我报告听力正常（N = 153，年龄18 - 39岁，平均年龄 = 20.7岁）且通过在线听力筛查的参与者被邀请完成一份在线问卷。
参与者在四个信噪比（-6、-9、-12和-15 dB）、两种句法复杂性设置（主观-相对和客观-相对中心嵌入）以及两种噪声类型（间断和连续）下完成句子识别任务。他们被要求通过自己的耳机/耳塞以在线形式在用户选择的舒适聆听水平下听取64个句子。他们的任务是识别每个句子中执行动作的人的性别。确定了所有三个因素的显著主效应以及信噪比与噪声类型的双向交互作用（< 0.05）。这种交互作用表明，与间断噪声条件相比，信噪比在连续噪声中对句子理解的影响更为明显。即使在低信噪比（即-15 dB）下，自我报告听力正常的听众在间断噪声中也受益于“瞥见”效应。对“瞥见”的评估可能是一种比临床评估中使用的传统单词识别更敏感的听觉处理测量方法，并且可能对听觉训练计划的开发具有前景。
