Ermert Cosima A, Yadav Manuj, Marsh John E, Schlittmeier Sabine J, Kuhlen Torsten W, Fels Janina
Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Human Factors Laboratory, School of Psychology and Humanities, University of Lancashire, Preston, UK.
Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 12;15(1):32473. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-18592-9.
This study investigated serial recall performance in a complex acoustic scene that included spatialised background sounds and location changes within the target sequence to reflect real-life challenges. The focus is on two effects: the irrelevant sound effect (ISE) and the spatial-source alternation effect (SSAE). Both represent impairment in short-term memory performance of to-be-remembered items: the ISE due to irrelevant background sounds, and the SSAE due to location changes within the target sequence. Although distinct, these effects typically occur together in real-world settings, e.g., listening to multiple speakers in noise, but have not been investigated together yet. Building on the theoretical frameworks of these two effects, this study combines principles from both the irrelevant sound effect (ISE) and the spatial-source alternation effect (SSAE) as a step towards enhancing acoustic complexity in established cognitive tasks. Experiment 1 examined auditory-verbal serial recall using spatially alternating target digits presented at a typical rate (1 item/1 s), with either meaningful or meaningless background speech. Results showed an ISE, with meaningful speech causing greater disruption, but no SSAE - possibly due to either the presentation rate or the spatialised audio scene. To further clarify this, Experiment 2 was conducted with a faster presentation rate (1 item/350 ms) consistent with a previous study, and more spatial target locations (monotic, [Formula: see text]). An SSAE was revealed for all locations. These findings suggest that the SSAE may mainly be modulated by the presentation rate-given the spatial separation is audible and only emergent at rapid location changes-questioning its applicability to naturalistic listening scenarios. As an attempt to bridge the gap between controlled laboratory settings and more complex listening tasks, these findings help explain how cognitive systems manage competing demands in real-world auditory environments, such as separating speech streams in noise.
本研究调查了在复杂声学场景中的系列回忆表现，该场景包括空间化的背景声音以及目标序列中的位置变化，以反映现实生活中的挑战。重点关注两种效应：无关声音效应（ISE）和空间源交替效应（SSAE）。这两种效应均表现为待记忆项目短期记忆表现的受损：ISE是由于无关背景声音导致，而SSAE是由于目标序列中的位置变化导致。尽管有所不同，但这些效应在现实环境中通常同时出现，例如在噪声中聆听多个说话者，但尚未对它们进行过共同研究。基于这两种效应的理论框架，本研究结合了无关声音效应（ISE）和空间源交替效应（SSAE）的原理，作为朝着增强既定认知任务中的声学复杂性迈出的一步。实验1使用以典型速率（1个项目/1秒）呈现的空间交替目标数字，以及有意义或无意义的背景语音，检验了听觉言语系列回忆。结果显示出ISE，有意义的语音造成的干扰更大，但未发现SSAE——这可能是由于呈现速率或空间化音频场景所致。为了进一步阐明这一点，实验2采用了与先前研究一致的更快呈现速率（1个项目/350毫秒）以及更多的空间目标位置（单调，[公式：见正文]）。所有位置均显示出SSAE。这些发现表明，鉴于空间分离是可听见的且仅在快速位置变化时出现，SSAE可能主要受呈现速率的调节，这对其在自然聆听场景中的适用性提出了质疑。作为弥合受控实验室环境与更复杂聆听任务之间差距的一种尝试，这些发现有助于解释认知系统如何在现实世界的听觉环境中管理相互竞争的需求，例如在噪声中分离语音流。
