Interindividual differences in spectrotemporal modulation processing despite similar audiograms: Could it be used to assess supra-threshold hearing distortions?

Emmanuel Ponsot (1) , Peter Neri (1)

1 LSP - Laboratoire des systèmes perceptifs

The large heterogeneity observed among individuals with similar audiograms for understanding speech in noisy environments still remains poorly understood. Supra-threshold sensory mechanisms, i.e. that operate above detection threshold, likely play a prominent role in these interindividual differences, but a precise view of where and how distortions arise along the auditory processing hierarchy is lacking. Spectrotemporal modulations (STM) - noise signals whose envelope is jointly modulated in time and frequency - offer a unified mathematical framework to probe these supra-threshold processes as they are recruited with speech signals. Yet, at present, it remains unknown how STMs are processed by the human auditory system, and how this processing varies between individuals. In order to provide a clear computational understanding of STM processing for both normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) individuals, we developed a novel methodological framework that combines psychophysical reverse-correlation experiments deployed in the modulation domain with simulations from current supra-threshold auditory models. In this talk, we will present recent results collected in various tasks where both normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners detect or discriminate specific target STMs embedded in other masking STMs. We will show which aspects of their results can be accounted for by frequency selectivity and temporal-envelope based mechanisms, and which cannot, highlighting the need to consider additional mechanisms. Finally, we will discuss how, by focusing on the origins of the variability that remains unaccounted for by these models, this joint experimental-modeling approach could actually be used to pinpoint the peripheral and central components underlying supra-threshold hearing distortions in each individual.

Mots clés: sensorineural hearing loss; psychophysics; suprathreshold auditory processing; Spectrotemporal modulation processing

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Vibrations [physics.class-ph]

Emmanuel Ponsot, Peter Neri. Interindividual differences in spectrotemporal modulation processing despite similar audiograms: Could it be used to assess supra-threshold hearing distortions?. Forum Acusticum, Dec 2020, Lyon, France. pp.1401-1402, ⟨10.48465/fa.2020.0808⟩. ⟨hal-03235940⟩