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Published on: December 9, 2022
Correlations between word intelligibility under reverberation and speech auditory brainstem responses in elderly
1Department of Human Science, Graduate School of Design, Kyushu University, 4-9-1 Shiobaru, Minami-ku, Fukuoka 815-8540, Japan.
Objective:
To investigate the relationship between speech auditory brainstem responses (speech ABRs) and word intelligibility under reverberation in elderly adults.
Methods:
Word intelligibility for words under four reverberation times (RTs) of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5s, and speech ABRs to the speech syllable/da/ were obtained from 30 elderly listeners. Root mean square (RMS) amplitudes and discrete Fourier transform (DFT) amplitudes were calculated for ADD and SUB responses in the speech ABRs.
Results:
No significant correlations were found between the word intelligibility scores under reverberation and the ADD response components. However, in the SUB responses we found that the DFT amplitudes associated with H4-SUB, H5-SUB, H8-SUB, H9-SUB and H10-SUB significantly correlated with the word intelligibility scores for words under reverberation. With Bonferroni correction, the DFT amplitudes for H5-SUB and the intelligibility scores for words with the RT of 0.5s and 1.5s were significant.
Conclusions:
Word intelligibility under reverberation in elderly listeners is related to their ability to encode the temporal fine structure of speech.
Significance:
The results expand knowledge about subcortical responses of elderly listeners in daily-life listening situations. The SUB responses of speech ABR could be useful as an objective indicator to predict word intelligibility under reverberation.
