Discriminating spatialised speech in complex environments in multiple sclerosis.

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Neuropsychology
• Speech Perception

Background:

• People with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) often exhibit binaural processing deficits crucial for sound localization.
• Understanding these deficits is vital as they impact communication in complex auditory environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate spatial release from speech-on-speech masking in pwMS.
• To assess the role of binaural processing and higher-level auditory mechanisms in speech perception for pwMS.

Main Methods:

• 26 pwMS and 20 controls performed speech discrimination tasks using virtual acoustic techniques to manipulate sound source locations.
• Participants also underwent neuropsychological assessments and an interaural time difference (ITD) detection task.

Main Results:

• Both groups showed spatial release from masking, but pwMS had significantly less release (18% vs. 28% for controls) in a color/number discrimination task.
• At 50° spatial separation, pwMS performance (77%) was lower than controls (89%).
• No significant differences were found in babble conditions or ITD discrimination.

Conclusions:

• Spatial hearing deficits are implicated in pwMS, impacting their ability to segregate competing speech streams.
• These findings suggest that difficulties in spatial hearing contribute to communication challenges faced by pwMS.