Speech Perception in Individuals with Normal Hearing and Hearing Loss: A Multimodal fNIRS study
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Hearing loss (HL) affects the quality of life, with significant impacts on health, communication,social, and emotional interactions, leading to isolation and difficulties in social activities. Communication, the most common challenge reported by individuals with HL, involves theintegration of various sensory inputs. Accurate assessment of communication ability involvesnot only evaluating how well speech is heard but also understanding how different sensoryinputs are processed in the brain. Using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)technique as an objective method, this pilot study explored speech performance and theactivation patterns of the anterior prefrontal cortex (APFC) in individuals with normal hearing(NH) and HL. Twenty-six participants (14 with NH and 12 with HL) completed speech and fNIRS testingin auditory only (AO), visual only (VO), and audiovisual (AV) conditions with five trials percondition. The participants completed a listen-and-repeat task and speech performance wasevaluated using percent-correct scores. Hemodynamic responses in APFC were analyzed toinvestigate the activation patterns in each test condition. Both groups showed the best speech performance in AV, followed by AO and VO. Whilethe NH group showed better speech performance than the HL group in AV and AO, the HLgroup showed better performance in VO. In terms of APFC activation patterns, both groupsexhibited activation in the right anterior medial PFC across AO, VO, and AV, but in VO, the HLgroup showed activation in the left anterior lateral PFC. These pilot study results are consistent with previous findings showing that individuals withHL exhibit lower speech performance and the provision of visual information is beneficialfor speech understanding regardless of HL. However, different patterns of APFC activationobserved through fNIRS indicate that the areas engaged in processing various sensory inputsduring communication may differ depending on the presence of HL.
Abstract
Hearing loss (HL) affects the quality of life, with significant impacts on health, communication,social, and emotional interactions, leading to isolation and difficulties in social activities. Communication, the most common challenge reported by individuals with HL, involves theintegration of various sensory inputs. Accurate assessment of communication ability involvesnot only evaluating how well speech is heard but also understanding how different sensoryinputs are processed in the brain. Using the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)technique as an objective method, this pilot study explored speech performance and theactivation patterns of the anterior prefrontal cortex (APFC) in individuals with normal hearing(NH) and HL. Twenty-six participants (14 with NH and 12 with HL) completed speech and fNIRS testingin auditory only (AO), visual only (VO), and audiovisual (AV) conditions with five trials percondition. The participants completed a listen-and-repeat task and speech performance wasevaluated using percent-correct scores. Hemodynamic responses in APFC were analyzed toinvestigate the activation patterns in each test condition. Both groups showed the best speech performance in AV, followed by AO and VO. Whilethe NH group showed better speech performance than the HL group in AV and AO, the HLgroup showed better performance in VO. In terms of APFC activation patterns, both groupsexhibited activation in the right anterior medial PFC across AO, VO, and AV, but in VO, the HLgroup showed activation in the left anterior lateral PFC. These pilot study results are consistent with previous findings showing that individuals withHL exhibit lower speech performance and the provision of visual information is beneficialfor speech understanding regardless of HL. However, different patterns of APFC activationobserved through fNIRS indicate that the areas engaged in processing various sensory inputsduring communication may differ depending on the presence of HL.