Spectral modulation detection and vowel and consonant identifications in cochlear implant listeners

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Speech understanding by cochlear implant listeners may be limited by their ability to perceive complex spectral envelopes. Here, spectral envelope perception was characterized by spectral modulation transfer functions in which modulation detection thresholds became poorer with increasing spectral modulation frequency (SMF). Thresholds at low SMFs, less likely to be influenced by spectral resolution, were correlated with vowel and consonant identifications [Litvak, L. M. et al. (2008). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 122, 982-991] for the same listeners; while thresholds at higher SMFs, more likely to be affected by spectral resolution, were not. Results indicate that the perception of broadly spaced spectral features is important for speech perception.

Medical Subject Headings

Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Aged; Auditory Perception; Auditory Threshold; Cochlear Implants; Humans; Loudness Perception; Middle Aged; Pattern Recognition, Physiological; Phonetics; Psychoacoustics; Speech; Speech Perception

Publication Date

9-1-2009

Publication Title

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

E-ISSN

1520-8524

Volume

126

Issue

3

First Page

955

Last Page

8

PubMed ID

19739707

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1121/1.3179670

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