Academic literature on the topic 'Selective listening paradigm'

The ability to focus ones attention in different acoustical environments has been thoroughly investigated in the past. However, recent technological advancements have made it possible to perform laboratory experiments in a more realistic manner. In order to investigate close-to-real-life scenarios, a classroom was modeled in virtual reality (VR) and an established paradigm to investigate the auditory selective attention (ASA) switch was translated from an audio-only version into an audiovisual VR setting. The new paradigm was validated with adult participants in a listening experiment, and the results were compared to the previous version. Apart from expected effects such as switching costs and auditory congruency effects, which reflect the robustness of the overall paradigm, a difference in error rates between the audio-only and the VR group was found, suggesting enhanced attention in the new VR setting, which is consistent with recent studies. Overall, the results suggest that the presented VR paradigm can be used and further developed to investigate the voluntary auditory selective attention switch in a close-to-real-life classroom scenario.

This article focuses on critically provincialising some of the ethico-political challenges inherent to much of the acoustic ecology vocabulary and conceptual framework. As we will demonstrate, much of the underlying limitations stem from an adherence to a particular self-transformation praxis (from the ‘New Age’ movement) alongside an overtly optimist and culturally selective outlook on how a well-informed acoustic designer would guide individuals and communities to a better sonic world. This epistemological and aesthetic outlook is presented in order to offer an alternative view on how collaborative works that deal with the sonic can take place within communities. One, where rigid hierarchies and orthodoxies are substituted by an intersubjective listening that changes all actors involved in the process. This is the framework from which we present Cildo Meireles’s Sal Sem Carne LP (1975) and Lilian Nakahodo’s sonic cartography Mapa sonoro CWB: Uma cartografia afetiva de Curitiba (2015–).

Speech comprehension in noisy, multitalker situations poses a challenge. Successful behavioral adaptation to a listening challenge often requires stronger engagement of auditory spatial attention and context-dependent semantic predictions. Human listeners differ substantially in the degree to which they adapt behaviorally and can listen successfully under such circumstances. How cortical networks embody this adaptation, particularly at the individual level, is currently unknown. We here explain this adaptation from reconfiguration of brain networks for a challenging listening task (i.e., a linguistic variant of the Posner paradigm with concurrent speech) in an age-varying sample of n = 49 healthy adults undergoing resting-state and task fMRI. We here provide evidence for the hypothesis that more successful listeners exhibit stronger task-specific reconfiguration (hence, better adaptation) of brain networks. From rest to task, brain networks become reconfigured toward more localized cortical processing characterized by higher topological segregation. This reconfiguration is dominated by the functional division of an auditory and a cingulo-opercular module and the emergence of a conjoined auditory and ventral attention module along bilateral middle and posterior temporal cortices. Supporting our hypothesis, the degree to which modularity of this frontotemporal auditory control network is increased relative to resting state predicts individuals’ listening success in states of divided and selective attention. Our findings elucidate how fine-tuned cortical communication dynamics shape selection and comprehension of speech. Our results highlight modularity of the auditory control network as a key organizational principle in cortical implementation of auditory spatial attention in challenging listening situations.

The present research explored the effect of selective remembering and the resulting “silences” on memory. In particular, we examined whether unmentioned information is more likely to be forgotten by a listener if related information is recollected by the speaker than if related information is not recollected by the speaker. In a modification of the retrieval-induced forgetting paradigm, pairs of individuals studied material, but in the practice phase, only one member of each pair selectively recalled it, while the other listened. Experiment 1 employed paired associates, and Experiment 2 used stories. Experiment 3 involved not controlled practice, but free-flowing conversation. In each case, results from a final memory test established not only within-individual retrieval-induced forgetting, but also socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting. The results demonstrate that listening to a speaker remember selectively can induce forgetting of related information in the listener.

In a dichotic listening paradigm, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to linguistic and nonlinguistic probe stimuli embedded in 2 different narrative contexts as they were either attended or unattended. In adults, the typical N1 attention effect was observed for both types of probes: Probes superimposed on the attended narrative elicited an enhanced negativity compared to the same probes when unattended. Overall, this sustained attention effect was greater over medial and left lateral sites, but was more posteriorly distributed and of longer duration for linguistic as compared to nonlinguistic probes. In contrast, in 6-to 8-year-old children the ERPs were morphologically dissimilar to those elicited in adults and children displayed a greater positivity to both types of probe stimuli when embedded in the attended as compared to the unattended narrative. Although both adults and children showed attention effects beginning at about 100 msec, only adults displayed left-lateralized attention effects and a distinct, posterior distribution for linguistic probes. These results suggest that the attentional networks indexed by this task continue to develop beyond the age of 8 years.

Research has shown that the rhythmic structure of speech is relevant to listening outcomes in complex environments. Several studies have shown that an intact, natural target rhythm facilitates listeners’ perception of auditory signals. However, less is known about the effect of competitor signal rhythmic structure on target recognition. The current study uses a synthetic vowel identification paradigm to investigate the influence of the rhythmic structure of to-be-ignored competing signals on listeners’ ability to identify speech information in a target signal. Listeners were tasked with identifying the last three vowels of target sequences of varying length presented alongside competing sequences consisting of either vowel-like harmonic tone complexes or similar vowels. The inter-onset-intervals in these sequences were manipulated to create conditions where the internal rhythm of the sequences was either isochronous or irregular. Competitor rhythm was found to be a significant factor for target recognition only with the vowel-sequence competitors. Isochronous target vowel recognition was better for vowel-sequence competitors with an irregular rhythm than with a regular (isochronous) rhythm. The results of this study highlight (1) the relevance of the rhythmic structure in selective listening tasks and (2) the importance of target and competitor similarity in determining the influence of competitor rhythm.

Purpose Few studies have assessed listening effort (LE)—the cognitive resources required to perceive speech—among populations with intact hearing but reduced availability of cognitive resources. Attention/deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is theorized to restrict attention span, possibly making speech perception in adverse conditions more challenging. This study examined the effect of ADHD on LE among adults using a behavioral dual-task paradigm (DTP). Method Thirty-nine normal-hearing adults (aged 21–27 years) participated: 19 with ADHD (ADHD group) and 20 without ADHD (control group). Baseline group differences were measured in visual and auditory attention as well as speech perception. LE using DTP was assessed as the performance difference on a visual–motor task versus a simultaneous auditory and visual–motor task. Results Group differences in attention were confirmed by differences in visual attention (larger reaction times between congruent and incongruent conditions) and auditory attention (lower accuracy in the presence of distractors) among the ADHD group, compared to the controls. LE was greater among the ADHD group than the control group. Nevertheless, no group differences were found in speech perception. Conclusions LE is increased among those with ADHD. As a DTP assumes limited cognitive capacity to allocate attentional resources, LE among those with ADHD may be increased because higher level cognitive processes are more taxed in this population. Studies on LE using a DTP should take into consideration mechanisms of selective and divided attention. Among young adults who need to continuously process great volumes of auditory and visual information, much more effort may be expended by those with ADHD than those without it. As a result, those with ADHD may be more prone to fatigue and irritability, similar to those who are engaged in more outwardly demanding tasks.

Background: Verbally based dichotic-listening experiments and reproduction-mediated response-selection strategies have been used for over four decades to study perceptual/cognitive aspects of auditory information processing and make inferences about hemispheric asymmetries and language lateralization in the brain. Test procedures using dichotic digits have also been used to assess for disorders of auditory processing. However, with this application, limitations exist and paradigms need to be developed to improve specificity of the diagnosis. Use of matched tasks in multiple sensory modalities is a logical approach to address this issue. Herein, we use dichotic listening and dichoptic viewing of visually presented digits for making this comparison. Purpose: To evaluate methodological issues involved in using matched tasks of dichotic listening and dichoptic viewing in normal adults. Research Design: A multivariate assessment of the effects of modality (auditory vs. visual), digit-span length (1–3 pairs), response selection (recognition vs. reproduction), and ear/visual hemifield of presentation (left vs. right) on dichotic and dichoptic digit perception. Study Sample: Thirty adults (12 males, 18 females) ranging in age from 18 to 30 yr with normal hearing sensitivity and normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity. Data Collection and Analysis: A computerized, custom-designed program was used for all data collection and analysis. A four-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) evaluated the effects of modality, digit-span length, response selection, and ear/visual field of presentation. Results: The ANOVA revealed that performances on dichotic listening and dichoptic viewing tasks were dependent on complex interactions between modality, digit-span length, response selection, and ear/visual hemifield of presentation. Correlation analysis suggested a common effect on overall accuracy of performance but isolated only an auditory factor for a laterality index. Conclusions: The variables used in this experiment affected performances in the auditory modality to a greater extent than in the visual modality. The right-ear advantage observed in the dichotic-digits task was most evident when reproduction mediated response selection was used in conjunction with three-digit pairs. This effect implies that factors such as “speech related output mechanisms” and digit-span length (working memory) contribute to laterality effects in dichotic listening performance with traditional paradigms. Thus, the use of multiple-digit pairs to avoid ceiling effects and the application of verbal reproduction as a means of response selection may accentuate the role of nonperceptual factors in performance. Ideally, tests of perceptual abilities should be relatively free of such effects.

There have been disparate findings reported previously by investigators who have examined differences in the cortically generated N1 (i.e., N100) from control and tinnitus samples. Investigators have employed differing stimulation paradigms applied to relatively small subject samples. Accordingly, it is not surprising that there has been no unanimity in the reported findings. The present investigation was conducted to determine, once again, whether differences exist in the cortically generated N1 potential recorded from both normals and subjects with bothersome tinnitus. In this investigation both passive and selective auditory attention paradigms were employed. Subjects were a total of 63 adults (31 controls and 32 tinnitus patients). The mean score on the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory for the tinnitus group was 39 points. Results failed to reveal group differences in the latency of N1 across listening conditions. However, tinnitus patients demonstrated N1 potentials that were of significantly smaller amplitude than those obtained from normal subjects. These findings are consistent with those reported in previous investigations.

The influence of attention on perception is a much-discussed issue in the literature. Largely manifested in the Inattentional Blindness phenomenon (IB) (Mack & Rock, 1998; Most et al., 2005; Simons & Chabris, 1999), it has been extensively studied with respect of visual perception, but neglected in other sensory modalities like hearing. We investigated if IB could have an equivalent within the auditory modality: Inattentional Deafness (ID). Besides, we wonder how double-modality presentation of attended and unattended stimuli affects the presence and the extent of IB and ID. For these reasons we ran three different experiments, using the selective looking paradigm (Neisser, 1979); in every case the primary task was to count the bounces made by two teams passing two balls of different materials (making two different sounds) with wooden rackets. In experiments 1 and 2 the unattended stimulus was a black-dressed girl making a loud noise that crossed the visual field. In the last experiment the unattended stimulus was just auditory, thus the loud sound made by the girl, now invisible. Our data show that ID is a possible, strong and reliable phenomenon, and it can be increased in particular conditions, such as coupling the auditory modality of the primary task with the visual one (exp 1, 2 and 3) or pressing the space-bar in correspondence to the bounces (exp 2 and 3). We conclude that our results favor the existence of a non specific attentional system, shared between, and not within, modalities.

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book's main themes. This book adopts a sensory approach to understanding the city as a sonic space that orchestrates different, often conflicting sound culture. It shows how city noise heightens the significance of selective listening in the modern urban condition and argues for an aural rather than visual conception of modernity. In nineteenth-century Paris, urban renewal did not mark the beginning of a period of diminution of sound, but rather it was a time of increasing awareness of, and emphasis on, noise. By reconsidering the myth of Paris as the city of spectacle, where the flâneur's scopophilia reigns supreme, this book attends to what has been silenced by the visual paradigm that still prevails in nineteenth-century French cultural studies. It explores perceptions of street noise in nineteenth-century Paris by selecting specific sounds from the 1830s to the 1890s—peddling sounds—that were distinctive.