Event

HESP Seminar: Neural encoding of spatial changes in a speech stream

Monday, October 10, 2022
2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
1101 Morrill Hall
https://hesp.umd.edu/feature/hesp-seminar-series

Title: "Neural encoding of spatial changes in a speech stream" 

Speaker: Erol Ozmeral (University of South Florida) 

Abstract: In an auditory object-based model of complex scenes, listeners are able to identify coherent audio sources, segregate them from other sounds, and stream them over time. At a cortical level, representation of attended streams are enhanced relative to unattended streams. However, this neural encoding may be disrupted in the presence of interfering noise, especially for listeners that are older or who have hearing impairment, and providing hearing aids has not historically helped listeners overcome difficulties in noise. It is possible that improved SNR (via hearing aid directional processing) comes at a cost of limiting spatial tuning to auditory objects, and if so, may limit spatial segregation of competing sounds. Our approach to understanding this auditory object-based model combines behavioral and electrophysiological measures to better understand spatial attention, and in this context, we explore the roles aging and hearing loss have on auditory streaming.