In real-world listening situations, we always listen to speech in the presence of other sources of masking, or competing sounds. One of the major sources of masking in such situations is the speech signal that the listener is not paying attention to. The process of understanding the target speech in the presence of a masking speech involves separating the acoustic information of the target speech and tuning out masker speech.
Why Children With Autism May Experience Auditory Sensory Overload
The successful navigation of complex everyday environments with multiple sensory inputs—such as restaurants, busy streets, and other social settings—relies on the brain’s ability to organize the barrage of information into discrete perceptual objects on which cognitive processes, such as selective attention, can act.
Silent Owls Inspire Quiet Design
Night owls produce about 18 decibels lower sound than other birds at the same speeds. This, the scientists explain, is largely due to their “unique wing formation.”
Advancing Discoveries via Biologist-Friendly Access to Multi-Omic Data
Data processing that analyzes a large amount of data about individual cells and measures them through multiple “omics” (such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, and metabolomics) have advanced our understanding of biological sciences and medicine in an unprecedented way.
With or Without Significant Hearing Loss, Older Mice Show Difficulty With Brain Processing
This new research indicates that even mild hearing loss with aging may result in a decline in temporal processing under challenging conditions, such as environments with increased noise.
When You Have to Think and Walk, What Happens to Your Balance?
Most activities of daily living require us to do two or more things at the same time, especially motor tasks (walking, standing, moving) with some form of a cognitive task (navigating, talking, decision-making). But it is not yet entirely clear what happens to balance performance in healthy individuals when they are also performing a cognitive task.
Evidence of Brain Tissue Damage From Blast Overpressure
Our results indicate that a single unilateral blast significantly impairs the structural and functional integrity at all levels of the central auditory neuraxis, or the auditory pathway in the higher brain centers. Overall, it is evident that the structural integrity of brain tissue is compromised at all levels.
A Historical Perspective on Surgery to Treat Ménière’s Disease
Since it was first discovered, Ménière’s disease has been a disorder managed primarily by otolaryngologists. As a result, surgical treatments have accompanied attempts at medical management. Inspired by patients' sensations of ear fullness and later by the histologic findings of hydrops, surgeons began manipulating the membranous labyrinth to relieve episodes of vertigo while attempting to preserve hearing.
A Multimodal Cell Census and Atlas of the Mammalian Primary Motor Cortex
In a paper published in Nature in October 2021, scientists including Ronna Hertzano, M.D., Ph.D., and Seth Ament, Ph.D., both at the University of Maryland and both members of Hearing Health Foundation’s Hearing Restoration Project, present the cell census and atlas of cell types in the primary motor cortex of the mouse, marmoset, and human.
To Create a Culture Shift About Healthy Hearing, Start Young (and Other Key Strategies)
Finding answers to fundamental questions—such as, “Why does this age group enjoy loud sounds?,” “What impact does hearing damage have on this age group?,” “What will truly motivate them to use hearing protection devices?”—will help develop effective and sustainable hearing conservation programs.