Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes
Abstract Perceptual benefits from digital noise reduction (NR) vary among individuals with different noise tolerance and sensitivity to distortions introduced in NR-processed speech; however, the physiological bases of the variance are understudied. Here, we developed objective measures of speech en...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07652-9 |
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| author | Subong Kim Mary Schroeder Hari M. Bharadwaj |
| author_facet | Subong Kim Mary Schroeder Hari M. Bharadwaj |
| author_sort | Subong Kim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Perceptual benefits from digital noise reduction (NR) vary among individuals with different noise tolerance and sensitivity to distortions introduced in NR-processed speech; however, the physiological bases of the variance are understudied. Here, we developed objective measures of speech encoding in the ascending pathway as candidate measures of individual noise tolerance and sensitivity to NR-processed speech using the brainstem responses to speech syllable /da/. The speech-evoked brainstem response was found to be sensitive to the addition of noise and NR processing. The NR effects on the consonant and vowel portion of the responses were robustly quantified using response-to-response correlation metrics and spectral amplitude ratios, respectively. Further, the f0 amplitude ratios between conditions correlated with behavioral accuracy with NR. These findings suggest that investigating the NR effects on bottom-up speech encoding using brainstem measures is feasible and that individual subcortical encoding of NR-processed speech may relate to individual behavioral outcomes with NR. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3ecedcab2dd3420687091adde2ce52ef |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-3ecedcab2dd3420687091adde2ce52ef2025-08-20T03:03:36ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-011511910.1038/s41598-025-07652-9Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomesSubong Kim0Mary Schroeder1Hari M. Bharadwaj2Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Montclair State UniversityDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue UniversityDepartment of Communication Science and Disorders, University of PittsburghAbstract Perceptual benefits from digital noise reduction (NR) vary among individuals with different noise tolerance and sensitivity to distortions introduced in NR-processed speech; however, the physiological bases of the variance are understudied. Here, we developed objective measures of speech encoding in the ascending pathway as candidate measures of individual noise tolerance and sensitivity to NR-processed speech using the brainstem responses to speech syllable /da/. The speech-evoked brainstem response was found to be sensitive to the addition of noise and NR processing. The NR effects on the consonant and vowel portion of the responses were robustly quantified using response-to-response correlation metrics and spectral amplitude ratios, respectively. Further, the f0 amplitude ratios between conditions correlated with behavioral accuracy with NR. These findings suggest that investigating the NR effects on bottom-up speech encoding using brainstem measures is feasible and that individual subcortical encoding of NR-processed speech may relate to individual behavioral outcomes with NR.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07652-9 |
| spellingShingle | Subong Kim Mary Schroeder Hari M. Bharadwaj Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes Scientific Reports |
| title | Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes |
| title_full | Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes |
| title_fullStr | Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes |
| title_short | Effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes |
| title_sort | effect of digital noise reduction processing on subcortical speech encoding and relationship to behavioral outcomes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07652-9 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT subongkim effectofdigitalnoisereductionprocessingonsubcorticalspeechencodingandrelationshiptobehavioraloutcomes AT maryschroeder effectofdigitalnoisereductionprocessingonsubcorticalspeechencodingandrelationshiptobehavioraloutcomes AT harimbharadwaj effectofdigitalnoisereductionprocessingonsubcorticalspeechencodingandrelationshiptobehavioraloutcomes |