Biology subjects

Benzaquen, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Benzaquen, E..

10 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Auditory Working Memory and Sound Segregation Ability Predict Speech-in-Noise in Adult Cochlear Implant Users

ObjectivesOutcomes following cochlear implantation vary substantially across adult recipients, and the cognitive and perceptual factors contributing to this variability are not fully understood. This poses a challenge for developing strategies to improve cochlear implant outcomes, as such approaches require a clearer understanding of the mechanisms underlying individual listening difficulties. In this study, we investigated auditory cognitive measures in cochlear implant (CI) users to further elucidate the origins of this variability. DesignThirty-seven adult cochlear implant users completed measures of auditory cognition, comprising auditory working memory (AWM) and sound segregation ability, measured using an auditory figure-ground task (AFG), as well as measures of peripheral temporal and spectral processing, comprising the temporal modulation detection threshold (TMDT) and spectral ripple discrimination threshold (SRDT). Speech perception outcomes were assessed using word-in-noise (WIN) and sentence-in-noise (SIN) tasks. Separate multiple linear regression models evaluated the unique contribution of the auditory cognition measures to WIN and SIN performance, after accounting for the peripheral measures. ResultsBoth regression models explained a substantial proportion of variance in speech-in-noise outcomes (WIN: adjusted R{superscript 2} = 0.55; SIN: adjusted R{superscript 2}=0.57, both p < 0.001). For WIN performance, AFG and AWM were significant predictors. A similar pattern was found for SIN performance, where lower AWM ability and poorer AFG segregation were linked to poorer sentence listening in noise. No significant effects of spectral ripple discrimination or temporal modulation detection were observed in either model, even though both were significantly correlated with WIN performance. ConclusionsThese findings indicate that auditory working memory and sound segregation ability are robust predictors of speech-in-noise outcomes in adult cochlear implant users, across both word- and sentence-level measures. Together, the results may help explain why speech-in-noise outcomes remain highly variable among CI users, even when basic sensory encoding abilities are taken into account. Incorporating measures of auditory working memory and fundamental sound segregation may therefore improve outcome prediction and help in developing more individualised rehabilitation strategies.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Auditory Working Memory Mediates the Relationship between Musical Sophistication and Speech-in-noise Perception

Understanding speech in noisy environments (SPIN) is an important everyday ability, and engaging in musical activities has been proposed as a factor that may support this ability. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying a potential musical advantage in SPIN perception remain unclear. Here we investigated whether musical sophistication is associated with better SPIN perception in a large population-based sample, and whether this relationship is mediated by auditory working memory (AWM), verbal working memory (VWM), or non-verbal intelligence. We recruited 203 participants and measured SPIN perception at both word and sentence levels. Musical sophistication was assessed using the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI). AWM was measured using delayed matching of tone frequency or the modulation rate of amplitude modulated white noise, VWM was based on backward digit span task, and non-verbal intelligence used matrix reasoning. Mediation analyses revealed that AWM fully mediated the relationship between musical sophistication and SPIN perception, whereas VWM showed no mediation effect. Non-verbal intelligence showed a partial mediating effect. Additional control analyses using structural equation modelling revealed that the indirect effect through AWM remained significant after accounting for age, hearing thresholds, and non-verbal intelligence. Together, these findings suggest that individuals with greater musical sophistication demonstrate better daily life listening abilities, and that superior auditory working memory may be the key cognitive mechanism underlying this advantage.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Prior expectation shapes the emotional response to sounds: behavioural and neural correlates

Prior expectations are known to shape perception especially when a stimulus is ambiguous. Bayesian models of cognition posit perception is a precision-weighted combination of top-down and bottom-up information. We consider here affective responses to highly salient stimuli for which a dominant role of bottom-up processing has previously been emphasised. We study how predictions alter the perception of emotional stimuli in a paradigm in which neutral and aversive sounds were preceded by either predictive or non-predictive cues. Cues predicted the type of sound with 100% or 50% probability. Behavioural measures of trial-by-trial expectation and perceived aversiveness were collected before and after stimulus presentation, respectively. We show that prior expectations biased the perceived aversiveness of sounds towards predictions, but only when subjective expectations were considered (as opposed to the objective expectation based on conditional probability). Neural responses were recorded using EEG. During sound processing, we found P3 and LPP components were increased after non-predictive cues, but only for affective stimuli. Time-Frequency results uncovered a role of alpha-beta oscillations in the precision of predictions, as well as in the processing of unexpected stimuli. Our results indicate expectations directly alter the perception of affective stimuli and its processing, and emphasise the importance of behavioural measures to characterize this relationship.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Auditory-cognitive determinants of speech-in-noise perception: structural equation modelling of a large sample

Problems understanding speech-in-noise (SIN) are commonly associated with peripheral hearing loss. But pure tone audiometry (PTA) alone fails to fully explain SIN ability. This is because SIN perception is based on complex interactions between peripheral hearing, central auditory processing (CAP) and other cognitive abilities. We assessed interaction between these factors and age using a multivariate approach that allows the modelling of directional effects on theoretical constructs: structural equation modelling. We created a model to explain SIN using latent constructs for sound segregation, auditory (working) memory, and SIN perception, as well as PTA, age and measures of non-verbal reasoning. In a sample of 207 participants aged 18-81 years old, age was the biggest determinant of SIN ability, followed by auditory memory. PTA did not contribute to SIN directly, although it modified sound segregation ability, which covaried with auditory memory. A second model, using a CAP latent structure formed by measures of sound segregation, auditory memory, and temporal processing, revealed CAP to be the largest determinant of SIN ahead of age. Furthermore, we demonstrated the impact of PTA and non-verbal reasoning on SIN are mediated by their influence on CAP. Our results highlight the importance of central auditory processing in speech-in-noise perception.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

The role of attention in the generation of anticipatory potentials to affective stimuli: an ERP and source analysis study

Anticipatory EEG signals are characterised by the occurrence of negative slow cortical potentials. This negativity is posed to be enhanced when expecting highly emotional stimuli; however, the specific role attention plays in its generation is unclear, as emotional content is more salient and arousing, and thus recruits higher attentional resources. Here, affective anticipation signals were recorded in 35 participants with EEG, and their brain sources elucidated using multiple sparse priors algorithm. Using a cued-paradigm, the category of a sound being negatively valenced or neutral could be predicted with a 68% accuracy. To shift attentional resources away from the emotional content, participants were instructed to listen and respond to a burst of white noise that occurred on 9% of trials. Results showed slower reaction times following the aversive cue, yet no difference in EEG amplitude between aversive and neutral anticipation. Response times positively correlated with EEG amplitude - participants with stronger negativity were faster to respond. EEG source reconstruction demonstrated no differences between conditions, and showed activation of areas within the salience network including insula, somatosensory cortex, and thalamus. The current results suggest that anticipatory EEG negativity is an index of attentional resource-allocation during the anticipation period and does not reflect the emotional content of upcoming stimuli.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Neural entrainment to pitch changes of auditory targets in noise

Neural entrainment to certain acoustic features can predict speech-in-noise perception, but these features are difficult to separate. We measured neural responses to both natural speech-in-noise and stimuli (auditory figure-ground) that simulate speech-in-noise without any acoustic or linguistic confound such as stress contour and semantics. The figure-ground stimulus is formed by multiple temporally coherent pure-tone components embedded in a random tone cloud. Previous work has shown that discrimination of dynamic figure-ground based on the fundamental frequency (F0) of natural speech predicts speech-in-noise recognition independent of hearing and age. In this study, we compared the brain substrate for the figure-ground analysis based on the F0 contour and a statistically similar 1/f contour with speech-in-noise. We used the temporal response function to predict the electroencephalography responses to the frequency trajectories of the auditory targets. We demonstrate that the brain significantly tracked the pitch changes in both AFG conditions (F0 and 1/F tracking) and a sentence-in-noise condition (F0 tracking) at similar latencies, but at similar magnitudes only when tracking the F0 contour. The pitch-tracking accuracy was consistently high across the delta and theta bands for the AFG condition but not for speech. Sensor-space analysis revealed that speech-in-noise performance correlated with the positive peak amplitude of the F0 figure-ground at 100 ms. Source-space analysis revealed bilateral temporal lobe and hippocampal generators, and strong tracking in the superior parietal lobe for auditory figures and natural speech. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the human brain reliably tracks the F0 trajectory of both speech and a non-linguistic figure in noise, with speech tracking showing reduced accuracy in the theta band compared to figure-ground tracking. Despite the difference in prediction accuracy, we reveal striking similarities in neural entrainment patterns and source locations between the two paradigms. These results suggest that neural entrainment engages high-level cortical mechanisms independent of linguistic content. Furthermore, we show that TRF peak amplitude serves as a potential biomarker for speech-in-noise ability, highlighting possible clinical applications.

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bioRxiv2024

Relationships between migraine and interoception: normal accuracy but altered sensibility and behaviour

BackgroundMigraine is typically precipitated by unaccustomed changes in ones internal state and/or external environment. Migraine symptoms largely involve increased, noxious, awareness of bodily changes and external stimuli. Links have been proposed between migraine and interoception (sensing and interpreting internal states), but direct evidence is limited. MethodsUnmedicated, otherwise healthy, age-matched female participants were grouped by migraine tendency: control (no unprovoked headaches, n=19); low-frequency (<=3 migraines/month, n=20); high-frequency (>=4 migraines/month, n=19). Interoception was assessed, interictally, with standardised questionnaires such as MAIA-2 and a widely used heartbeat counting task. ResultsThe notable significant questionnaire-based difference was in the noticing, not distracting domain of the MAIA-2; controls were least likely to continue activities despite experiencing physical discomfort, and high-frequency migraineurs most likely. Follow-up questioning clarified that this behaviour related predominantly to migraine-related symptoms. The heartbeat task found no differences in accuracy, but lower confidence in the low-frequency migraine group than the control and high-frequency groups. ConclusionsWe suggest that low interoceptive confidence is a risk factor for migraine, whilst amplification of interoceptive signals caused by migraine restores this confidence, but at the price of migraines disabling symptoms. Self-reported tendency to deliberately ignore physical discomfort, including that caused by migraine, may result in more migraine attacks.

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bioRxiv2024

Predicting speech-in-noise ability with static and dynamic auditory figure-ground analysis using structural equation modelling

Auditory figure-ground paradigms assess the ability to extract a foreground figure from a random background, a crucial part of central hearing. Previous studies have shown that the ability to extract static figures (with fixed frequencies) predicts real-life listening: speech-in-noise ability. In this study we assessed both fixed and dynamic figures: the latter comprised component frequencies that vary over time like natural speech. 159 participants (aged 18-79) with a range of peripheral hearing sensitivity were studied. We used hierarchal linear regression and structural equation modelling to examine how well speech-in-noise ability (for words and sentences) could be predicted by age, peripheral hearing, and static and dynamic figure-ground. Regression demonstrated that in addition to the audiogram and age, the low-frequency dynamic figure-ground accounted for significant variance of speech-in-noise, higher than the static figure-ground. The structural models showed that a combination of all types of figure-ground tasks predicted speech-in-noise with a higher effect size than the audiogram or age. Age influenced word perception in noise directly but sentence perception indirectly via effects on peripheral and central hearing. Overall, this study demonstrates that dynamic figure-ground explains more variance of real-life listening than static figure-ground, and the combination of both predicts real-life listening better than hearing sensitivity or age.

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bioRxiv2024

British Version of the Iowa Test of Consonant Perception

The Iowa Test of Consonant Perception (ITCP) is a single-word closed-set speech- in-noise test with well-balanced phonetic features that provides a reliable testing option for real-world listening. Objectives. The current study aimed to establish a UK version of the test (B-ITCP) based on the British received pronunciation. Design. We conducted a validity test with 46 participants using the B-ITCP test, a sentence-in- noise test, and audiogram. Results. The B-ITCP demonstrated excellent test-retest reliability, cross-talker validity, and good convergent validity, consistent with the US results. Conclusions. These findings suggest that B-ITCP is a reliable measure of speech-in-noise perception, to facilitate comparative or combined studies in USA and UK. All materials (application and scripts) to run or construct the B-ITCP and ITCP are freely available online.

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bioRxiv2022

EEG Responses to Auditory Figure-Ground Perception

Speech-in-noise difficulty is commonly reported among hearing-impaired individuals. Recent work has established generic behavioural measures of sound segregation and grouping that are related to speech-in-noise processing but do not require language. In this study, we assessed potential clinical electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of central auditory grouping (stochastic figure-ground test) and speech-in-noise perception (speech-in-babble test) with and without relevant tasks. Auditory targets were presented within background noise (16 talker-babble or randomly generated pure-tones) in 50% of the trials and composed either a figure (pure-tone frequency chords repeating over time) or speech (English names). EEG was recorded while participants were presented with the target stimuli (figure or speech) under different attentional states (relevant task or visual-distractor task). EEG time-domain analysis demonstrated enhanced negative responses during detection of both types of auditory targets within the time window 650-850 ms but only figure detection produced significantly enhanced responses under the distracted condition. Further single-channel analysis showed that simple vertex-to-mastoid acquisition defines a very similar response to more complex arrays based on multiple channels. Evoked-potentials to the generic figure-ground task therefore represent a potential clinical measure of grouping relevant to real-world listening that can be assessed irrespective of language knowledge and expertise even without a relevant task.

neuroscience↗