Brain aging and speech perception in noise: effects of background noise and talker variability

This two-experiment project was conducted at the Speech neuroscience laboratory in Quebec City (www.speechneurolab.ca). It aimed to investigate the impact of background noise and talker variability on speech perception performance (sensitivity, reaction time) in healthy young and older adults using a multi-talker auditory syllable discrimination task, and to clarify underlying neurobiological mechanisms using multimodal MRI. As part of the project, we developed and standardized a multi-talker auditory syllable discrimination task. Syllables were presented in quiet or in background noise (pink noise). In Experiment 1, we examined the relationship between speech perception, hearing and auditory attention in 83 participants aged 19 to 87 years. In Experiment 2, we examined the relationship between speech perception in noise and brain structure and function using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a subset of 32 participants from Experiment 1. The project was approved by the Comité d’éthique de la recherche sectoriel en neurosciences et santé mentale, Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Québec (#360-2014). Here we share all stimulus files, stimulus information and experiment files for both experiments. We also share uncorrected and corrected group MRI data (average brain, functional and structural MRI group maps). Individual data (behavioural and MRI), cannot be shared because participants did not consent to individual data sharing. To be meaningful, the behavioural data would need to contain information such as age, sex, etc. and such information could lead to the identification of the participants. The study is published in the open access journal Neuroimage: Tremblay, P., Brisson, V., Deschamps, I. (2020). Brain aging and speech perception in noise: effects of background noise and talker variability. Neuroimage, 227, 117675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117675