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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Speech and Language
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1479810

Predictive Brain Activity Related to Auditory Information is Associated with Performance in Speech Comprehension Tasks in Noisy Environments

Provisionally accepted
Kazuhiro Okamoto Kazuhiro Okamoto 1*Kengo Hoyano Kengo Hoyano 1Yoshitomo Saiki Yoshitomo Saiki 1Tomomi Nomura Tomomi Nomura 1Keisuke Irie Keisuke Irie 2Naoya Obama Naoya Obama 3Narihiro Kodama Narihiro Kodama 3Yasutaka Kobayashi Yasutaka Kobayashi 1
  • 1 Fukui Health Science University, Fukui, Japan
  • 2 Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyōto, Japan
  • 3 Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, Kurashiki, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Understanding speech in noisy environments is challenging even for individuals with normal hearing, and it poses a significant challenge for those with hearing impairments or listening difficulties. There are limitations associated with the current methods of evaluating speech comprehension in such environments, especially in individuals with peripheral hearing impairments. According to the predictive coding model, speech comprehension is an active inference process that integrates sensory information through the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processing. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to examine the role of prediction in speech comprehension using an electrophysiological marker of anticipation: stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN). Methods: We measured SPN amplitude in young adults with normal hearing during a time-estimation task with auditory feedback under both quiet and noisy conditions. Results: The results showed that SPN amplitude significantly increased in noisy environments. Moreover, individual differences in SPN amplitude correlated with performance in a speech-in-noise test. Discussion: The increase in SPN amplitude was interpreted as reflecting the increased requirement for attentional resources for accurate prediction of speech information. These findings suggest that SPN could serve as a noninvasive neural marker for assessing individual differences in top-down processing involved in speech comprehension in noisy environments.

    Keywords: auditory processing, Electroencephalography, Stimulus-preceding negativity, predictive coding, Speech reception

    Received: 12 Aug 2024; Accepted: 21 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Okamoto, Hoyano, Saiki, Nomura, Irie, Obama, Kodama and Kobayashi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kazuhiro Okamoto, Fukui Health Science University, Fukui, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.