Mohsen Ahadi1, Akram Pourbakht2, Amir Homayoun Jafari3, Zahra Shirjian4, Amir Salar Jafarpisheh4. 1. Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2. Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Rehabilitation Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: a-pourbakht@tums.ac.ir. 3. Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Research Center of Biomedical Technology and Robotics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 4. Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influence of gender on subcortical representation of speech acoustic parameters where simultaneously presented to both ears. METHODS: Two-channel speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses were obtained in 25 female and 23 male normal hearing young adults by using binaural presentation of the 40 ms synthetic consonant-vowel/da/, and the encoding of the fast and slow elements of speech stimuli at subcortical level were compared in the temporal and spectral domains between the sexes using independent sample, two tailed t-test. RESULTS: Highly detectable responses were established in both groups. Analysis in the time domain revealed earlier and larger Fast-onset-responses in females but there was no gender related difference in sustained segment and offset of the response. Interpeak intervals between Frequency Following Response peaks were also invariant to sex. Based on shorter onset responses in females, composite onset measures were also sex dependent. Analysis in the spectral domain showed more robust and better representation of fundamental frequency as well as the first formant and high frequency components of first formant in females than in males. CONCLUSIONS: Anatomical, biological and biochemical distinctions between females and males could alter the neural encoding of the acoustic cues of speech stimuli at subcortical level. Females have an advantage in binaural processing of the slow and fast elements of speech. This could be a physiological evidence for better identification of speaker and emotional tone of voice, as well as better perceiving the phonetic information of speech in women.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influence of gender on subcortical representation of speech acoustic parameters where simultaneously presented to both ears. METHODS: Two-channel speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses were obtained in 25 female and 23 male normal hearing young adults by using binaural presentation of the 40 ms synthetic consonant-vowel/da/, and the encoding of the fast and slow elements of speech stimuli at subcortical level were compared in the temporal and spectral domains between the sexes using independent sample, two tailed t-test. RESULTS: Highly detectable responses were established in both groups. Analysis in the time domain revealed earlier and larger Fast-onset-responses in females but there was no gender related difference in sustained segment and offset of the response. Interpeak intervals between Frequency Following Response peaks were also invariant to sex. Based on shorter onset responses in females, composite onset measures were also sex dependent. Analysis in the spectral domain showed more robust and better representation of fundamental frequency as well as the first formant and high frequency components of first formant in females than in males. CONCLUSIONS: Anatomical, biological and biochemical distinctions between females and males could alter the neural encoding of the acoustic cues of speech stimuli at subcortical level. Females have an advantage in binaural processing of the slow and fast elements of speech. This could be a physiological evidence for better identification of speaker and emotional tone of voice, as well as better perceiving the phonetic information of speech in women.
Authors: Luísa Bello Gabriel; Luíza Silva Vernier; Maria Inês Dornelles da Costa Ferreira; Adriana Laybauer Silveira; Márcia Salgado Machado Journal: Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol Date: 2017-08-28
Authors: Humberto Yévenes-Briones; Francisco Félix Caballero; Ellen A Struijk; Alberto Lana; Fernando Rodríguez-Artalejo; Esther Lopez-Garcia Journal: Eur J Nutr Date: 2021-07-21 Impact factor: 5.614