Annie Moulin

Theoretical models of attention propose that norepinephrine (NE) can induce both a global boost of arousal and selective amplification of high-priority stimuli, yet few tasks have tested these dual effects in humans. Here, we used pupillometry in an auditory detection task, the Competitive Attention Test (CAT), previously performed in large cohort studies, to examine how task engagement (active vs. passive) and stimulus relevance (informative vs. uninformative cues) modulate arousal. Results showed that both relevant and irrelevant sounds elicited larger pupil dilation under active conditions, indicating a global arousal effect. Crucially, only relevant sounds benefited from an additional dilation when preceded by an informative cue, demonstrating a selective arousal mechanism associated to top-down attention. These findings illustrate the NE’s dual role in boosting overall alertness while selectively enhancing high-priority stimuli. Beyond theoretical implications, this work highlights that the CAT captures measurable arousal components, reinforcing its utility for clinical assessments of attention-arousal clinical disruptions.

Background/Objectives: Potential correlations between the scores of self-report questionnaires and speech perception in noise abilities vary widely among studies and have been little explored in patients with conventional hearing aids (HAs). This study aimed to analyse the interrelations between (1) self-report auditory scales (the 15-item short-form of the Speech Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (15iSSQ) and the Extended Listening Effort Assessment Scale (EEAS); (2) speech perception in cocktail party noise, measured with and without HAs; and (3) a self-assessment of the listening effort perceived during the speech in a noise-perception task (TLE) in hearing-aid wearers. Material and Methods: –Thirty-two patients, aged of 77.5 years (SD = 12) with a mean HA experience of 5.6 years, completed the 15iSSQ and EEAS. Their speech-in-babble-noise perception thresholds (SPIN) were assessed with (HA_SPIN) and without their HAs (UA_SPIN), using a four-alternative forced-choice test in free field, with several fixed Signal to Noise ratios (SNR). They were asked to self-assess their listening effort at each of those SNRs, allowing us to define a task-related listening-effort threshold with (HA_TLE) and without HAs (UA_TLE), i.e., the SNR for which they self-evaluated their listening effort as 5 out of 10. Results: 15iSSQ decreased as both HA_SPIN (r = −0.47, p < 0.01) and HA_TLE increased (r = −0.36, p < 0.05). The relationship between 15iSSQSpeech and UA_SPIN (and UA_TLE) showed a strong moderating influence by HA experience and HA daily wear (HADW), explaining up to 31% of the variance. 15iSSQQuality depended on HA SPIN and HA_TLE (r = −0.50, p < 0.01), and the relationship between 15iSSQQuality and UA_TLE was moderated by HADW. EEAS scores depended on both HA experience and UA_SPIN, with a strong moderating influence by HADW. Conclusions: Relationships between auditory questionnaires and SPIN are strongly moderated by both HA experience and HADW, even in experienced HA users, showing the need to account for these variables when analysing relationships between questionnaires and hearing-in-noise tests in experienced HA wearers.

Speech-in-noise perception is consistently reported to be impaired in learning disorders, which stresses the importance of documenting its developmental course in young children. In this cross-sectional study, ninety children (41 females, 5.5–11.6 years old) and nineteen normal-hearing adults (15 females, 20–30 years old) were tested with a newly developed closed-set speech perception in babble-noise test, combining two levels of phonological difficulty and two noise levels. Results showed that speech-in-babble-noise perception takes a definite maturation step around 7 years of age (d = 1.17, grade effect) and is not mature at 10 years of age when compared to young adults (d = 0.94, group effect). Developmental trajectories of both accuracy and response times were evaluated, with influences of psycholinguistic factors, to foster the development of adequate screening tests.

Understanding speech in noise is particularly difficult for individuals occupationally exposed to noise due to a mix of noise-induced auditory lesions and the energetic masking of speech signals. For years, the monitoring of conventional audiometric thresholds has been the usual method to check and preserve auditory function. Recently, suprathreshold deficits, notably, difficulties in understanding speech in noise, has pointed out the need for new monitoring tools. The present study aims to identify the most important variables that predict speech in noise understanding in order to suggest a new method of hearing status monitoring. Physiological (distortion products of otoacoustic emissions, electrocochleography) and behavioral (amplitude and frequency modulation detection thresholds, conventional and extended high-frequency audiometric thresholds) variables were collected in a population of individuals presenting a relatively homogeneous occupational noise exposure. Those variables were used as predictors in a statistical model (random forest) to predict the scores of three different speech-in-noise tests and a self-report of speech-in-noise ability. The extended high-frequency threshold appears to be the best predictor and therefore an interesting candidate for a new way of monitoring noise-exposed professionals.

Understanding speech in noise is particularly difficult for individuals occupationally exposed to noise due to a to a mix between noise-induced auditory lesions and energetic masking of speech signal. For years, the monitoring of conventional audiometric thresholds has been the usual way to check and preserve the auditory function. But the highlighting of supra-threshold deficits, notably speech in noise understanding difficulties, has pointed out the need for new monitoring tools. The present study aims to identify the most important variables that predict speech in noise under-standing in order to suggest a new way of regular monitoring. Physiological (distortion products of otoacoustic emissions, electrocochleography) and behavioral (amplitude and frequency modula-tion detection thresholds, conventional and extended high frequency audiometric thresholds) variables were collected in a population of individuals presenting a relative homogeneous occu-pational noise exposure. Those variables were used as predictors in a statistical model (random forest) to predict scores of three different speech in noise tests and a self-report of speech in noise ability. The extended high frequency threshold appears to be the best predictor and therefore an interesting candidate for a new way of monitoring noise exposed professionals.

Auditory short-term memory (STM) is a key process in auditory cognition, with evidence for partly distinct networks subtending musical and verbal STM. The delayed matching-to-sample task (DMST) paradigm has been found suitable for comparing musical and verbal STM and for manipulating memory load. In this study, musical and verbal DMSTs were investigated with measures of activity in frontal areas with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS): Experiment 1 compared musical and verbal DMSTs with a low-level perception task (that does not entail encoding, retention, or retrieval of information), to identify frontal regions involved in memory processes. Experiment 2 manipulated memory load for musical and verbal materials to uncover frontal brain regions showing parametric changes in activity with load and their potential differences between musical and verbal materials. A FIR model was used to deconvolute fNIRS signals across successive trials without making assumptions with respect to the shape of the hemodynamic response in a DMST. Results revealed the involvement of the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and inferior frontal gyri (IFG), but not of the superior frontal gyri (SFG) in both experiments, in keeping with previously reported neuroimaging data (including fMRI). Experiment 2 demonstrated a parametric variation of activity with memory load in bilateral IFGs during the maintenance period, with opposite directions for musical and verbal materials. Activity in the IFGs increased with memory load for verbal sound sequences, in keeping with previous results with n-back tasks. The decreased activity with memory load observed with musical sequences is discussed in relation to previous research on auditory STM rehearsal strategies. This study highlights fNIRS as a promising tool for investigating musical and verbal STM not only for typical populations, but also for populations with developmental language disorders associated with functional alterations in auditory STM.

Purpose To develop and validate a new questionnaire, the Kid-SSQ, for the rapid screening of hearing abilities in children with hearing impairment, aged 7–17 years. Methods The questionnaire was constructed from two existing, validated versions of the ‘Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing’ - (SSQ) questionnaire (pediatric form and adult short-form). The 12 selected items included auditory aspects from three subscales: speech perception, spatial hearing, and qualities of hearing. This new short form was then validated in 154 children with cochlear implants (100 bilaterally, and 54 unilaterally implanted children). Construct validity was assessed by testing relationships between Kid-SSQ scores and objective clinical parameters (e.g., age at test, pure-tone audiometry-PTA threshold, speech reception threshold-SRT, duration of binaural experience). Results Completion time was acceptable for use with children (less than 10 min) and the non-response rate was less than 1%. Good internal consistency was obtained (Cronbach’s α = 0.78), with a stable internal structure corresponding to the 3 intended subscales. External validity showed the specificity of each subscale: speech subscale scores were significantly predicted (r = 0.32, p < 0.001) by both 2 kHz PTA threshold (β = 0.33, p < 0.001) and SRT (β = − 0.23, p < 0.001). Children with more binaural experience showed significantly higher scores on the spatial subscale than children with less binaural experience (F(1,98) = 5.1, p < 0.03) and the qualities of hearing subscale scores significantly depended on both age and SRT (r = 0.32, p < 0.001). Conclusions The Kid-SSQ questionnaire is a robust and clinically useful questionnaire for self-assessment of difficulties in various auditory domains.

This study was aimed at assessing listening effort (LE) in quiet and in noisy daily life situations, in 481 adults with hearing aids (HAs) and 62 adults with normal hearing, using an Extended version of the Effort Assessment Scale (EEAS). Participants were invited to self-assess their LE in daily life, on a visual analog scale graded from 0 (no effort) to 10. The EEAS's internal structure identified two separate constructs pertaining to LE in quiet and LE in noise, each with good consistency (Cronbach's α > 0.83). A three-factor model explained 12% of the variance of the EEAS scores, with HA experience the most important one, and better ear hearing threshold (averaged across 0.5–4 kHz) and ear asymmetry as the other two factors. The EEAS subscales differed in behavior, with the LE in noise being the most dependent on HA experience, whereas LE in quiet depended more on better ear hearing threshold. In a subgroup of people with 6 months to less than 24 months HA experience, a significant decrease in LE in noise was observed with increasing HA experience (0.26 points decrease per year of HA experience), whereas in a group of people with at least 24 months of HA experience, a small increase in LE in noise was observed. This effect was not mediated by age, nor hearing threshold. The extended Effort Assessment Scale is therefore offering an assessment of both LE in quiet and LE in noise, with different dependence on HA experience and hearing thresholds.

The left hemisphere preference for verbal stimuli is well known, with a right ear (RE) advantage obtained when competing verbal stimuli are presented simultaneously, at comfortable intensities, to both ears. Speech perception involves not only the processing of acoustic peripheral information but also top–down contextual influences, filling the gaps in the incoming information that is particularly degraded in hearing-impaired individuals. This study aimed to analyze the potential asymmetry of those contextual influences on a simple speech perception task in hearing-impaired patients in light of hemispheric asymmetry. Contextual influences on disyllabic word perception scores of 60 hearing-impaired patients were compared between left ear (LE) and RE, in a balanced design, involving two repetitions of the same task. Results showed a significantly greater contextual influence on the REversusthe LE and, for the second repetitionversusthe first one, without any interaction between the two. Furthermore, the difference in contextual influences between RE and LE increased significantly with the RE advantage measured by a dichotic listening test in the absence of any significant correlation with hearing threshold asymmetry. Lastly, the contextual influence asymmetry decreased significantly as age increased, which was mainly due to a greater increase, with age, of contextual influences on the LEversusthe RE. Those results agree with the literature reporting a relative right-shift of hemispheric asymmetry observed with age in speech in noise perception tasks in normal hearing subjects and the clinical reports of generally better audiometric speech scores obtained in REversusLE.