Exploring EEG Indicators to Evaluate Listening Difficulties in Noisy Environments

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Onaya, Azuki, Tanaka, Hiroki
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912435951108096
author Onaya, Azuki
Tanaka, Hiroki
author_facet Onaya, Azuki
Tanaka, Hiroki
contents Auditory processing difficulties involve challenges in understanding speech in noisy environments despite normal hearing. However, the neural mechanisms remain unclear, and standardized diagnostic criteria are lacking. This study examined neural indicators using EEG under realistic noisy conditions. Ten Japanese-speaking university students participated in auditory tasks, including a resting state, a lecture attention task with background noise, and a task requiring attention to background noise. The study analyzed the peak frequency and power of alpha waves, the long-range temporal correlation of alpha oscillations, and the absolute power of delta waves. Results showed a significant reduction in the power of alpha waves during the background noise attention task, suggesting increased cognitive load. In contrast, the peak frequency of alpha waves remained stable, indicating limited sensitivity to cognitive demand changes. Long-range temporal correlation increased under tasks requiring auditory attention, reflecting sustained attention-related neural dynamics, while the absolute power of delta waves showed no significant variation across tasks. Regression analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the power of alpha waves in noisy conditions and screening scores for auditory processing difficulties, suggesting its potential as a neural indicator.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14339
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exploring EEG Indicators to Evaluate Listening Difficulties in Noisy Environments
Onaya, Azuki
Tanaka, Hiroki
Neurons and Cognition
Auditory processing difficulties involve challenges in understanding speech in noisy environments despite normal hearing. However, the neural mechanisms remain unclear, and standardized diagnostic criteria are lacking. This study examined neural indicators using EEG under realistic noisy conditions. Ten Japanese-speaking university students participated in auditory tasks, including a resting state, a lecture attention task with background noise, and a task requiring attention to background noise. The study analyzed the peak frequency and power of alpha waves, the long-range temporal correlation of alpha oscillations, and the absolute power of delta waves. Results showed a significant reduction in the power of alpha waves during the background noise attention task, suggesting increased cognitive load. In contrast, the peak frequency of alpha waves remained stable, indicating limited sensitivity to cognitive demand changes. Long-range temporal correlation increased under tasks requiring auditory attention, reflecting sustained attention-related neural dynamics, while the absolute power of delta waves showed no significant variation across tasks. Regression analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the power of alpha waves in noisy conditions and screening scores for auditory processing difficulties, suggesting its potential as a neural indicator.
title Exploring EEG Indicators to Evaluate Listening Difficulties in Noisy Environments
topic Neurons and Cognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14339