ORCID Profile
0000-0003-4613-8462
Current Organisation
University of Nottingham
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-09-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S10162-021-00817-Z
Abstract: Whilst functional neuroimaging has been used to investigate cortical processing of degraded speech in adults, much less is known about how these signals are processed in children. An enhanced understanding of cortical correlates of poor speech perception in children would be highly valuable to oral communication applications, including hearing devices. We utilised vocoded speech stimuli to investigate brain responses to degraded speech in 29 normally hearing children aged 6–12 years. Intelligibility of the speech stimuli was altered in two ways by (i) reducing the number of spectral channels and (ii) reducing the litude modulation depth of the signal. A total of five different noise-vocoded conditions (with zero, partial or high intelligibility) were presented in an event-related format whilst participants underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) neuroimaging. Participants completed a word recognition task during imaging, as well as a separate behavioural speech perception assessment. fNIRS recordings revealed statistically significant sensitivity to stimulus intelligibility across several brain regions. More intelligible stimuli elicited stronger responses in temporal regions, predominantly within the left hemisphere, while right inferior parietal regions showed an opposite, negative relationship. Although there was some evidence that partially intelligible stimuli elicited the strongest responses in the left inferior frontal cortex, a region previous studies have suggested is associated with effortful listening in adults, this effect did not reach statistical significance. These results further our understanding of cortical mechanisms underlying successful speech perception in children. Furthermore, fNIRS holds promise as a clinical technique to help assess speech intelligibility in paediatric populations.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 14-08-2017
Abstract: Following sensory deprivation, the sensory brain regions can become colonized by the other intact sensory modalities. In deaf in iduals, evidence suggests that visual language recruits auditory brain regions and may limit hearing restoration with a cochlear implant. This suggestion underpins current rehabilitative recommendations that deaf in iduals undergoing cochlear implantation should avoid using visual language. However, here we show the opposite: Recruitment of auditory brain regions by visual speech after implantation is associated with better speech understanding with a cochlear implant. This suggests adaptive benefits of visual communication because visual speech may serve to optimize, rather than hinder, restoration of hearing following implantation. These findings have implications for both neuroscientific theory and the clinical rehabilitation of cochlear implant patients worldwide.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-08-2020
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-07-2019
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1177/23312165221087011
Abstract: Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, public-health measures introduced to stem the spread of the disease caused profound changes to patterns of daily-life communication. This paper presents the results of an online survey conducted to document adult cochlear-implant (CI) users’ perceived listening difficulties under four communication scenarios commonly experienced during the pandemic, specifically when talking: with someone wearing a facemask, under social hysical distancing guidelines, via telephone, and via video call. Results from ninety-four respondents indicated that people considered their in-person listening experiences in some common everyday scenarios to have been significantly worsened by the introduction of mask-wearing and physical distancing. Participants reported experiencing an array of listening difficulties, including reduced speech intelligibility and increased listening effort, which resulted in many people actively avoiding certain communication scenarios at least some of the time. Participants also found listening effortful during remote communication, which became rapidly more prevalent following the outbreak of the pandemic. Potential solutions identified by participants to ease the burden of everyday listening with a CI may have applicability beyond the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the results emphasized the importance of visual cues, including lipreading and live speech-to-text transcriptions, to improve in-person and remote communication for people with a CI.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-07-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Ian Wiggins.