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Biomedical subjects

S E Trehub

Publications and source records attributed to S E Trehub.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

A comparison of infants' and adults' sensitivity to western musical structure.

Adults (n = 28) and 8-month-old infants (n = 48) listened to repeated transpositions of a 10-note melody exemplifying the rules of Western tonal music. They were tested for their detection of two types of changes to that melody: (a) a 4-semitone change in 1 note that remained within the key and implied dominant harmony (diatonic change) or (b) a 1-semitone change in the same note that went outside the key (nondiatonic change). Adults easily detected the nondiatonic change but had difficulty with the diatonic change. Infants detected both changes equally well, performing better than adults in some circumstances. These findings imply that there are qualitative differences in infants' and adults' processing of musical information.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Developmental perspectives on the localization and detection of auditory signals.

Responsiveness of 1-, 3-, and 5-year-old children and adults to octave-band noises at .4 and 10 kHz was assessed with a go/no-go version of visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) (Moore, Thompson, & Thompson, 1975) and a two-alternative, forced-choice version (Suzuki & Ogiba, 1961; Trehub, Schneider, & Endman, 1980). Infants performed better on the two-alternative, forced-choice version in quiet and in noisy backgrounds, and adults performed better on the two-alternative, forced-choice version in quiet but not in noisy backgrounds. Performance on the two tasks was essentially equivalent for 3- and 5-year-old children. Superior performance on two-alternative VRA over go/no-go may be due to lesser cognitive demands in the case of infants and to the engagement of superior decision strategies in the case of adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Infants' perception of timbre: classification of complex tones by spectral structure.

Infants 7 to 8.5 months of age were tested for their discrimination of timbre or sound quality differences in the context of variable exemplars. They were familiarized with a set of complex tones with specified spectral structure; members of the set varied in fundamental frequency, intensity, or duration. Infants were then tested for their detection of tones that contrasted in spectral structure but were similar in other respects. They successfully differentiated the two spectral structures in the context of these variations, indicating that they can classify tonal stimuli on the basis of timbre. When the stimuli were organized into arbitrary categories, infants were unable to differentiate these categories, indicating that their performance with nonarbitrary categories was not attributable to memorization of the familiarized set.

Female↗
PubMed1990

Size of critical band in infants, children, and adults.

Masked thresholds at two signal frequencies (0.8 and 4 kHz) were obtained from listeners aged 6.5 months, 2 years, 5 years, and 20.5 years in the presence of constant spectrum level, narrowband maskers of differing bandwidths. Consistent with the classical results of Fletcher (1940), masked threshold for all age groups increased with bandwidth up to a critical width, beyond which further increases in bandwidth were ineffective in increasing threshold. These critical widths (estimates of critical band size) did not change substantially with age (critical widths for infants were no more than 50% larger than those of adults) despite substantial changes in masked thresholds with age. Thus, contrary to previous claims, changes in auditory filter width cannot account for developmental changes in masked or absolute thresholds.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Infants' perception of rhythm: categorization of auditory sequences by temporal structure.

We presented 7- to 9-month-old infants with repetitions of three- or four-tone sequences characterized by a particular rhythmic structure. We then evaluated their detection of changes in rhythmic structure in the context of randomly presented variations in tempo (rate) and frequency. Infants successfully differentiated between three-tones sequences with 1, 2 (X XX) and 2, 1 (XX X) structure as well as four-tone sequences with 2, 2 (XX XX) and 3, 1 (XXX X) structure. In other tasks, they indicated their ability to discriminate between contrasting tempos in the context of frequency variations. We conclude, then, that infants can categorize auditory sequences on the basis of rhythm and also on the basis of tempo.

Arousal↗
PubMed1989

Developmental changes in masked thresholds.

Masked thresholds for octave-band noises with center frequencies of 0.4, 1, 2, 4, and 10 kHz and for a 1/3-octave-band noise centered at 10 kHz were obtained from listeners 6.5 months to 20.5 years of age at two levels of a broadband masker (0 and 10 dB/cycle). Thresholds declined exponentially as a function of age for all stimuli tested. The rate and extent of this decline, but not its asymptote, were independent of the frequency or bandwidth employed. The time course for this change parallels that found for electrophysiological maturation of more central auditory processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Perspectives on deafened adults.

A sample of deafened adults in Ontario, Canada provided information about the general course of their adjustment to acquired hearing loss. Their use of counseling services was limited, and those who did use such services expressed dismay about the ignorance surrounding acquired deafness, particularly the assumption that the problems of deafened adults are identical to those of congenitally deaf adults. Four illustrative cases are presented.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Developmental changes in high-frequency sensitivity.

Sensitivity to 1/3-octave-band noises with centre frequencies of 10, 20, and 25 kHz was measured for 200 children between 1.5 and 16 years of age and for 20 young adults. In the case of the 25-kHz signal, listeners of 1.5 and 3 years of age as well as those 16 and 20 years of age were unable to detect it at its highest intensity (57 dB). In contrast, listeners 5-14 years of age could detect the 25-kHz signal. Sensitivity to the 20-kHz signal improved until about 8 years of age, deteriorating gradually thereafter. Finally, sensitivity to the 10-kHz signal improved rapidly, reaching young adult levels by 5 years of age, and remaining stable until 20 years of age. These findings are consistent with the onset of high-frequency hearing losses at around 10 years of age. Whether such hearing losses are due to normal aging (presbyacusis) or to noise exposure (socioacusis) remains to be determined.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Effects of uncertainty on melodic information processing.

In three experiments, musically trained and untrained adults listened to three repetitions of a 5-note melodic sequence followed by a final melody with either the same tune as those preceding it or differing in one position by one semitone. In Experiment 1, ability to recognize the final sequence was examined as a function of redundancy at the levels of musical structure in a sequence, contour complexity of transpositions in a trial, and trial context in a session. Within a sequence, tones were related as the major or augmented triad; within a trial, the four sequences began on successively higher notes (simple macrocontour) or on randomly selected notes (complex macrocontour); and within a session, trials were either blocked (all major or all augmented) or mixed (major and augmented randomly selected). Performance was superior for major melodies, for systematic transpositions within a trial (simple macrocontours), for blocked trials, and for musically trained listeners. In Experiment 2, we examined further the effect of macrocontour. Performance on simple macrocontours exceeded that on complex, and excluded the possibility that repetition of the 20-note sequences provided the entire benefit of systematic transposition in Experiment 1. The effect of musical structure (major/augmented) was also replicated. In Experiment 3, listeners provided structure ratings of ascending 20-note sequences from Experiment 2. Ratings on same trials were higher than those on corresponding different trials, in contrast to performance scores for augmented same and different trials in previous experiments. The concept of functional uncertainty was proposed to account for recognition difficulties on augmented same trials. The significant effects of redundancy on all the levels examined confirm the utility of the information-processing framework for the study of melodic sequence perception.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Aging and auditory temporal sequencing: ordering the elements of repeating tone patterns.

In a series of experiments, we examined age-related differences in adults' ability to order sequences of tones presented at various speeds and in contexts designed to promote or to impede stream segregation. In Experiment 1, 32 listeners (16 young, 16 old) were required to identify two repeating sequences that consisted of four tones (two from a high and two from a low frequency range) in different order. In Experiment 2, 32 listeners were required to judge whether the two recycled patterns from Experiment 1 were the same or different. In Experiment 3, four young and four old listeners were tested on the tasks of Experiment 2 over an extended period. In Experiment 4, 16 young and 16 old listeners were tested with sequences that were not recycled and were composed of tones drawn from a narrow frequency range. Elderly adults were less able than young adults to distinguish between tone sequences with contrasting order, regardless of the speed of presentation, the nature of the task (identification vs. same/different), the amount of practice, the frequency separation of the tones, or the presence or absence of recycling. These findings provide evidence of a temporal sequencing impairment in elderly listeners but reveal no indication of age differences in streaming processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Auditory sensitivity in school-age children.

Thresholds for octave-band noises with center frequencies of 0.4, 1, 2, 4, and 10 kHz and 1/3-octave-band noises centered at 10 and 20 kHz were obtained from children 6 to 16 years of age. Such thresholds, combined with those obtained previously for infants, preschool children, and adults, provide a detailed picture of developing auditory sensitivity between infancy and maturity. Continuing improvements in sensitivity are evident from infancy through the preschool period, well into the school years. For stimuli with center frequencies of 0.4 and 1 kHz, maximal sensitivity is achieved at about 10 years of age, compared to 8 years for stimuli of 2 and 4 kHz. For 10-kHz stimuli, there is little change beyond 4 or 5 years of age. Finally, 20-kHz stimuli yield maximal sensitivity at about 6 or 8 years of age, followed by a progressive decline to adult levels. These findings are considered in relation to auditory sensitivity in nonhuman species, to structural and functional development of the ear, and to possible changes in the efficiency of neural processing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Binaural unmasking in infants.

Localization responses to a broadband noise signal presented against a broadband noise masker were obtained from 12-month-old infants and adults. Two loudspeakers, one to the left and one to the right of the listener, continuously presented identical broadband maskers. On a trial, a broadband signal was added to one of the loudspeakers. Subjects were required to identify the loudspeaker producing the signal. Noise signals were either coherent (from the same noise generator) or incoherent (from an independent noise generator). Both infants and adults found it easier to locate the incoherent signals even when the two types of signals were adjusted to produce equal increments in power. Since monaural performance, after this adjustment, should be equivalent for the two cases, superior performance for incoherent signals implies that binaural processing is involved. The same result was observed in control experiments in which coherent and incoherent signals were presented over earphones to adults. These results suggest that the mechanisms responsible for binaural unmasking are operative by 12 months of age.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Age-related changes in auditory temporal perception.

The discrimination of signal and silence duration was evaluated in 6-month-old infants, 5 1/2-year-old children, and adults. Listeners were tested with a conditioned-discrimination procedure in which they were presented a sequence of 18 white-noise bursts and trained to discriminate a change in duration of the middle 6 signal or silence elements. There were no differential effects on performance for changes in signal compared to silence duration. At each age, performance varied only as a function of magnitude of duration change. Infants discriminated duration changes of 20 ms or greater, children discriminated 15 ms, and adults discriminated changes as small as 10 ms. These findings are consistent with other research in revealing age-related improvements in auditory temporal perception.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Organizational processes in infants' perception of auditory patterns.

Infants 9-11 months of age were tested for their discrimination of changes in the melodic contour (direction of successive pitch changes) of brief melodies in the context of discernible variations in key (different absolute frequencies, same intervals) or interval size (different absolute frequencies and frequency ratios, same contour). Infants detected contour changes in both variable contexts, suggesting that they categorize sequences of sounds on the basis of global, relational properties such as melodic contour. Implications of such processing strategies for infants' perception of running speech are considered.

Attention↗
PubMed1986

Development of the perception of musical relations: semitone and diatonic structure.

In the present research we examined the development of sensitivity to two musical relations significant in Western tonal music, the semitone and diatonic structure. Infants and preschool children were tested for their detection of a semitone change in any position of a five-note melody. Two standard melodies were used, one composed of diatonic tones only and the other containing a non-diatonic tone. In Experiment 1, children from 4 to 6 years of age were superior in detecting the semitone change in the diatonic context compared with the nondiatonic context. In Experiment 2, infants 9 to 11 months of age detected the semitone change in all positions, but their performance was not influenced by diatonic context. These findings indicate that infants and children can discriminate a semitone in a musical context and that the priority of diatonic structure emerges by 4 to 6 years of age.

Auditory Perception↗