What is auditory temporal processing and how does it relate to speech understanding?

Auditory temporal processing is the ability to perceive very brief or fast sounds. This ability can impact judgements about changes in the duration of simple sounds, as well as perception of rapid changes in the acoustic characteristics of an ongoing stimulus. Speech is one such continuous stimulus that is composed of very rapid acoustic changes from moment to moment. Research indicates that auditory temporal processing ability is linked to speech understanding, especially when listening to speech that is presented at a fast rate, with a foreign accent, or in noise.

Why are we studying auditory temporal processing?

Research clearly shows that auditory temporal processing declines as we age. That is, older people require a longer sound stimulus than younger people to make the same judgements about changes in stimulus duration or to detect very brief sounds. More importantly, older people experience significant declines in the ability to perceive rapid speech and speech in noise, relative to younger people. This project aims to develop auditory training methods to strengthen auditory temporal processing, with the ultimate goal of improving perception of rapid speech, foreign-accented speech, and speech in noise.