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Spatial Hearing and Aging Effects on Mandarin Focus Comprehension in Complex Listening Environments.

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Title: Spatial Hearing and Aging Effects on Mandarin Focus Comprehension in Complex Listening Environments.
Authors: Wang, Yuxia1,2, Du, Xinran1,2, Zhao, Xinxian1,2, Yang, Xiaohu3 sherwoodyxh@126.com
Source: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research. Jun2026, Vol. 69 Issue 6, p2812-2829. 18p.
Subject Terms: *Phonological awareness, *Listening, *Aging, *Hearing, *Speech perception, *Auditory perception, *Cognition, Prompts (Psychology), Noise, Research funding, Descriptive statistics, Age distribution, Physiological aspects of speech, Psycholinguistics
Geographic Terms: China
Abstract: Purpose: This study examined aging effects in Mandarin prosodic focus comprehension, specifically investigating whether postfocus compression (PFC) and spatial separation between speech and noise both serve as effective perceptual cues for older listeners compared to younger counterparts in complex listening environments. Method: Twenty younger and 20 older native Mandarin listeners were recruited to identify implied contrastive meaning via prosodic cues in focus comprehension tasks conducted in an acoustically treated semi-anechoic chamber. Stimuli included five focus types (subject initial focus [IF], adverbial medial focus [MF1], verb medial focus [MF2], object final focus [FF], and neutral focus [NF]). Target speech was presented from the front (0° azimuth) in quiet and with cafeteria noise at 0 dB and -10 dB SNR under two spatial configurations: colocated (noise at 0° azimuth) and separated (noise at 90° azimuth). Linear mixed-effects models analyzed accuracy, spatial release from masking (SRM), and confusion patterns, with pure-tone average as a covariate. Results: Younger listeners outperformed older listeners (93.6% vs. 55.5% overall accuracy). Older listeners showed better performance with PFC focuses (IF, MF1, MF2) over non-PFC types (FF, NF) across conditions. Noise-induced performance deficits were more severe in colocated setups. Despite older listeners' overall lower performance, the relative benefits from SRM were comparable between age groups, with greater spatial release effects at -10 dB SNR. Confusion matrix analysis revealed systematic errors for focused speech perception and random errors for unfocused speech perception (NF) among both age groups. Conclusions: PFC serves as a robust cue for focus comprehension even for aging listeners. Crucially, while absolute performance declines with age, the relative benefit of SRM for prosodic processing remains relatively preserved even in complex listening environments. These findings highlight the resilience of certain spatial hearing mechanism in aging, pointing to the importance of spatial cues in designing interventions for age-related communication challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Spatial Hearing and Aging Effects on Mandarin Focus Comprehension in Complex Listening Environments.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Wang%2C+Yuxia%22">Wang, Yuxia</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Du%2C+Xinran%22">Du, Xinran</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhao%2C+Xinxian%22">Zhao, Xinxian</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yang%2C+Xiaohu%22">Yang, Xiaohu</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo><i> sherwoodyxh@126.com</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Speech%2C+Language+%26+Hearing+Research%22">Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research</searchLink>. Jun2026, Vol. 69 Issue 6, p2812-2829. 18p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Phonological+awareness%22">Phonological awareness</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Listening%22">Listening</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Aging%22">Aging</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Hearing%22">Hearing</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Speech+perception%22">Speech perception</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Auditory+perception%22">Auditory perception</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognition%22">Cognition</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Prompts+%28Psychology%29%22">Prompts (Psychology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Noise%22">Noise</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+funding%22">Research funding</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Age+distribution%22">Age distribution</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Physiological+aspects+of+speech%22">Physiological aspects of speech</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psycholinguistics%22">Psycholinguistics</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22China%22">China</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Purpose: This study examined aging effects in Mandarin prosodic focus comprehension, specifically investigating whether postfocus compression (PFC) and spatial separation between speech and noise both serve as effective perceptual cues for older listeners compared to younger counterparts in complex listening environments. Method: Twenty younger and 20 older native Mandarin listeners were recruited to identify implied contrastive meaning via prosodic cues in focus comprehension tasks conducted in an acoustically treated semi-anechoic chamber. Stimuli included five focus types (subject initial focus [IF], adverbial medial focus [MF1], verb medial focus [MF2], object final focus [FF], and neutral focus [NF]). Target speech was presented from the front (0° azimuth) in quiet and with cafeteria noise at 0 dB and -10 dB SNR under two spatial configurations: colocated (noise at 0° azimuth) and separated (noise at 90° azimuth). Linear mixed-effects models analyzed accuracy, spatial release from masking (SRM), and confusion patterns, with pure-tone average as a covariate. Results: Younger listeners outperformed older listeners (93.6% vs. 55.5% overall accuracy). Older listeners showed better performance with PFC focuses (IF, MF1, MF2) over non-PFC types (FF, NF) across conditions. Noise-induced performance deficits were more severe in colocated setups. Despite older listeners' overall lower performance, the relative benefits from SRM were comparable between age groups, with greater spatial release effects at -10 dB SNR. Confusion matrix analysis revealed systematic errors for focused speech perception and random errors for unfocused speech perception (NF) among both age groups. Conclusions: PFC serves as a robust cue for focus comprehension even for aging listeners. Crucially, while absolute performance declines with age, the relative benefit of SRM for prosodic processing remains relatively preserved even in complex listening environments. These findings highlight the resilience of certain spatial hearing mechanism in aging, pointing to the importance of spatial cues in designing interventions for age-related communication challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=194600826
RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1044/2026_JSLHR-25-00652
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 18
        StartPage: 2812
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Phonological awareness
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Listening
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Aging
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Hearing
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Speech perception
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Auditory perception
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cognition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Prompts (Psychology)
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      – SubjectFull: Noise
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      – SubjectFull: Research funding
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      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Age distribution
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      – SubjectFull: Physiological aspects of speech
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psycholinguistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: China
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Spatial Hearing and Aging Effects on Mandarin Focus Comprehension in Complex Listening Environments.
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            NameFull: Wang, Yuxia
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            NameFull: Du, Xinran
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            NameFull: Zhao, Xinxian
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            NameFull: Yang, Xiaohu
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              Text: Jun2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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