Sensory Gating to Speech and Nonspeech Stimulus and Its Relationship to Speech Perception in Noise

Abstract

Purpose: Sensory gating is the cortical phenomenon that involves selective inhibition of responses to task-irrelevant stimuli. Perceiving speech in noise, a situation commonly encountered by humans, requires the irrelevant noise to be inhibited while processing the relevant speech stimulus. We hypothesized that the two (sensory gating and speech perception in noise [SPiN]) might be related and that sensory gating may provide evidence of cortical inhibition involved in SPiN. Method: An observational research following a correlational design was conducted on 10 neurotypical individuals. Auditory sensory gating was assessed using a conditioning–testing paradigm for tone and speech token pairs. The SPiN was measured using standardized sentences in the participants' native language. Results: Differences were observed in the gating index of the P2 peaks of speech and tone pairs. A significant relationship between SPiN and the auditory sensory gating of the P2 peak of the speech-evoked cortical potential was obtained. Conclusion: The results of this preliminary investigation indicate an association between the sensory gating mechanism and neurotypical individuals' ability to perceive speech in noise.