Improving auditory skills through training
Beverly A. Wright
Northwestern UniversityKnowles Hearing Center
Types of learning
Types of learning
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Facts and Events
Fact Event
Types of learning
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Non-declarative (Implicit, Non-Conscious)
Facts and Events
Fact Event
Types of learning
Facts and Events Skills
Fact Event
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Non-declarative (Implicit, Non-Conscious)
Types of learning
Facts and Events Skills
MotorFact Event
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Non-declarative (Implicit, Non-Conscious)
Types of learning
Facts and Events Skills
Motor PerceptualFact Event
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Non-declarative (Implicit, Non-Conscious)
Types of learning
Facts and Events Skills
Motor PerceptualFact Event
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Non-declarative (Implicit, Non-Conscious)
Perceptual learning
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
More effective training strategies
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
More effective training strategies
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
More effective training strategies
Learning on basic tasks
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
More effective training strategies
Learning on basic tasks
Learning on wide array of tasks
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
More effective training strategies
Learning on basic tasks
Learning on wide array of tasks
Basic task
Freq
uenc
y
Time
Frequency difference
Standard Signal
Basic task: Frequency discrimination
Which pair of tones has the lower frequency (pitch)?
Freq
uenc
y
Time
Frequency difference
Standard Signal
Which pair of tones has the lower frequency (pitch)?
Basic task: Frequency discrimination
Freq
uenc
y
Time
Frequency difference
Standard Signal
Which pair of tones has the lower frequency (pitch)?
Basic task: Frequency discrimination
Freq
uenc
y
Time
Frequency difference
Standard Signal
Which pair of tones has the lower frequency (pitch)?
Basic task: Frequency discrimination
Freq
uenc
y
Time
Frequency difference
Standard Signal
Which pair of tones has the lower frequency (pitch)?
Basic task: Frequency discrimination
Freq
uenc
y
Time
Frequency difference
Standard Signal
Which pair of tones has the lower frequency (pitch)?
Basic task: Frequency discrimination
Principles of perceptual learning
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Trained taskΔf
Time
Freq
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Worse
Better
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Trained taskΔf
Time
Freq
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Worse
Better
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Trained taskΔf
Time
Freq
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Worse
Better
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Trained taskΔf
Time
Freq
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Worse
Better
Just do it
95% confidence interval of control
post-test performance
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Trained taskΔf
Time
Freq
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Worse
Better
Just do it
Significant improvement
(trained>none)
95% confidence interval of control
post-test performance
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Trained taskΔf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Δt
Time
Freq
Δf
Time
Freq
Trained onInterval
Discrimination
Better
Worse
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.NeuroscienceTrained task
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Δt
Time
Freq
Δf
Time
Freq
Trained onInterval
Discrimination
Tested onFrequency
DiscriminationBetter
Worse
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.NeuroscienceTrained task
Just do it
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
None Freq Interval
Δt
Time
Freq
Δf
Time
Freq
Trained onInterval
Discrimination
Tested onFrequency
DiscriminationBetter
Worse
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.NeuroscienceTrained task
Just do it
Karni & Sagi, 1991
Shiu & Pashler, 1992
Treisman et al., 1992
Ahissar & Hochstein, 1993
Levi & Polat, 1996
Crist et al., 1997
Fahle, 1997
Sigman & Gilbert, 2000
Meinhardt, 2002
Meinhardt & Grabbe, 2002
Visual Learning
Just do it
Just do it
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
Just do it
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
Just do it
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
Just do it
selec
tion
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
Just do it
selec
tion
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
sensitization
Just do it
Practice, practice, practice
Better
Worse
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
# training trials/day for 6 days
9003600
Δf
Time
Freq
10
12.5
15.8
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
Practice, practice, practice
Better
Worse
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
9003600
Δf
Time
Freq
10
12.5
15.8
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
# training trials/day for 6 days
Practice, practice, practice
Better
Worse
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
9003600
Δf
Time
Freq
10
12.5
15.8
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
# training trials/day for 6 days
Practice, practice, practice
• chevron discrimination (Aberg & Herzog, 2010)• letter enumeration (Hauptmann and Karni, 2002;
Hauptmann et al., 2005)
Practice, practice, practice
Practice, practice, practice
Practice, practice, practice
selec
tion
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
sensitization
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
sensitization selec
tion
Task performance
Practice, practice, practice
Training
Effe
ct
Training per day
No Learning Learning
Less More
Learning threshold
Practice, practice, practice
Enough is enough
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
360 trials per day
900 trials per day
Δt
Time
Freq
Temporal-Interval Discrimination
Enough is enough
Worse
Better
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
360 trials per day
900 trials per day
Δt
Time
Freq
Temporal-Interval Discrimination
Enough is enough
Worse
Better
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
Δt
Time
Freq
Temporal-Interval Discrimination
Enough is enough
Worse
Better
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
360 trials per day
Δt
Time
Freq
Temporal-Interval Discrimination
Enough is enough
Worse
Better
Wright, & Sabin (2007) Exp. Brain. Res.
360 trials per day
900 trials per day
Δt
Time
Freq
Temporal-Interval Discrimination
Enough is enough
Worse
Better
• ITD discrimination (Ortiz & Wright, 2010)• visual chevron discrimination (Aberg & Herzog, 2010)• mirror-reading task (Ofen-Noy et al., 2003)• motor-sequence task (Savion-Lemieux & Penhune, ’05)• visual-texture discrimination (Karni & Sagi, 1993)• speech-identification task (Roth et al., 2005)
Enough is enough
Enough is enough
Training
Effe
ctEnough is enough
Training per day
No Learning Learning
Less More
Training
Effe
ctEnough is enough
Training per day
No Learning Learning
Same Learning
Less More Even More
Training
Effe
ctEnough is enough
Training per day
No Learning Learning
Same Learning
Less More Even More
Two wrongs that make a right
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqFreq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
IntervalFreq + Interval All FreqControl Freq +
SilenceFreq + Sound
Wright, Sabin, Zhang, Marrone & Fitzgerald (2010) J.Neuroscience
Δf
Time
Freq
Worse
Better
• Visual orientation discrimination (Szpiro et al., in press)
• Non-native phonetic contrast• Adapting to foreign-accented speech
Two wrongs that make a right
selec
tion
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
sensitization
Two wrongs that make a right
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
sensitization
Two wrongs that make a right
Task performance
Mechanism A
Mechanism B
Mechanism CFrequency
Intensity
Duration
sensitization
Two wrongs that make a right
Summary
Types of learning
Facts and Events Skills
Motor PerceptualFact Event
Declarative(Explicit, Conscious)
Non-declarative (Implicit, Non-Conscious)
Perceptual Learning
Perceptual learning
Treatment option for hearing loss
Learning mechanisms
More effective training strategies
• Just do it• Practice, practice, practice• Enough is enough• Two wrongs that make a right
Principles of perceptual learning
Extra slides
Better
Worse 720 trials/day for 7 days with a 30-minute
break
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
9003600
Δf
Time
Freq
10
12.5
15.8
# training trials/day for 6 days
Need for sufficient daily training within a restricted time period
Control Short Freq
0 15 240
Minutes between Freq + Interval
……
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
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z)
Freq + Interval
Control Short Freq
Same standard
Standards differ in Interval
Standards differ in
Freq
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
Control Short Freq
Adj
uste
d po
st-tr
aini
ng
thre
shol
d (H
z)
15.8
12.5
10
Worse
Better
Freq then
Interval
Interval then Freq
Passive then Freq
Sound categorization task
mba ba pa
100
% baresponses
0
100
% mbaresponses
0ba pamba ba
Voice-onset time (10 ms steps)
Native contrastNon-native contrast
Voice-onset time (10 ms steps)
After training
Pre1 Post1 Pre2 Post2
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
Passive 8
Test
Adj
uste
d sl
ope
Short Act 8
Act+Pass 8
Task + Extra Sound
Sound Only
Task Performance
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
worse
better
Adj
uste
d sl
ope
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
Post-1 Post-2Pre-2Pre-1
Test
Pre1 Post1 Pre2 Post2
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
Short Act 8
Test
Adj
uste
d sl
ope
Act+Pass 8
RSVP 8
Task + Extra Sound
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mbaV
mbaV
Task + Extra Sound during Visual Demand
Task Performancemba
mba
worse
better
Adj
uste
d sl
ope
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
Post-1 Post-2Pre-2Pre-1
Test
Pre1 Post1 Pre2 Post2
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
Act+Pass 8
Test
Adj
uste
d sl
ope
RSVP 8
RVQuiet 9Task + Extra Sound
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mba
mbaV
mbaV
Task + Extra Sound during Visual Demand
mba
mbaV V
Task + No Sound during Visual Demand
n = 9
worse
better
Adj
uste
d sl
ope
0.45
0.40
0.35
0.30
0.25
0.20
Post-1 Post-2Pre-2Pre-1
Test
Enhancing learning, greater amplified auditory responses can arise from prior ….
time
Internal response to stimulation
time
timeV
Task performance
Additional stimuluspresentations
Visual demand in quiet
Dis
crim
inat
ion
thre
shol
d(7
9% c
orre
ct, i
n m
s) 20
10
15 min
4 hrs
Time Course of Interference
Dis
crim
inat
ion
thre
shol
d(7
9% c
orre
ct, i
n m
s) 20
10
15 min
4 hrs
Dis
crim
inat
ion
thre
shol
d(7
9% c
orre
ct, i
n m
s) 20
10
Time Course of Interference
…
Dis
crim
inat
ion
thre
shol
d(7
9% c
orre
ct, i
n m
s) 20
10
15 min
4 hrs
Dis
crim
inat
ion
thre
shol
d(7
9% c
orre
ct, i
n m
s) 20
10
Time Course of Interference
…