LAUSR

Speech is an ideal stimulus for eliciting envelope-following responses (EFR) given its inherent periodicities and biological importance. However, the speech EFR may reflect multiple aspects of temporal coding in the auditory nerve and brainstem driven by phase-locking to temporal fine-structure (TFS; carried predominantly by low-frequency speech harmonics) and the periodicity envelope (carried predominantly by unresolved high-frequency harmonics). This limits its utility as a measure of specific encoding deficits as a function of frequency. Multiple-fundamental frequency (multi-f0) speech sounds give rise to EFR related to narrow ranges of speech harmonics and thus may allow for assessment more specific with respect to frequency and type of temporal coding. This study investigated the relationship between the EFR obtained from multi-f0 speech, and individual differences in release from masking thought to reflect poor TFS coding. Multi-f0 EFR was measured in adults across a wide age-range with normal and n...