Interhemispheric support during demanding auditory signal-in-noise processing

Abstract

We investigated attentional effects on human auditory signal-in-noise processing in a simultaneous masking paradigm using magnetoencephalography. Test signal was a monaural 1000-Hz tone; maskers were binaural band-eliminated noises (BENs) containing stopbands of different widths centered on 1000 Hz. Participants directed attention either to the left or the right ear. In an "irrelevant visual attention" condition subjects focused attention on a screen. Irrespective of attention focus location, the signal appeared randomly either in the left or right ear. During auditory focused attention (left- or right-ear attention), the signal thus randomly appeared either in the attended ("relevant auditory attention" condition) or the nonattended ear ("irrelevant auditory attention" condition). Results showed that N1m source strength was overall increased in the left relative to the right hemisphere, and for right-ear versus left-ear stimulation. Moreover, when attention was focused on the signal ear (relevant auditory attention condition) and the BEN stopbands were narrow, the right-hemispheric N1m source strength was increased, relative to irrelevant auditory attention. Such increments were neither observed in the left hemisphere nor for wide BENs. These novel results indicate 1) left-hemispheric dominance and robustness during auditory signal-in-noise processing, and 2) right-hemispheric assistance during attentive and demanding auditory signal-in-noise processing.