Abstract:

Objectives MMN, which is important in defining pathologies in the central auditory system, occur with different responses in each native language. Therefore, it is crucial that the stimuli used in MMN must be structured according to the native languages. This study aims to develop a multi-feature paradigm that includes speech stimulus suitable for the acoustic characteristics of Turkish. Materıals and Methods Thirty participants (15 Males, 15 Females) with normal hearing between the ages of 20-31 (24.37±3.75) were included in this study. Participants' hearing threshold (0.125-8 kHz) was less than 20 dB HL. MMN responses were recorded from 22 surface scalp electrodes. The speech stimuli /te/ and /pi/ were chosen as standard stimuli. Amplitude and latency parameters of the MMN responses of five different deviants: decrease and increase in intensity, decrease in fundamental frequency, decrease in duration, and consonant and vowel change were evaluated. Results According to the Fz electrode, there was no statistically significant difference between the amplitude and latencies of the test-retest MMN responses of the /te/ and /pi/ stimulus according to paired sample t-test (p>0.05). A statistically significant relationship was found between the test-retest for the /te/ and /pi/ stimulus amplitudes in deviant types (p<0.05). Conclusion This study will enable the use of speech stimuli appropriate to the native language in MMN application to be conducted in native Turkish speakers, allow a more comprehensive evaluation of auditory processing skills compared to conventional tonal stimuli, and contribute to the interpretation of possible component changes in the MMN waveform in healthy or pathological conditions of the central auditory system.

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