DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13359542
title: Data from: FMRI speech tracking in primary and non-primary auditory cortex while listening to noisy scenes

description: This data set was analysed for the publication "FMRI speech tracking in primary and non-primary auditory cortex while listening to noisy scenes" by Hausfeld, Hamers, and Formisano (Communications Biology, 2024). Anatomical and functional MRI was acquired at 7 Tesla. Participants listened to speech of 1 or 2 (concurrent) audiobooks. To analyze fMRI-based speech tracking, participants were asked to listen to one speaker by performing a task.  

The dataset is arranged as follows:

- MRI data [single particpant folders S1-15] (preprocessed) and individual speech tracking maps are contained in the participant-specific files S[participant_ID].zip in folder "MRI"

- Stimulus descriptions (i.e., envelopes) are included in the folder "ENVELOPES"

- Individual results (tracking map similarities and behavioral outcomes) are included in "INDIV_RESULTS"

- Code to recreate figures is provided in folder "CODE" 

- the README contains information on the repository's content

 

Please note additional information in the original publication

 

Abstract of corresponding manuscript

Invasive and non-invasive electrophysiological measurements during “cocktail-party”-like listening indicate that neural activity in the human auditory cortex (AC) “tracks” the envelope of relevant speech. However, due to limited coverage and/or spatial resolution, the distinct contribution of primary and non-primary areas remains unclear. Here, using 7-Tesla fMRI, we measured brain responses of participants attending to one speaker, in the presence and absence of another speaker. Through voxel-wise modeling, we observed envelope tracking in bilateral Heschl’s gyrus (HG), right middle superior temporal sulcus (mSTS) and left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), despite the signal’s sluggish nature and slow temporal sampling. Neurovascular activity correlated positively (HG) or negatively (mSTS, TPJ) with the envelope. Further analyses comparing the similarity between spatial response patterns in the single speaker and concurrent speakers conditions and envelope decoding indicated that tracking in HG reflected both relevant and (to a lesser extent) non-relevant speech, while mSTS represented the relevant speech signal. Additionally, in mSTS, the similarity strength correlated with the comprehension of relevant speech. These results indicate that the fMRI signal tracks cortical responses and attention effects related to continuous speech and support the notion that primary and non-primary AC process ongoing speech in a push-pull of acoustic and linguistic information.

 

Author contact: lars.hausfeld@maastrichtuniversity.nl

 
description: We would like to thank Federico De Martino for help with data acquisition and comments on the manuscript, Anne Bach for help with participant recruitment, and our participants for their collaboration and time. This work was supported by Maastricht University, the Dutch Province of Limburg (E.F.), and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO; VENI grant 451-17-033 to L.H., Open Competition grant 406.20.GO.030 to E.F).