Voice separation ability and brain activation measurement base on NIRS analysis

With the global problem of population aging, the measurement and analysis methods of cognitive ability are paid much attention to. The actual check methods of brain cognitive function mainly include physiological and psychological means. However, these methods have some disadvantages and do not adapt for aged people to self-detection and early-diagnosis at home. So we try to propose a new quantitative method to evaluate human´s cognitive function conveniently, by an auditory voice separation ability test. Based on the voice separation experiments to prove the validity of this method, further measurement and analysis on cerebral cortex were made by a near-infrared spectroscopy system (NIRS). The change of oxygenated hemoglobin concentration was determined, and corresponding activated cerebral cortex areas and extent were confirmed primarily. Thus, we concluded that the voice separation process is related to brain cognitive function and can activate cerebral cortex especially in auditory cortex and pre-motor cortex efficiently. So it is possible to apply this method to cognitive function check and recovery system in future works.