[{"content":"\r📧 Email: zhouhuali224@gmail.com\n","date":"27 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/posts/contactme/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Contact Me","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"27 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/posts/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Posts","type":"posts"},{"content":"With a background of acoustics and engineering, my work focuses on interdisciplinary research related to hearing, including sound signal coding strategies for cochlear implants, and the development of innovative hearing screening tools.\n","date":"27 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/","section":"Welcome to Huali Zhou's website","summary":"","title":"Welcome to Huali Zhou's website","type":"page"},{"content":"My Curriculum Vitae\n(Add your CV content here)\n","date":"27 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/posts/mycv/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"My CV","type":"posts"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":" Demonstration of Auditory Chimaeras Based on Envelope and Fine Structure # When we hear a sentence, a melody, or judge whether a sound comes from the left or the right, the brain does not process sound as an indivisible whole. Instead, the auditory system makes use of different layers of acoustic cues, among which two of the most important are the envelope and the fine structure.\nIn simple terms, the envelope describes the slower variations in sound amplitude over time, such as rhythm, pauses, and changes in intensity in speech. In contrast, the fine structure reflects the faster and more subtle oscillatory details within the sound waveform, and is usually closely related to pitch, timbre, and temporal cues used in spatial hearing. In other words, “understanding what is being said” and “perceiving sound quality, pitch, or direction” do not necessarily rely on the same type of information.\nA classic question: which part of sound do we rely on more? # To address this question, researchers proposed a very elegant method: the auditory chimaera. The basic idea is to decompose two different sounds into multiple frequency bands, extract the envelope from one sound in each band, combine it with the fine structure from the other sound, and then resynthesize them into a new hybrid sound.\nThe advantage of this approach is that if listeners perceive the resulting sound as being more similar to the original sound that provided the envelope, then the task is likely to depend more on envelope cues. Conversely, if the percept is more similar to the sound that provided the fine structure, then fine structure is likely to play the more important role.\nSchematic illustration # Figure 1. Basic processing framework of the auditory chimaera. The left panel illustrates how two sounds are filtered, decomposed into envelope and fine structure, and then recombined. The right panel uses two speech tokens as an example to show how the envelope from one sound can be combined with the fine structure from another.\nWhat do envelope and fine structure each contribute? # One of the most insightful findings from this line of research is that different auditory tasks rely on different acoustic cues.\nIn speech recognition, human listeners often rely more heavily on envelope information. This means that even when the rapid oscillatory details of a sound are altered, listeners may still be able to recognize the general speech content as long as the envelope is preserved.\nHowever, in melody perception, pitch judgment, and spatial hearing, fine structure usually plays a more prominent role. Put differently, the envelope is more important for helping us understand what is being said, whereas fine structure contributes more to perceiving what the sound is like, how high or low it is, and where it comes from.\nAudio Sample 1: [mā] # Your browser does not support the audio element.\rAudio Sample 2: [jù] # Your browser does not support the audio element.\rAudio Sample 3: Envelope of mā + Fine structure of jù # Your browser does not support the audio element.\rAudio Sample 4: Envelope of jù + Fine structure of mā # Your browser does not support the audio element.\rThese examples illustrate that speech content is dominated mainly by the envelope, whereas lexical tone is dominated mainly by the fine structure.\nWhy does this matter? # Understanding the division of labor between envelope and fine structure is not only a fundamental question in auditory science, but also has direct implications for hearing technology.\nFor example, in the design of cochlear implants, hearing aids, and speech processing algorithms, if the primary goal is to improve speech intelligibility, then preserving envelope information is especially important. But if the goal is to further improve music perception, pitch experience, or sound localization, then how to better preserve or reconstruct fine-structure-related cues becomes a more challenging and critical issue.\nTherefore, envelope and fine structure are not in a relationship where one is simply “more advanced” or “more important” than the other. Rather, they represent two complementary types of information with distinct roles in the auditory system. Together, they shape our rich and stable experience of sound.\nReferences # Smith, Z. M., Delgutte, B., \u0026amp; Oxenham, A. J. (2002). Chimaeric sounds reveal dichotomies in auditory perception. Nature, 416(6876), 87-90.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/demo/","section":"Welcome to Huali Zhou's website","summary":"Based on the classic auditory chimaera study, this page briefly introduces the different roles of sound envelope and fine structure in speech, melody, and spatial perception.","title":"Demo","type":"page"},{"content":" 2025 # Sparse representation of speech using an atomic speech model Journal The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Kong, Fanhui, Huali Zhou, Nengheng Zheng, and Qinglin Meng. | 157 (2025): 1899–1911.\rDownload\rEffects of harmonicity on Mandarin speech perception in cochlear implant users Journal Speech Communication Shi, Mingyue, Qinglin Meng, Huali Zhou, Jiawen Li, Yefei Mo, and Nengheng Zheng. | 169 (2025): 103199.\rDownload\r2024 # Enhancing the Acoustic Cues of Mandarin Speech in Cochlear Implants Ph.D. Thesis Shenzhen University Huali Zhou\rThe Chinese Zodiac-in-Noise Test: An Internet-Based Speech-in-Noise Test for Large-Scale Hearing Screening Journal Ear \u0026amp; Hearing Huali Zhou, Qinglin Meng, Xiaohong Liu, Peina Wu, Shidong Shang, Wei Xiao, Yuyong Kang, Jiawen Li, Yamin Wang, and Nengheng Zheng. | 45 (2024): 451–464.\rDownload\rAutomated pure-tone audiometry using true wireless stereo earbuds with active noise control Journal International Journal of Audiology Zhou, Hengzhi, Huali Zhou, Zhenyu Guo, and Qinglin Meng. | (2024).\rDownload\rSpatial Release From Masking With Bilateral Bone Conduction Stimulation at Mastoid for Normal Hearing Subjects Journal Trends in Hearing Wang, Jie, Sijia Xie, Stefan Stenfelt, Huali Zhou, Xiaoya Wang, and Jinqiu Sang. | 28 (2024): 1–13.\rDownload\rDBD-CI: Doubling the Band Density for Bilateral Cochlear Implants Conference INTERSPEECH 2024 Shi, Mingyue, Huali Zhou, Qinglin Meng, and Nengheng Zheng. | September 1-5, 2024, Kos, Greece.\rDownload\r2023 # Comparable Encoding, Comparable Perceptual Pattern: Acoustic and Electric Hearing Journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Kong, Fanhui, Huali Zhou, Yefei Mo, Mingyue Shi, Qinglin Meng, and Nengheng Zheng. | 31 (2023): 2326-2337.\rDownload\rPulsatile Gaussian-Enveloped Tones (GET) for cochlear-implant simulation Journal Applied Acoustics Meng, Qinglin, Huali Zhou, Thomas Lu, and Fan-Gang Zeng. | 208 (2023): 109386.\rDownload\rEffects of number of maxima and electrical dynamic range on speech-in-noise perception with an “n-of-m” cochlear-implant strategy Journal Biomedical Signal Processing and Control Mo, Yefei, Huali Zhou, Fanhui Kong, Zhifeng Liu, Xiaohong Liu, Hongming Huang, Yan Huang, Nengheng Zheng, Qinglin Meng, and Peina Wu. | 79 (2023): 104169.\rDownload\rF0inTFS: A lightweight periodicity enhancement strategy for cochlear implants Conference INTERSPEECH 2023 Huali Zhou, Fanhui Kong, Nengheng Zheng, and Qinglin Meng. | August 20-24, 2023, Dublin, Ireland.\rDownload\rEffects of hearing loss and amplification on Mandarin consonant perception Conference INTERSPEECH 2023 Huali Zhou, Xianming Bei, Huanshi Xu, Yingfeng Sun, Zhixin Lin, Nengheng Zheng, and Qinglin Meng. | August 20-24, 2023, Dublin, Ireland.\rDownload\rChannel-Vocoder-Centric Modelling of Cochlear Implants: Strengths and Limitations Conference The 9th Conference on Sound and Music Technology Kong, Fanhui, Yefei Mo, Huali Zhou, Qinglin Meng, and Nengheng Zheng. | Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 923, 2023.\rDownload\r2022 # Pitch Perception With the Temporal Limits Encoder for Cochlear Implants Journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Huali Zhou, Alan Kan, Guangzheng Yu, Zhenyu Guo, Nengheng Zheng, and Qinglin Meng. | 30 (2022): 2528-2539.\rDownload\rCochlear-implant Mandarin tone recognition with a disyllabic word corpus Journal Frontiers in Psychology Wang, Xiaoya, Yefei Mo, Fanhui Kong, Weiyan Guo, Huali Zhou, Nengheng Zheng, Jan W. H. Schnupp, Yiqing Zheng, and Qinglin Meng. | 13 (2022): 1026116.\rDownload\rEffect of listener head orientation on speech reception threshold in an automotive environment Journal Applied Acoustics Liang, Linda, Guangzheng Yu, Huali Zhou, and Qinglin Meng. | 193 (2022): 108782.\rDownload\rInternet streaming audio based speech reception threshold measurement in cochlear implant users Conference ICASSP 2022 Chen, Xi, Yefei Mo, Kang Ouyang, Mingyue Shi, Huali Zhou, Yupeng Shi, Wei Xiao, Shidong Shang, Qinglin Meng, and Nengheng Zheng. | 2022 IEEE ICASSP, 9012-9016.\rDownload\rThe Relationship Between Pulse Rate and Mandarin Tone Recognition: A Preliminary Study with CCi-Mobile Cochlear Implant Research Processor Conference ICBEA 2022 Mo, Yefei, Huali Zhou, Qinglin Meng, and Peina Wu. | May 13–15, 2022, Hangzhou, China.\rDownload\rInteraural time difference based spatial release from masking with asymmetric hearing over a video conference app Conference ICSP 2022 Chen, Jiachen, Guangzheng Yu, Huali Zhou, and Qinglin Meng. | 7th International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Signal Processing (ICSP), 2022.\rDownload\r2021 # Utilizing True Wireless Stereo Earbuds in Automated Pure-Tone Audiometry Journal Trends in Hearing Guo, Zhenyu, Guangzheng Yu, Huali Zhou, Xianren Wang, Yigang Lu, and Qinglin Meng. | 25 (2021): 23312165211057367.\rDownload\rAnthropometric-based clustering of pinnae and its application in personalizing HRTFs Journal International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics Guo, Zhenyu, Yigang Lu, Huali Zhou, Zhelin Li, Youming Fan, and Guangzheng Yu. | 81 (2021): 103076.\rDownload\rPitch Perception with Cochlear Implants: Coding Mechanisms and Limitations Journal Journal of Fudan University (Natural Science)复旦学报(自然科学版) Qinglin Meng，Huali Zhou，Guangzheng Yu |60(03),2021， 279-287+296\nDownload\rAn experiment platform for evaluation of cochlear implant coding strategies Master Thesis South China University of Technology Huali Zhou\n2020 # A New Approach for Noise Suppression in Cochlear Implants: A Single-Channel Noise Reduction Algorithm Journal Frontiers in Neuroscience Huali Zhou, Ningyuan Wang, Nengheng Zheng, Guangzheng Yu, and Qinglin Meng. | 14 (2020): 301.\rDownload\rEnhancing the Interaural Time Difference of Bilateral Cochlear Implants with the Temporal Limits Encoder Conference INTERSPEECH 2020 Wan, Yangyang, Huali Zhou, Qinglin Meng, and Nengheng Zheng. | October 25–29, 2020, Shanghai, China\rDownload\r2019 # A preliminary study on sound source localization ability of patients with unilateral hearing loss after auditory prostheses implantation Journal Technical Acoustics Huali Zhou，Guangzheng Yu，Xianren Wang，Qinglin Meng |38(5), 547-548\nDownload\r","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/publications/","section":"Welcome to Huali Zhou's website","summary":"","title":"Publications","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/news/","section":"Welcome to Huali Zhou's website","summary":"","title":"What's new","type":"page"}]