Leading and following: Noise differently affects semantic and acoustic processing during naturalistic speech comprehension

Xinmiao Zhang, Jiawei Li, Zhuoran Li, Bo Hong, Tongxiang Diao, Xin Ma, Guido Nolte, Andreas K. Engel, Dan Zhang

Abstract: Highlights•Leading responses were observed in the semantic-level neural tracking, with more leading latencies as noise increased.•Following responses were observed in the acoustic-level neural tracking, with more delayed latencies as noise increased.•Semantic-level neural tracking is correlated with comprehension performance and perceived intelligibility.•Distinct frequency bands were involved in speech semantic and acoustic processing.