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Apr 1991

Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 1851-2015

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back to top Session 9PP: Psychological and Physiological Acoustics: Auditory Perception in Hearing‐Impaired Listeners
Contributed Papers
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Temporal resolution of frequency‐modulated signals by hearing‐impaired listeners (A)

John P. Madden and Lawrence L. Feth

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 2008-2008 (1991); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Hearing‐impaired and normally hearing subjects were asked to discriminate between two sinusoidal signals. One signal, the glide, moved from its initial frequency over a linear path to its final frequency. The other, the step signal, was the same except that its trajectory followed a series of discrete steps in frequency. As the number of steps increased, the duration of the individual steps decreased, and the signal more closely resembled the glide. The center frequencies of the signals were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 kHz. The signals were presented to the two groups at equal SLs and at equal SPLs. The impaired subjects exhibited significantly poorer discrimination than the normally hearing subjects, indicating a reduced ability to temporally resolve the step modulation. A frequency effect was evident in both groups, with much poorer resolution at 4.0 kHz. A level effect was noted in the normal subjects, who exhibited poorer resolution at higher SPLs. The results from the normally hearing subjects were very similar to temporal resolution values obtained in previous studies using amplitude‐modulated (gapped) sinusoids. [Work supported by a grant from AFOSR.]
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Frequency selectivity and pitch discrimination in young and elderly subjects with cochlear hearing loss (A)

Robert Peters and Brian C. J. Moore

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 2008-2008 (1991); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Pure and complex tone pitch discrimination data were obtained for two groups of hearing‐impaired subjects, young and elderly, and for normally hearing subjects. Auditory filter shapes were also estimated for center frequencies of 100, 200, 400, and 800 Hz using a modified notched‐noise method [B. J. Glasberg and B. C. J. Moore, Hear. Res. 47, 103–138 (1990)]. Frequency DLs for pulsed tones were measured for frequencies from 50–4000 Hz. DLs for the fundamental frequency (F0) of complex tones were measured for F0s of 50, 100, 200, and 400 Hz, for complexes containing harmonics 1–12, 6–12, 4–12, and 1–5. The components were added in either cosine phase or in alternating sine‐cosine phase. Auditory filters for the young and elderly impaired subjects were similar; both groups had broader filters than the normal subjects. Complex tone DLs were larger for the impaired subjects. Complex tone DLs were especially large for the tones with harmonics 1–5 and 1–12 at F0s of 50 and 100 Hz. These DLs were reduced (i.e., performances improved) when the lower harmonics were removed. Complex tone DLs were affected by the relative phases of the components for some but not all of the hearing‐impaired subjects. The implications of the results for pitch theories will be discussed. [Research supported by the Andrus Foundation.]
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Modulation detection as an index of residual auditory function (A)

C. Formby, L. Morgan, J. Burton, and T. G. Forrest

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 2008-2008 (1991); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Indirect tests of residual auditory function often assume that the temporal envelope is the primary cue in the acoustic signal for profoundly hearing‐impaired persons who are without auditory function. In contrast, for hearing‐impaired persons who retain residual auditory function, both temporal envelope and spectral cues are available. This hypothesis was evaluated directly by studying simultaneously temporal envelope and spectral resolution in seven profoundly hearing‐impaired subjects (ten ears). Amplitude modulation (AM) detection thresholds were measured with a 250‐Hz carrier, modulated at rates of 40 and 150 Hz, presented by headphones and by hand vibration. At 40 Hz, where the AM sidebands fell within the same critical band as the carrier and could not be resolved, all subjects yielded similar headphone and vibrator results. At 150 Hz, headphone thresholds for six ears were better than the vibrotactile threshold, while four ears yielded little or no difference in performance between the two transducers. The latter results reflect differences in resolution between ears with and without functional critical band mechanisms and, hence, inherent differences between auditory and vibrotactile processing. [Research supported by NIH.]
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Inaudible stimulus may cause threshold shift (A)

I. M. Young and L. D. Lowry

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 2009-2009 (1991); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Interrupted pure‐tone threshold measurements were made monaurally by Békésy audiometry with and without presentation of inaudible identical continuous stimulus and white noise on subjects with bilateral normal hearing and unilateral sensorineural hearing loss with and without abnormal auditory threshold adaptation. Thresholds were compared for interrupted stimulus only and both interrupted stimulus and inaudible stimulus presentation. Subjects with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss without abnormal adaptation showed no difference with and without presentation of the inaudible continuous stimulus. Subjects with sensorineural hearing loss demonstrating marked abnormal adaptation revealed observable threshold shift for the interrupted stimulus by adding inaudible stimulus. It is assumed that the inaudible stimulus affecting partially damaged nerve fibers produce widespread abnormal adaptation that the threshold for another signal is inaudible until an abnormally high intensity is reached. A stimulus incapable of evoking a response may cause adaptation in such fibers.
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Auditory factors in obscure auditory dysfunction (A)

Susan R. Mahanes and Robert Peters

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 2009-2009 (1991); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Obscure auditory dysfunction (OAD), defined as a self‐reported difficulty in understanding speech in noise by persons with normal audiograms and no other obvious causes, is commonly seen in clinical settings [G. H. Saunders and M. P. Haggard, Ear Hear. 10, 200–208]. In an attempt to characterize the hearing difficulties experienced by this population, measures of frequency selectivity, complex and pure‐tone discrimination and gap detection were obtained, as well as speech, audiometric, and case history data. Results indicated impaired frequency selectivity at low frequencies, especially at 100 Hz and higher than normal thresholds for complex‐ and pure‐tone pitch and gap detection also at the lower frequencies. Speech reception thresholds in noise were not consistently higher than for normal listeners. [Research supported by the American Speech‐Language‐Hearing Foundation, NC Regional Chapter of the Acoustical Society of America, and the Andrus Foundation.]
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Monaural detection with a contralateral cue in normal‐hearing and hearing‐impaired listeners (A)

J. Koehnke and J. Besing

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 89, Issue 4B, pp. 2009-2009 (1991); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 14 Aug 2005

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Monaural detection with and without a contralateral cue (MDCC) in normal‐hearing and hearing‐impaired listeners is investigated. The signals and cues are 1/3‐octave noise bands centered at 500 and 4000 Hz, and the masker is a 4500‐Hz low‐pass noise. The level of the masker is 77 dB SPL for the normal‐hearing listeners and 25 dB SL for the hearing‐impaired listeners; when present, the cue is at − 7 dB relative to the masker. Psychometric functions for three normal‐hearing subjects and three subjects with moderate‐to‐severe, bilateral sensorineural hearing losses have been measured. The normal‐hearing listeners show a 2–8 dB cued advantage at 503 Hz and a 1–11 dB cued disadvantage at 4000 Hz. Like the normal‐hearing listeners, the hearing‐impaired subjects have poorer performance at 4000 Hz when the cue is present. At 500 Hz, however, one of the hearing‐impaired listeners shows a 5 dB cued advantage, comparable to normal, while the other hearing‐impaired subjects have poorer detection when the cue is present. Results of these MDCC measurements will be compared with the performance of these hearing‐impaired listeners on other tests of binaural detection and discrimination. [Work supported by DRF.]
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