Temporal fine structure: relations to cognition and aided speech recognition.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate how sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) correlates with cognitive abilities and speech recognition in adult hearing aid users. Design: The cognitive tests included measures of working memory and executive function. Aided speech recognition was assessed using an adaptive sentence-in-noise recognition task, and a matrix sentence test presented in two types of noise, using three signal processing strategies. Study sample: One hundred eighty-nine adults with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss, and at least one year of hearing aid experience. Results: After partialling out the effects of age, sensitivity to TFS correlated with the measures of executive function, but not with working memory. While TFS correlated with some of the speech recognition tasks, neither signal processing condition, difficulty, or background noise type affected the degree to which TFS correlated with performance. Conclusions: The results provide some evidence of an association between TFS and speech-in-noise recognition. That this association was not significantly affected by signal processing strategy goes against the idea that TFS sensitivity is likely to impact on the success of a particular hearing aid signal processing strategy. The results, together with previous findings, suggest a possible link between sensitivity to TFS and visuospatial processing.