Van Summers

The internal representation of spectral contrast in hearing-impaired listeners.

Abnormal frequency resolution associated with sensorineural hearing impairment produces a smearing of spectral detail in the internal representation of complex acoustic stimuli. As a result, listeners with hearing loss may have difficulty locating spectral peaks (e.g., vowel formants) within stimuli which cue their identity. This study examined the relationship between frequency separation of peaks in a complex spectrum and the degree of spectral contrast preserved in the internal representations in normal and impaired auditory systems. Hearing-impaired and normal-hearing subjects discriminated a flat-spectrum bandpass stimulus from a stimulus containing a sinusoidal ripple across its frequency range. The peak-to-valley amplitude (in dB) necessary for detection of the ripple was measured for ripple frequencies ranging from 1 to 9 cycles/oct. Auditory filter characteristics were also measured at 1 and 3 kHz in order to examine the internal representations of the stimuli after cochlear processing. There were clear differences between groups in both auditory filter characteristics and spectral contrast detection. However, the amount of contrast in the internal representations predicted from these measurements was nearly the same for all subjects, suggesting that the reduced frequency resolution of the hearing-impaired group was largely responsible for differences in required peak-to-valley amplitude in the input spectra. Further, for all subjects, there was a trade-off between the absolute level of internal contrast necessary for ripple detection and the number of samples of this contrast available to the listener.

Auditory filter shapes of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners in continuous broadband noise

Listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment typically exhibit auditory processing deficits such as reduced frequency and/or temporal resolution. Such deficits may represent separate sequela of auditory pathology or may result directly from the sensitivity loss and the requirement to listen at high levels. To assess the impact of increased thresholds on frequency resolution, auditory filter characteristics were determined for hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners at 500 and 2000 Hz in the presence of continuous broadband noise meant as a rough simulation of hearing loss. In the fitting procedure, the low-frequency skirt of the derived auditory filter was allowed to vary as a function of signal level, permitting different filter shapes to be estimated at high versus low signal levels. Listeners with moderate hearing losses at 2000 Hz demonstrated near-normal auditory filter shapes for lower signal levels, but increasingly broad and asymmetric filters as signal level was raised. At 500 Hz, where hearing losses were mild, filter bandwidths increased little at the higher signal levels. The presence of broadband noise had essentially no effect on filter shapes of either listener group. The filter shape abnormalities demonstrated by listeners with moderate hearing loss, which were not observed in normal-hearing listeners at the same signal levels, indicate that poor frequency resolution in these patients for high-intensity stimuli does not follow directly from decreased sensitivity, but instead reflects an independent pathology.

Identifying dead regions in the cochlea: psychophysical tuning curves and tone detection in threshold-equalizing noise.

Objective Recent studies indicate that high-frequency amplification may provide little benefit for listeners with moderate-to-severe high-frequency hearing loss, and may even reduce speech recognition. Moore and colleagues have proposed a direct link between this lack of benefit and the presence of regions of nonfunctioning inner hair cells (dead regions) in the basal cochlea and have suggested that psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) and tone detection thresholds in threshold-equalizing noise (TEN) are psychoacoustic measures that allow detection of dead regions ([Moore, Huss, Vickers, Glasberg, & Alcántara, 2000]; [Vickers, Moore, & Baer, 2001]). The experiments reported here examine the consistency of TEN and PTC tasks in identifying dead regions in listeners with high-frequency hearing loss. Design Seventeen listeners (18 ears) with steeply sloping moderate-to-severe high-frequency hearing loss were tested in PTC and TEN tasks intended to identify ears with high-frequency dead regions. In the PTC task, pure-tone signals of fixed level were masked by narrowband noise that slowly increased in center frequency. For a range of signal frequencies, noise levels at masked threshold were determined as a function of masker frequency. In the TEN task, masked thresholds for pure-tone signals were determined for a fixed-level, 70 dB/ERB TEN masker (for some listeners, 85 or 90 dB/ERB TEN was also tested at selected probe frequencies). Results TEN and PTC results agreed on the presence or absence of dead regions at all tested frequencies in 10 of 18 cases (∼56% agreement rate). Six ears showed results consistent with either mid- or high-frequency dead regions in both tasks, and four ears did not show evidence of dead regions in either task. In eight ears, the TEN and PTC tasks produced conflicting results at one or more frequencies. In instances where the TEN and PTC results disagreed, the TEN results suggested the presence of dead regions whereas the PTC results did not. Conclusions The 56% agreement rate between the TEN and PTC tasks indicates that at least one of these tasks was only partially reliable as a diagnostic tool. Factors unrelated to the presence of dead regions may contribute to excess masking in TEN without producing tip shifts in PTCs. Thus it may be appropriate to view tuning curve results as more reliable in cases where TEN and PTC results disagree. The current results do not provide support for the TEN task as a reliable diagnostic tool for identification of dead regions.

Modulation rate detection and discrimination by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

Modulation detection and modulation rate discrimination thresholds were obtained at three different modulation rates (fm = 80, 160, and 320 Hz) and for three different ranges of modulation depths (m): full (100%), mid (70%-80%), and low (40%-60%) with both normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) subjects. The results showed that modulation detection thresholds increased with modulation rate, but significantly more so for HI than for NH subjects. Similarly, rate discrimination thresholds (delta r) increased with increases in fm and decreases in modulation depth. When compared to NH subjects, rate discrimination thresholds for HI subjects were significantly worse for all rates and for all depths. At the fastest modulation rate with less than 100% modulation depth, most HI subjects could not discriminate any change in rate. When valid thresholds for rate discrimination were obtained for HI subjects, they ranged from 2.5 semitones (delta r = 12.7 Hz, fm = 80 Hz, m = 100%) to 8.7 semitones (delta r = 214.5 Hz, fm = 320 Hz, m = 100%). In contrast, average rate discrimination thresholds for NH subjects ranged from 0.9 semitones (delta r = 4.2 Hz, fm = 80 Hz, m = 100%) to 4.7 semitones (delta r = 103.5 Hz, fm = 320 Hz, m = 60%). Some of the differences in temporal processing between NH and HI subjects, especially those related to modulation detection, may be accounted for by differences in signal audibility, especially for high-frequency portions of the modulated noise. However, in many cases, HI subjects encountered great difficulty discriminating a change in modulation rate even though the modulation components of the standard and test stimuli were detectable.

Effects of high presentation levels on recognition of low- and high-frequency speech

Speech recognition accuracy decreases when presentation levels are raised above moderate levels. This “rollover” effect at high levels has generally been viewed as a broadband phenomenon, influencing low- and high-frequency processing similarly. In the current study, listeners with normal hearing identified lowpass and highpass sentences at a range of presentation levels to determine whether rollover effects might be greater in either region. Recognition scores showed larger and more consistent decreases at high levels (i.e., greater rollover) for high-frequency speech materials. The results are consistent with both physiological and psychoacoustic data suggesting that cochlear processing shows greater level dependence in basal regions tuned to high frequencies than apical, low-frequency regions. Predictions of speech intelligibility by methods such as the Speech Intelligibility Index [ANSI, 1997] may be improved if the frequency-dependence of rollover is considered.

Effects of hearing impairment and presentation level on masking period patterns for Schroeder-phase harmonic complexes.

Masking period patterns (MPPs) for Schroeder-phase harmonic complexes containing equal-amplitude harmonics of a 100-Hz fundamental were determined for 5-ms tonal probes at 4,000 and 1,000 Hz. Maskers consisted of harmonics 2-50 (200-5,000 Hz bandwidth) for 4,000-Hz probes and harmonics 2-20 (200-2,000 Hz) for 1,000-Hz signals. Masked thresholds were determined for probe onsets 153, 155.5, 158, 160.5, and 163 ms following masker onset (masker duration=460 ms). Overall, results were similar for both probe frequencies. For listeners with normal hearing, MPPs for positive Schroeder-phase complexes masking 60 dB SPL probes were highly modulated and became flatter when probe level was increased to 80 dB SPL. MPPs were less modulated for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss than for normally hearing listeners at both 60 and 80 dB SPL probe levels. Thresholds in negative Schroeder-phase maskers were more similar across the two groups of listeners and across differences in probe position and probe level. The findings support an interpretation involving differences in the shape of the basilar-membrane waveform generated by each masker and possible influences of nonlinear cochlear processing on these internal responses. For normally hearing listeners, 60 dB SPL probes were most difficult to detect when temporally positioned so that probe frequency and masker instantaneous frequency were closely matched. For 80 dB SPL probes and for hearing-impaired listeners, probes presented at these same positions were often more easily detected than probes at other positions. The latter result appears to involve benefit associated with in-phase addition of the probe to a portion of the masker similar to the probe in both frequency and phase. This benefit was reduced or entirely eliminated when probe phase was altered so that this in-phase addition did not occur.

Suprathreshold auditory processing and speech perception in noise: hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners.

BACKGROUND It is widely believed that suprathreshold distortions in auditory processing contribute to the speech recognition deficits experienced by hearing-impaired (HI) listeners in noise. Damage to outer hair cells and attendant reductions in peripheral compression and frequency selectivity may contribute to these deficits. In addition, reduced access to temporal fine structure (TFS) information in the speech waveform may play a role. PURPOSE To examine how measures of peripheral compression, frequency selectivity, and TFS sensitivity relate to speech recognition performance by HI listeners. To determine whether distortions in processing reflected by these psychoacoustic measures are more closely associated with speech deficits in steady-state or modulated noise. RESEARCH DESIGN Normal-hearing (NH) and HI listeners were tested on tasks examining frequency selectivity (notched-noise task), peripheral compression (temporal masking curve task), and sensitivity to TFS information (frequency modulation [FM] detection task) in the presence of random amplitude modulation. Performance was tested at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz at several presentation levels. The same listeners were tested on sentence recognition in steady-state and modulated noise at several signal-to-noise ratios. STUDY SAMPLE Ten NH and 18 HI listeners were tested. NH listeners ranged in age from 36 to 80 yr (M = 57.6). For HI listeners, ages ranged from 58 to 87 yr (M = 71.8). RESULTS Scores on the FM detection task at 1 and 2 kHz were significantly correlated with speech scores in both noise conditions. Frequency selectivity and compression measures were not as clearly associated with speech performance. Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) analyses indicated only small differences in speech audibility across subjects for each signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) condition that would predict differences in speech scores no greater than 10% at a given SNR. Actual speech scores varied by as much as 80% across subjects. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that distorted processing of audible speech cues was a primary factor accounting for differences in speech scores across subjects and that reduced ability to use TFS cues may be an important component of this distortion. The influence of TFS cues on speech scores was comparable in steady-state and modulated noise. Speech recognition was not related to audibility, represented by the SII, once high-frequency sensitivity differences across subjects (beginning at 5 kHz) were removed statistically. This might indicate that high-frequency hearing loss is associated with distortions in processing in lower-frequency regions.

Do tests for cochlear dead regions provide important information for fitting hearing aids? (L)

For listeners with cochlear hearing loss, cochlear damage may include “dead regions” with no functioning inner hair cells and/or associated neurons. Recent studies indicate that amplifying frequencies more than 1.7 times the edge frequency (1.7Fe) of a high-frequency dead region is unlikely to improve (and may reduce) speech scores [Vickers et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 1164–1175 (2001); Baer et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 1133–1144 (2002)]. These results were taken as evidence that tests to identify dead regions could improve hearing aid fitting. In the current study, practicing audiologists examined audiograms of listeners diagnosed as having high-frequency dead regions. The audiologists were given no specific information regarding dead regions for any individual, and were asked to base amplification decisions entirely on the audiograms. Most audiologists did not recommend amplification of frequencies with hearing losses exceeding 90 dB HL. Reexamination of speech results reported by Vickers et al....

Pitch strength and pitch dominance of iterated rippled noises in hearing-impaired listeners

Reports using a variety of psychophysical tasks indicate that pitch perception by hearing-impaired listeners may be abnormal, contributing to difficulties in understanding speech and enjoying music. Pitches of complex sounds may be weaker and more indistinct in the presence of cochlear damage, especially when frequency regions are affected that form the strongest basis for pitch perception in normal-hearing listeners. In this study, the strength of the complex pitch generated by iterated rippled noise was assessed in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. Pitch strength was measured for broadband noises with spectral ripples generated by iteratively delaying a copy of a given noise and adding it back into the original. Octave-band-pass versions of these noises also were evaluated to assess frequency dominance regions for rippled-noise pitch. Hearing-impaired listeners demonstrated consistently weaker pitches in response to the rippled noises relative to pitch strength in normal-hearing listeners. However, in most cases, the frequency regions of pitch dominance, i.e., strongest pitch, were similar to those observed in normal-hearing listeners. Except where there exists a substantial sensitivity loss, contributions from normal pitch dominance regions associated with the strongest pitches may not be directly related to impaired spectral processing. It is suggested that the reduced strength of rippled-noise pitch in listeners with hearing loss results from impaired frequency resolution and possibly an associated deficit in temporal processing.

Intraspeech spread of masking in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

Hearing-impaired and normal-hearing listeners labeled synthetic consonant-vowel stimuli (/ba/, /da/, /ga/, /be/, /de/, /ge/) presented at moderate and high signal levels. First formant (F1) regions were synthesized at normal and at attenuated levels to test whether F1 attenuation might reduce upward spread of masking, making information contained in higher formant regions more available. Performance was tested in quiet and in broadband noise sufficient to mask initial release bursts. Although complete removal of F1 consistently reduced performance, F1 attenuation of up to 18 dB led to increased labeling accuracy, particularly in the /a/ vowel context. Benefit associated with F1 attenuation was more consistently seen for hearing-impaired than for normal-hearing listeners and, in particular, for listeners with steep increases in audiometric thresholds between the first and second formant regions of the test stimuli. The availability of initial bursts as a source of place cues during testing in quiet did not reduce the benefit associated with F1 attenuation.