Effect of audibility on better-ear glimpsing as a function of frequency in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

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    Abstract

    Better-ear glimpsing (BEG) is an auditory phenomenon that helps understanding speech in noise by utilizing interaural level differences (ILDs). The benefit provided by BEG is limited in hearing-impaired (HI) listeners by reduced audibility at high frequencies. Rana and Buchholz [(2016). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 140(2), 1192-1205] have shown that artificially enhancing ILDs at low and mid frequencies can help HI listeners understanding speech in noise, but the achieved benefit is smaller than in normal-hearing (NH) listeners. To understand how far this difference is explained by differences in audibility, audibility was carefully controlled here in ten NH and ten HI listeners and speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise were measured in a spatially separated and co-located condition as a function of frequency and sensation level. Maskers were realized by noise-vocoded speech and signals were spatialized using artificially generated broadband ILDs. The spatial benefit provided by BEG and SRTs improved consistently with increasing sensation level, but was limited in the HI listeners by loudness discomfort. Further, the HI listeners performed similar to NH listeners when differences in audibility were compensated. The results help to understand the hearing aid gain that is required to maximize the spatial benefit provided by ILDs as a function of frequency.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2195-2206
    Number of pages12
    JournalJournal of the Acoustical Society of America
    Volume143
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2018

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright 2018 Acoustical Society of America. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the Acoustical Society of America. The following article appeared in Rana, B., & Buchholz, J. M. (2018). Effect of audibility on better-ear glimpsing as a function of frequency in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 143(4), 2195-2206 and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5031007

    Keywords

    • SPEECH RECEPTION THRESHOLD
    • DYNAMIC-RANGE COMPRESSION
    • INDUCED INTERAURAL TIME
    • SPATIAL RELEASE
    • LEVEL DIFFERENCES
    • INFORMATIONAL MASKING
    • ENERGETIC MASKING
    • COCKTAIL PARTY
    • LISN-S
    • NOISE

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