A Comparison of Auditory Perception in Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Listeners: An Auditory Scene Analysis Study

Abstract

BackgroundAuditory scene analysis (ASA) is the process by which the auditory system separates individual sounds in natural-world situations. ASA is a key function of auditory system, and contributes to speech discrimination in noisy backgrounds. It is known that sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) detrimentally affects auditory function in complex environments, but relatively few studies have focused on the influence of SNHL on higher level processes which are likely involved in auditory perception in different situations.ObjectivesThe purpose of the current study was to compare the auditory system ability of normally hearing and SNHL subjects using the ASA examination.Materials and MethodsA total of 40 right-handed adults (age range: 18 - 45 years) participated in this study. The listeners were divided equally into control and mild to moderate SNHL groups. ASA ability was measured using an ABA-ABA sequence. The frequency of the "A" was kept constant at 500, 1000, 2000 or 4000 Hz, while the frequency of the "B" was set at 3 to 80 percent above the" A" tone. For ASA threshold detection, the frequency of the B stimulus was decreased until listeners reported that they could no longer hear two separate sounds.ResultsThe ASA performance was significantly better for controls than the SNHL group; these differences were more obvious at higher frequencies. We found no significant differences between ASA ability as a function of tone durations in both groups.ConclusionsThe present study indicated that SNHL may cause a reduction in perceptual separation of the incoming acoustic information to form accurate representations of our acoustic world.

Auditory Stream Segregation With Sinusoidally Amplitude Modulated Tonal Stimuli in Individuals With Sensorineural Hearing Loss

“…The SAM signal was generated based on earlier studies [9,15] using AUX Viewer version 1.0 software. The SAM signal had a carrier frequency (fc) of 1 kHz and a modulation frequency (fmod) of either 16 Hz or 256 Hz.…”

“…There are a few reports in the literature where the phenomenon of auditory stream segregation is seen to be affected in individuals with cochlear hearing loss [5,9]. Poor auditory stream segregation has been noticed in patients with cochlear hearing loss even when there is a large frequency separation between the two successive tones [5,9]. This is attributed to poor frequency selectivity in these individuals.…”

Perceptual organization of sequential stimuli in cochlear implant listeners: A temporal processing approach

“…However, some difficulty persists even when sounds are amplified to a comfort level [1][2][3] . It has been reported that some supra-threshold auditory capacities may be affected in these populations [3][4][5][6] . Loss of acoustic information could be compensated using other non-auditory cues during silence.…”

Informed Sound Source Localization Using Relative Transfer Functions for Hearing Aid Applications

“…I N realistic acoustic scenes, where several sound sources are present simultaneously, the auditory scene analysis (ASA) ability in humans allows them to focus deliberately on a sound source while suppressing the other irrelevant sound sources [1]. Sensorineural hearing loss degrades this ability [2], and hearing impaired listeners face difficulties in interacting with the environment. Hearing aid systems (HASs) may take some of these ASA responsibilities to restore the normal interactions of the hearing impaired users with the environment.…”