Development of a fast method for measuring sensitivity to temporal fine structure information at low frequencies

Abstract

Recent work suggests that hearing-impaired subjects are relatively insensitive to temporal fine structure (TFS) information, but that sensitivity among subjects varies considerably. Moore and Sek (2009) developed a fast and easy to administer test of sensitivity to TFS, but it can only be used at medium to high frequencies. Here we describe a binaural method that can be used at lower frequencies. An adaptive two-alternative forced-choice task was used. Each interval contained four tones with frequency f; in one interval all tones were diotic, and in the other tones one and three were diotic while tones two and four had an interaural phase shift, Δϕ. The task was to identify the interval with the phase-shifted tones. For normal-hearing subjects, the effects of sensation level and training on performance were small, and the test could be performed reliably for f = 250, 500, and 750 Hz.

Development of a method for determining binaural sensitivity to temporal fine structure

“…The ability to detect changes in IPD of low-frequency sinusoidal tones was assessed using the older TFS-LF test (Hopkins and Moore 2010) and the new TFS-AF test. For both tests, a 2I, 2AFC procedure with feedback was used.…”

“…A test of binaural sensitivity to TFS was developed by Hopkins and Moore (2010). The test, called the TFS-LF test, is based on measuring thresholds for detecting changes in interaural phase difference (IPD) in bursts of pure tones, presented via headphones.…”

“…The value of u is adapted to determine a threshold. As for the TFS1 test, the task is easy to explain to listeners, and practice effects are small (Hopkins and Moore 2010).…”

Effects of Age and Hearing Loss on the Processing of Auditory Temporal Fine Structure

“…A task of this type is the TFS-LF test (where LF stands for low-frequency) (Hopkins and Moore 2010b;Sek and Moore 2012). tested 35 subjects with audiometric thresholds ≤ 20 dB HL from 0.25 to 6 kHz and ages from 22 to 61 years.…”

Congenital amusics use a secondary pitch mechanism to identify lexical tones

“…Four tones were presented in each interval, separated by 20 ms silence. In one interval all four stimuli had the same phase (Φ) at both ears, whilst in the other interval the second and fourth tones contained an interaural phase shift (ΔΦ) between the two ears (Hopkins and Moore, 2010), producing a sensation of the tone moving. The task was to identify the interval in which the tones moved.…”