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

2019

Acoust. Sci. & Tech.

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Within the cochlea, broadband sounds like speech and music are filtered into a series of narrowband signals, each with a relatively slowly varying envelope (ENV) imposed on a rapidly oscillating carrier (the temporal fine structure, TFS). Information about ENV and TFS is conveyed in the timing and short-term rate of action potentials in the auditory nerve. This paper describes the role of ENV and TFS information in pitch perception, binaural processing, and the perception of speech in the presence of background sounds. The paper also describes the effects of hearing loss and age on the processing of TFS and ENV information. The monaural and binaural processing of TFS information is adversely affected by both hearing loss and increasing age. The monaural processing of ENV information is little affected by hearing loss or by increasing age. The binaural processing of ENV information deteriorates somewhat with increasing age but is not markedly affected by hearing loss. The reduced TFS processing abilities found for older/hearing-impaired subjects may partially account for the difficulties that such subjects experience in complex listening situations.

Section: Binaural Processing For Normal-hearing Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effects Of Age and Hearing Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

The roles of temporal envelope and fine structure information in auditory perception

2019

Acoust. Sci. & Tech.

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“…The initial value of ϕ is usually set to 180°, and ϕ is adaptively varied to determine the threshold. Although this test has frequently been used to assess sensitivity to binaural TFS ( Ernst & Moore, 2012 ; Füllgrabe, 2013 ; Füllgrabe et al., 2015 ; Füllgrabe, Harland, Sęk, & Moore, 2017 ; Hopkins & Moore, 2011 ; Léger, Moore, & Lorenzi, 2012 ; Lőcsei et al., 2016 ; Moore, Glasberg, Stoev, Füllgrabe, & Hopkins, 2012a ; Moore, Vickers, & Mehta, 2012b ; Neher et al., 2012 ; Oberfeld & Klöckner-Nowotny, 2016 ; Perez et al., 2014 ; Rönnberg et al., 2016 ; Sharma, Dhamani, Leung, & Carlile, 2014 ; Whitmer, Seeber, & Akeroyd, 2014 ), it has been repeatedly observed that some listeners are unable to perform the task, and hence no graded measure of sensitivity to TFS is obtained for those listeners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a series of experiments with YNH listeners (with audiometric thresholds ≤ 20 dB hearing level [HL] from 125 to 8000 Hz), Füllgrabe et al. (2017) established that all listeners were able to perform the TFS-AF test reliably, there was no trend for performance to improve with practice, and thresholds were strongly negatively correlated with those measured using the TFS-LF test (high frequencies at threshold for the TFS-AF test are associated with good TFS sensitivity, which in turn is associated with low thresholds in degrees for the TFS-LF test).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of a Method for Determining Binaural Sensitivity to Temporal Fine Structure (TFS-AF Test) for Older Listeners With Normal and Impaired Low-Frequency Hearing

Füllgrabe

2017

Trends in Hearing

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The ability to process binaural temporal fine structure (TFS) information was assessed using the TFS-AF test (where AF stands for adaptive frequency) for 26 listeners aged 60 years or more with normal or elevated low-frequency audiometric thresholds. The test estimates the highest frequency at which a fixed interaural phase difference (IPD) of ϕ (varied here between 30° and 180°) can be discriminated from an IPD of 0°, with higher thresholds indicating better performance. A sensation level of 30 dB was used. All listeners were able to perform the task reliably, giving thresholds well above the lowest allowed frequency of 30 Hz. The duration of a run averaged 5 min. Repeated testing of the normal-hearing listeners showed no significant practice effects. Thresholds varied markedly across listeners, but their ranking was fairly consistent across values of ϕ. Thresholds decreased (worsened) with decreasing ϕ and were lower than for a group of young listeners tested in an earlier study. There were weak to moderate, negative correlations between TFS-AF thresholds and audiometric thresholds at low frequencies (125–1000 Hz) but not at high frequencies (4000–8000 Hz). In conclusion, the TFS-AF test yielded a graded measure of binaural TFS sensitivity for all listeners. This contrasts with the TFS-LF (low-frequency) test, which measures the smallest detectable shift in IPD for a fixed frequency. The absence of practice effects and a reasonably short administration time make the TFS-AF test a good candidate for the assessment of sensitivity to changes in binaural TFS for older listeners without or with hearing loss.

“…The frequency starts at a low value, such as 200 Hz. Most subjects can perform the task well when the frequency is low, but performance worsens when the frequency increases, and above some frequency the task becomes impossible [57,58]. Hence, the highest frequency at which the task can be performed gives a measure of binaural sensitivity to TFS.…”

Section: Sensitivity To Temporal Fine Structure (Tfs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

PSYCHOACOUSTICS: Software package for psychoacoustics

Sęk

2020

Acoust. Sci. & Tech.

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Current research in the field of psychoacoustics is mostly conducted using a computer to generate and present the stimuli and to collect the responses of the subject. However, writing the computer software to do this is time-consuming and requires technical expertise that is not possessed by many would-be researchers. We have developed a software package that makes it possible to set up and conduct a wide variety of experiments in psychoacoustics without the need for time-consuming programming or technical expertise. The only requirements are a personal computer (PC) with a goodquality sound card and a set of headphones. Parameters defining the stimuli and procedure are entered via boxes on the screen and drop-down menus. Possible experiments include measurement of the absolute threshold, simultaneous and forward masking (including notched-noise masking), comodulation masking release, intensity and frequency discrimination, amplitude-modulation detection and discrimination, gap detection, discrimination of interaural time and level differences, measurement of sensitivity to temporal fine structure, and measurement of the binaural masking level difference. The software is intended to be useful both for researchers and for students who want to try psychoacoustic experiments for themselves, which can be very valuable in helping them gain a deeper understanding of auditory perception.