Loss of high- or low-frequency audibility can partially explain effects of hearing loss on emotional responses to non-speech sounds

Buono, Gabrielle H.; Crukley, Jeff; Hornsby, Benjamin W. Y.; Picou, Erin M.

doi:10.1016/j.heares.2020.108153

Cited by 7 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Categories were neutral, pleasant/high arousal, pleasant/low arousal, unpleasant/high arousal, and unpleasant/low arousal. Consistent with earlier work, sounds all had the same peak level (−3.01 dB relative to the sound card maximum; Buono et al, 2021 ; Picou, 2016 ; Picou & Buono, 2018 ). In the current study, sounds were presented at either 60 or 80 dBA overall level.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Then, they provided ratings of valence and arousal in the test conditions. As there is no evidence that rating order affects ratings, participants provided two ratings after each sound and always rated valence before rating arousal ( Bradley & Lang, 2007 ; Buono et al, 2021 ; Picou, 2016 ; Picou & Buono, 2018 ). During testing, a small, black fixation cross (2 cm × 2 cm) appeared on a white background.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent systematic reviews demonstrate some benefit of NFC on speech perception ( Akinseye et al, 2018 ; Mao et al, 2017 ; Simpson et al, 2018 ), but there is a lack of existing research that has investigated the impact of NFC on experienced emotion. The findings of Buono et al (2021) suggest that selectively improving high-frequency audibility, which is the goal of NFC, could improve ratings of valence for participants with hearing loss by resulting in a broader range of experienced emotion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Thus, if loudness is a contributing factor to the negative effects of higher presentation level on ratings of valence reported by Picou (2016) , an individualized hearing aid fitting might expand the range of valence ratings for participants with hearing loss. Indeed, in the study of Buono et al (2021) , the unfiltered stimuli were perceived as louder than the filtered stimuli, yet pleasant stimuli were rated as more pleasant, and unpleasant stimuli were rated as more unpleasant in the unfiltered condition. These results suggest that, by amplifying only specific frequencies, rather than by amplifying all frequencies equally, hearing aids might ameliorate the effects of hearing loss on experienced emotion, resulting in ratings of valence with a wider range relative to ratings without hearing aids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…To explicitly evaluate the relationship between audibility and experienced emotion, Buono et al (2021) presented low- and high-pass filtered (800 and 2000 Hz, respectively) nonspeech sounds to participants with normal hearing and recorded their ratings of valence and arousal. Their results demonstrate that, relative to unfiltered sounds, filtered sounds elicited ratings of valence that were less pleasant (for pleasant stimuli) and less unpleasant (for unpleasant stimuli).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Effects of Increasing the Overall Level or Fitting Hearing Aids on Emotional Responses to Sounds

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adults with hearing loss demonstrate a reduced range of emotional responses to nonspeech sounds compared to their peers with normal hearing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate two possible strategies for addressing the effects of hearing loss on emotional responses: (a) increasing overall level and (b) hearing aid use (with and without nonlinear frequency compression, NFC). Twenty-three adults (mean age = 65.5 years) with mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss and 17 adults (mean age = 56.2 years) with normal hearing participated. All adults provided ratings of valence and arousal without hearing aids in response to nonspeech sounds presented at a moderate and at a high level. Adults with hearing loss also provided ratings while using individually fitted study hearing aids with two settings (NFC-OFF or NFC-ON). Hearing loss and hearing aid use impacted ratings of valence but not arousal. Listeners with hearing loss rated pleasant sounds as less pleasant than their peers, confirming findings in the extant literature. For both groups, increasing the overall level resulted in lower ratings of valence. For listeners with hearing loss, the use of hearing aids (NFC-OFF) also resulted in lower ratings of valence but to a lesser extent than increasing the overall level. Activating NFC resulted in ratings that were similar to ratings without hearing aids (with a moderate presentation level) but did not improve ratings to match those from the listeners with normal hearing. These findings suggest that current interventions do not ameliorate the effects of hearing loss on emotional responses to sound.

show abstract

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 86%