The influence of hearing-aid compression on forward-masked thresholds for adults with hearing loss

Abstract

This paper describes forward-masked thresholds for adults with hearing loss. Previous research has demonstrated that the loss of cochlear compression contributes to deficits in this measure of temporal resolution. Cochlear compression can be mimicked with fast-acting compression where the normal dynamic range is mapped to the impaired dynamic range. To test the hypothesis that fastacting compression will most-closely approximate the normal ability to perceive forward-masked pure-tones, forward-masked thresholds were measured for two groups of adults (normal hearing, hearing loss). Adults with normal hearing were tested without amplification. Adults with hearing loss were tested with three different compression speeds and two different prescriptive procedures using a hearing-aid simulator. The two prescriptive procedures differed in the extent to which the normal dynamic range was mapped onto the impaired dynamic range. When using a faster compression speed with the prescriptive procedure that best restored the lost dynamic range, forwardmasked thresholds for the listeners with hearing loss approximated those observed for the listeners with normal hearing.

Assessing the effects of hearing-aid compression on auditory spectral and temporal resolution using an auditory modeling framework

“…The predicted increase in the DoFM of the aided HI is most likely due to the overall gain introduced by both amplification schemes, which increased the audibility of the stimulus. This is in line with the findings of Brennan [6], who found an improvement in forward-masking thresholds even with slow-acting compression. The advantage of fast-acting compression with a very short release time, such as the one used in the present study, is that the gain changes quickly enough to improve the output SNR.…”

“…The speed of gain reduction and recovery in a compressor are governed, respectively, by its attack and release time constants. Attack times ranging from 1 to 10 ms have been reported [6,7]. Such short attack times allow the hearing aid to quickly react to sudden increases in the signal level.…”

“…Brennan et al [17] found that hearing-aid WDRC, compared to linear amplification, reduced modulation detection thresholds whereas gap detection thresholds did not depend on the processing scheme. The same authors studied the effect of compression with different configurations of time constants on the recovery from forward masking in HI listeners [6]. The improvement in forward-masking thresholds was found to be largest using very short time constants (1 ms attack, 5 ms release) where the gain for the masker was reduced and quickly recovered to higher values for the following lowlevel probe, increasing its level and improving the output SNR.…”

Effects of Hearing Loss and Fast-Acting Compression on Amplitude Modulation Perception and Speech Intelligibility

“…It has been shown that multiband DRC with compression attack and release time-constants of 10 ms can restore normal loudness perception for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss (LSNHL; Strelcyk et al 2012). It has also been demonstrated that measures of auditory temporal resolution that are assumed to be affected by recruitment, such as gap detection and forward masking, can at least partly be restored for LSNHL by fast-acting DRC with attack and release times less than 60 ms (e.g., Brennan et al 2015;Kowalewski et al 2015).…”

Community network for deaf scientists

“…Most of us meet in person at the annual meeting of the ARO (as well as other professional conferences), where our network has secured equal access to podium and poster sessions through sign language interpreters, hearing-assistive technology, and real-time captioning. The efficacy of our distributed model of peer support, mentorship, and integration with the wider scientific community is validated in part by those members of HI-ARO who have become academic faculty (4-6), secured competitively funded national research awards, and published influential manuscripts in high-impact journals [e.g., (7-10]. …”