The Usefulness of Sound-Field Auditory Steady State Response (SF ASSR): Comparison of Hearing Sensitivity and Typical ASSR

Do Room Acoustics Affect the Amplitude of Sound-Field Auditory Steady-State Responses?

“…The main finding that emerged from this study is that the ASSR level indeed was reduced for the nonanechoic room conditions compared with the reference anechoic condition. This is a novel finding as the effect of room acoustics on ASSR level has not been systematically investigated in previous studies, which have been mostly focused on testing the viability of ASSR measurements in sound field for hearing assessment and hearing-aid fitting validation (Damarla & Manjula, 2007; Hernandez-Perez & Torres-Fortuny, 2013; Park et al., 2013; Picton et al., 1998; Sardari et al., 2015; Shemesh et al., 2012; Stroebel et al., 2007; Selim et al., 2012). The reduction in the ASSR level for the room conditions was ascribed to smaller stimulus modulations for the measured nonanechoic conditions (see Figure 2B).…”

“…In fact, the studies that investigated sound-field ASSR for hearing-aid fitting validation did not assess the effect of the testing room on the ASSR. Most of these studies only reported the listening environments to be sound-treated-rooms (e.g., Hernandez-Perez & Torres-Fortuny, 2013; Park et al., 2013; Picton et al., 1998; Sardari et al., 2015; Shemesh et al., 2012) with low background noise according to the standard ANSI S3.1 (ANSI S3.1., 2003; e.g., Park et al., 2013; Picton et al., 1998; Sardari et al., 2015), and no information about the reverberation time of the rooms was provided. To understand the effect of the room on sound-field ASSR is crucial, as the reverberation and background noise of the room in which the test is carried out can distort the acoustic stimulus modulation (Houtgast et al., 1980; Plomp, 1983).…”

“…In one of the first reported such studies, Picton et al (1998) estimated physiological hearing thresholds using sound-field ASSR which were not significantly different from behavioral hearing thresholds measured via insert earphones. The majority of research to date has focused on the validation of the sound-field ASSR as an accurate tool for hearing-aid fitting validation, demonstrating a good agreement between physiological and objective thresholds measured in aided and unaided conditions (Damarla & Manjula, 2007;Hernandez-Perez & Torres-Fortuny, 2013;Park et al, 2013;Picton et al, 1998;Sardari et al, 2015;Selim et al, 2012;Shemesh et al, 2012;Stroebel et al, 2007). However, the potential effect of the room on the soundfield ASSR measurement has received little scientific attention.…”