Speech perception ability and psychophysical tuning curves in hearing-impaired listeners.
Performance-intensity functions for monosyllabic words were obtained as a function of signal-to-noise ratio for broadband and low-pass filtered noise. Subjects were 11 normal-hearing listeners and 13 hearing-impaired listeners with flat, moderate sensorineural hearing losses and good speech-discrimination ability (at least 86%) in quiet. In the broadband-noise condition, only small differences in speech perception were noted between the two groups. In low-pass noise, however, large differences in performance were observed. These findings were correlated with various aspects of psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) obtained from the same individuals. Results of a multivariate analysis suggest that performance in broadband noise is correlated with filter bandwidth (Q10), while performance in low-pass noise is correlated with changes on the low-frequency side of the PTC.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*