Extension of a temporal model of frequency discrimination: intensity effects in normal and hearing-impaired listeners.
The effects of intensity on the difference limen for frequency (DLF) in normal-hearing and in hearing-impaired listeners are incorporated into the temporal model of frequency discrimination proposed by Goldstein and Srulovicz [Psychophysics and Physiology of Hearing, edited by E. F. Evans and J.P. Wilson (Academic, New York, 1977)]. A simple extension of the temporal mode, which includes the dependence of phase locking on intensity, is sufficient to predict the effects of intensity on the DLF in normal-hearing listeners. To account for elevated DLFs in hearing-impaired listeners the impairment is modeled as a reduction in the synchrony of the discharge from VIIIth-nerve fibers that innervate the region of hearing loss. Constraints on the optimal processor and the validity of the temporal model at high frequencies are discussed.
D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D010897:Pitch Discrimination / Q000502:physiology*; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013997:Time Factors