Midfrequency dysfunction in listeners having high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss.
Two-tone unmasking, psychophysical tuning curves and pure-tone masking patterns were measured at 500 and 1000 Hz in 17 listeners having high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss due to noise exposure. Results were compared to similar data obtained from 20 normal-hearing young adults. In addition, measures of word-recognition ability were obtained in quiet and in noise for both groups. The primary findings were as follows: (a) 29% (n = 5) of the hearing-impaired subjects exhibited abnormal results on at least one of the psychoacoustic tasks investigated; (b) the observed abnormalities were reliable; and (c) there appeared to be a relation between the presence of midfrequency dysfunction and degree of difficulty on word-recognition tasks. These results and their implications are discussed.
D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006316:Hearing Loss, High-Frequency / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics