title: Sensitivity to interaural level difference and loudness growth with bilateral bimodal stimulation.
abstract: The interaural level difference (ILD) is an important cue for the localization of sound sources. The sensitivity to ILD was measured in 10 users of a cochlear implant (CI) in one ear and a hearing aid (HA) in the other severely impaired ear. For simultaneous presentation of a pulse train on the CI side and a sinusoid on the HA side the just noticeable difference (JND) in ILD and loudness growth functions were measured. The mean JND for pitch-matched electric and acoustic stimulation was 1.7 dB. A linear fit of the loudness growth functions on a decibel-versus-microampere scale shows that the slope depends on the subject's dynamic ranges.
authors.affiliation: Exp ORL, Department of Neurosciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. tom.francart@med.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Francart
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brokx
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wouters
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001299:Audiometry; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008875:Middle Aged; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011594:Psychometrics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013017:Sound Localization