title: Effect of audibility on spatial release from speech-on-speech masking.
abstract: This study investigated to what extent spatial release from masking (SRM) deficits in hearing-impaired adults may be related to reduced audibility of the test stimuli. Sixteen adults with sensorineural hearing loss and 28 adults with normal hearing were assessed on the Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences test, which measures SRM using a symmetric speech-on-speech masking task. Stimuli for the hearing-impaired listeners were delivered using three amplification levels (National Acoustic Laboratories - Revised Profound prescription (NAL-RP) +25%, and NAL-RP +50%), while stimuli for the normal-hearing group were filtered to achieve matched audibility. SRM increased as audibility increased for all participants. Thus, it is concluded that reduced audibility of stimuli may be a significant factor in hearing-impaired adults' reduced SRM even when hearing loss is compensated for with linear gain. However, the SRM achieved by the normal hearers with simulated audibility loss was still significantly greater than that achieved by hearing-impaired listeners, suggesting other factors besides audibility may still play a role.
authors.affiliation: The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Glyde
authors.affiliation: The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Jörg M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Buchholz
authors.affiliation: National Acoustic Laboratories, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2067, Australia.
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: National Acoustic Laboratories, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2067, Australia.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: National Acoustic Laboratories, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2067, Australia.
authors.forename: Harvey
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dillon
authors.affiliation: National Acoustic Laboratories, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2067, Australia.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hickson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D055815:Young Adult