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A new procedure for measuring peripheral compression in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners
D A Nelson1, A C Schroder, M Wojtczak
1Department of Otolaryngology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA. dan@tc.umn.edu
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|October 30, 2001
Summary
This study introduces a new method to measure cochlear compression by using a fixed-level probe, overcoming limitations of previous techniques that were affected by frequency spread. This approach provides more accurate estimates of auditory response growth rates.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Hearing Science
Background:
- Estimating cochlear compression relies on response-growth rates, often derived from forward-masking growth functions.
- Previous methods are limited by probe excitation spread, affecting accuracy in quiet and noise conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate an alternative method for measuring auditory response-growth rates.
- To minimize the influence of probe excitation spread on cochlear compression estimates.
Main Methods:
- Utilized fixed-probe-level temporal masking curves (TMCs) with a low-level probe (1 kHz at ~10 dB SL).
- Measured masked thresholds by adjusting forward masker levels across varying time delays.
- Derived input/output response-growth curves from TMCs for on-frequency and off-frequency maskers.
Main Results:
- Response-growth slopes varied significantly, from >1.0 at low masker levels to <0.2 at mid-levels.
- Some subjects showed increased response growth at high masker levels (>80 dB SPL).
- The new method showed minimal changes in estimated response growth even with masking of upward probe spread.
Conclusions:
- The proposed fixed-probe-level method offers a more robust estimation of cochlear compression by mitigating probe excitation spread.
- This technique provides a more reliable way to study the non-linear processing in the auditory system.