The temporal resolution factor with and without background noise

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Auditory Perception
• Signal Processing in Hearing

Background:

• The temporal resolution factor (TRF) is a clinically useful measure of hearing ability.
• TRF measurements are typically independent of presentation level.
• Adding background noise has been proposed to improve TRF's ability to distinguish between normal and impaired hearing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of continuous background noise on the measurement of the temporal resolution factor (TRF).
• To evaluate whether background noise enhances the discriminative power of TRF between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.
• To test a model predicting that background noise introduces presentation level dependence in TRF measurements.

Main Methods:

• A simple model was developed to predict the effect of background noise on TRF.
• A new measurement protocol was designed and implemented to test the model.
• Measurements were conducted on 5 normal-hearing and 9 sensorineurally hearing-impaired listeners, with and without background noise.

Main Results:

• The model accurately predicted measurement errors and presentation level dependence introduced by background noise.
• TRF values determined without background noise showed smaller standard deviations in test-retest measurements.
• No significant enhancement in discriminative power between normal and hearing-impaired listeners was observed with background noise.

Conclusions:

• Adding continuous background noise does not improve the determination of the temporal resolution factor (TRF).
• Background noise can introduce significant presentation level dependence and increase measurement errors.
• TRF measurements are more reliable and accurate without the addition of background noise.