Mid-bandwidth loudness depression in hearing-impaired listeners
Jan Hots1, Katrin Jarzombek1, Jesko L Verhey1
1Department of Experimental Audiology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Leipziger Straße 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|June 3, 2016
Summary
Hearing-impaired listeners show reduced loudness perception with increasing noise bandwidth below the critical bandwidth. This mid-bandwidth loudness depression effect, previously seen in normal-hearing individuals, was confirmed in cochlear impairment.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Psychoacoustics
- Hearing science
Background:
- Loudness perception is bandwidth-dependent.
- Spectral loudness summation occurs for bandwidths exceeding the critical bandwidth.
- A recent study showed loudness decreases with increasing bandwidth below the critical bandwidth in normal-hearing listeners.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if hearing-impaired listeners with cochlear impairment exhibit the mid-bandwidth loudness depression.
- To determine if the effect of decreasing loudness with increasing bandwidth below the critical bandwidth extends to individuals with hearing loss.
Main Methods:
- Measured equal-loudness levels between a 1500-Hz pure-tone reference and bandpass-filtered noise centered at 1500 Hz.
- Tested various noise bandwidths ranging from 15 Hz to 1620 Hz.
- Adjusted reference levels based on individual audiograms.
Main Results:
- The average level difference at equal loudness increased with bandwidth, reaching a maximum of approximately 4 dB at 810 Hz.
- This indicates that more sound energy was required to match the loudness of the pure tone as bandwidth increased up to 810 Hz.
- The mid-bandwidth loudness depression was observed in hearing-impaired listeners.
Conclusions:
- Hearing-impaired listeners with cochlear impairment demonstrate the mid-bandwidth loudness depression.
- The findings suggest that this psychoacoustic phenomenon is not exclusive to normal-hearing individuals.
- This has implications for understanding loudness perception and potentially for audiological rehabilitation strategies.
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