Profile analysis in listeners with normal and elevated audiometric thresholds: Behavioral and modeling results
Daniel R Guest1, David A Cameron1, Douglas M Schwarz1,2
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14620, USA.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|December 31, 2024
Summary
Profile analysis, crucial for sound discrimination, is impaired at higher frequencies and in hearing loss when sounds are complex. Midbrain neural activity best explains these performance declines.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Computational Auditory Neuroscience
Background:
- Profile analysis assesses complex sound discrimination via spectral patterns.
- Previous studies focused on normal hearing and low frequencies (~1 kHz).
- Understanding mechanisms requires broader frequency and hearing loss investigations.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate profile analysis across a wide frequency range (0.5–4 kHz).
- Examine profile analysis in individuals with normal and impaired hearing.
- Identify neural correlates of profile analysis deficits.
Main Methods:
- Tested profile analysis thresholds in listeners with normal and elevated hearing thresholds.
- Used stimuli with varying frequency component spacing (distant vs. close).
- Modeled behavioral data using simulated auditory nerve and inferior colliculus neural activity.
Main Results:
- Profile analysis performance degraded significantly at higher frequencies.
- Hearing loss impacted performance primarily with closely spaced frequency components.
- Simulated inferior colliculus neural population decoding explained high-frequency deficits.
Conclusions:
- Profile analysis involves complex, non-peripheral auditory processing.
- Multichannel comparisons and midbrain amplitude modulation tuning are critical.
- Inferior colliculus activity is key to understanding high-frequency profile analysis limitations.
