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Tone-glide discrimination: normal and hearing-impaired listeners
Journal of Speech and Hearing Research
|September 1, 1984
Summary
Sensorineural hearing loss impacts the auditory system's ability to process rapid frequency changes in speech sounds. This study reveals hearing loss can affect the discrimination of these time-varying signals, with implications for speech perception.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Speech Processing
- Psychoacoustics
Background:
- Speech sounds contain rapid frequency variations crucial for intelligibility.
- Sensorineural hearing loss (SHL) may impair the processing of these dynamic acoustic signals.
- Understanding SHL effects on temporal processing is vital for speech perception research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of SHL on discriminating frequency-varying tones.
- To determine if SHL affects the perception of tone glides analogous to speech formants.
- To explore the role of temporal masking in glide discrimination for hearing-impaired individuals.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a transformed up-down procedure to measure difference limens for tone glides.
- Employed frequency-varying sinusoids mimicking speech formant transitions.
- Conducted two experiments to assess glide discrimination and temporal masking effects.
Main Results:
- Normal hearers showed differences in glide discrimination based on preceding steady-state tones.
- Hearing-impaired subjects did not consistently exhibit the same discrimination patterns.
- Temporal masking effects varied significantly across individuals, impacting glide discriminability.
Conclusions:
- Audiometrically similar SHL can differentially affect temporal masking and tone glide discrimination.
- SHL may disrupt the auditory system's ability to process rapid temporal acoustic changes.
- Findings suggest complex interactions between hearing loss, temporal processing, and speech sound perception.