Word recognition performance in continuous and interrupted broad-band noise by normal-hearing and simulated...

Word recognition performance was investigated in 12 normal-hearing young adults in continuous and interrupted broad-band noise as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (S:N) with and without a simulated high frequency hearing loss (i.e., low-pass filtered at 2000 Hz). Subjects exhibited conventional sigmoid performance-intensity functions in continuous noise, for both unfiltered and filtered conditions. In contrast, subjects demonstrated shallower performance-intensity functions in the interrupted noise conditions with overall superior performance under adverse signal-to-noise ratios relative to the continuous noise conditions. Separate two-way analyses of variances investigating mean word recognition performance differences as a function of normal listening (unfiltered) versus the simulated hearing loss (filtered). Signal-to-noise ratio for both continuous and interrupted noise conditions revealed a significant main effects for S:N with both noise conditions (p < .05) and a significant main effect for the simulated hearing loss only in the interrupted noise condition (p < .05). It was hypothesized that subjects' diminished performance in the interrupted noise condition with the stimulated high frequency hearing loss reflected a reduced ability to temporally resolve auditory information between the gaps of noise.