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Published on: January 23, 2017
Modulation rate detection and discrimination by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners
K W Grant1, V Summers, M R Leek
1Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Army Audiology and Speech Center, Washington, DC 20307-5001, USA.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|August 26, 1998
Summary
Hearing-impaired individuals show significantly poorer performance in modulation detection and rate discrimination compared to normal-hearing individuals. These deficits in temporal processing persist even when auditory signals are detectable.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Audiology
Background:
- Temporal processing is crucial for speech comprehension.
- Hearing impairment can affect various aspects of auditory processing, including temporal resolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare modulation detection and rate discrimination abilities between normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) individuals.
- To investigate the influence of modulation rate and depth on these abilities in both groups.
Main Methods:
- Modulation detection and rate discrimination thresholds were measured in NH and HI subjects.
- Tests were conducted at various modulation rates (80, 160, 320 Hz) and depths (100%, 70-80%, 40-60%).
Main Results:
- Modulation detection thresholds increased with modulation rate, more significantly in HI subjects.
- Rate discrimination thresholds worsened with higher modulation rates and lower modulation depths for both groups.
- HI subjects exhibited significantly poorer rate discrimination than NH subjects across all tested conditions.
Conclusions:
- Hearing impairment leads to substantial deficits in temporal processing, impacting both modulation detection and rate discrimination.
- These difficulties in temporal processing for HI subjects may not solely be explained by audibility issues.
- HI individuals experience significant challenges in discriminating modulation rate changes, even when stimuli are audible.
