Modulation detection interference for asynchronous presentation of masker and target in listeners with normal and impaired hearing

Suprathreshold auditory processes in listeners with normal audiograms but extended high-frequency hearing lossa)

Hearing loss in the extended high-frequency (EHF) range (>8 kHz) is widespread among young normal-hearing adults and could have perceptual consequences such as difficulty understanding speech in noise. However, it is unclear how EHF hearing loss might affect basic psychoacoustic processes. The hypothesis that EHF hearing loss is associated with poorer auditory resolution in the standard frequencies was tested. Temporal resolution was characterized by amplitude modulation detection thresholds (AMDTs), and spectral resolution was characterized by frequency change detection thresholds (FCDTs). AMDTs and FCDTs were measured in adults with or without EHF loss but with normal clinical audiograms. AMDTs were measured with 0.5- and 4-kHz carrier frequencies; similarly, FCDTs were measured for 0.5- and 4-kHz base frequencies. AMDTs were significantly higher with the 4 kHz than the 0.5 kHz carrier, but there was no significant effect of EHF loss. There was no significant effect of EHF loss on FCDTs at 0.5 kHz; however, FCDTs were significantly higher at 4 kHz for listeners with than without EHF loss. This suggests that some aspects of auditory resolution in the standard audiometric frequency range may be compromised in listeners with EHF hearing loss despite having a normal audiogram.

Amplitude-modulation forward masking for listeners with and without hearing loss

Amplitude-modulation (AM) forward masking was measured for listeners with normal hearing and sensorineural hearing loss at 4000 and 1000 Hz, using continuous and noncontinuous masker and signal carriers, respectively. A low-fluctuation noise (LFN) carrier was used for the "continuous carrier" conditions. An unmodulated low-fluctuation noise (U-LFN), an unmodulated Gaussian noise (U-GN), and an amplitude-modulation low-fluctuation noise (AM-LFN) were maskers for the "noncontinuous carrier" conditions. As predicted, U-GN yielded more masking than U-LFN and similar masking to AM-LFN, suggesting that U-GN resulted in AM forward masking. Contrary to predictions, no differences in masked thresholds were observed between listener groups.

The effect of frequency cueing on the perceptual segregation of simultaneous tones: Bottom-up and top-down contributions

Listeners were presented with two simultaneous tones of different frequencies (more than one octave apart) and asked to identify the tone that was amplitude-modulated while a tonal precursor was presented to cue the frequency of the lower frequency tone. Performance thresholds were estimated based on the duration of the tone-pair. In Exp. I the duration of the precursor varied from 100 to 400 ms and the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between the precursor and the tone-pair varied from 0 to 1 s. The presence of the precursor facilitated segregation. As the ISI increased, the facilitation effect of the precursor increased for the precursor durations of 100 and 200 ms, but not for the 400-ms precursor duration. When the precursor was presented to the contralateral ear relative to the tone-pair in Exp. II, no significant change to the precursor effect was observed. These observations contradict the predictions of the model based solely on bottom-up processing, suggesting the likely involvement of top-down processes.

Cochlear hearing loss and the detection of sinusoidal versus random amplitude modulation

This study assessed the effect of cochlear hearing loss on detection of random and sinusoidal amplitude modulation. Listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners (eight per group) generated temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs) for envelope fluctuations carried by a 2000-Hz pure tone. TMTFs for the two groups were similar at low modulation rates but diverged at higher rates presumably because of differences in frequency selectivity. For both groups, detection of random modulation was poorer than for sinusoidal modulation at lower rates but the reverse occurred at higher rates. No evidence was found that cochlear hearing loss, per se, affects modulation detection.

Inherent envelope fluctuations in forward maskers: Effects of masker-probe delay for listeners with normal and impaired hearing

Forward-masked thresholds increase as the magnitude of inherent masker envelope fluctuations increase for both normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) adults for a short masker-probe delay (25 ms). The slope of the recovery from forward masking is shallower for HI than for NH listeners due to reduced cochlear nonlinearities. However, effects of hearing loss on additional masking due to inherent envelope fluctuations across masker-probe delays remain unknown. The current study assessed effects of hearing loss on the slope and amount of recovery from forward maskers that varied in inherent envelope fluctuations. Forward-masked thresholds were measured at 2000 and 4000 Hz, for masker-probe delays of 25, 50, and 75 ms, for NH and HI adults. Four maskers at each center frequency varied in inherent envelope fluctuations: Gaussian noise (GN) or low-fluctuation noise (LFN), with 1 or 1/3 equivalent rectangular bandwidths (ERBs). Results suggested that slopes of recovery from forward masking were shallower for HI than for NH listeners regardless of masker fluctuations. Additional masking due to inherent envelope fluctuations was greater for HI than for NH listeners at longer masker-probe delays, suggesting that inherent envelope fluctuations are more disruptive for HI than for NH listeners for a longer time course.

Effects of inherent envelope fluctuations in forward maskers for listeners with normal and impaired hearing

Gaussian noise simultaneous maskers yield higher masked thresholds for pure tones than low-fluctuation noise simultaneous maskers for listeners with normal hearing. This increased masking effectiveness is thought to be due to inherent fluctuations in the temporal envelope of Gaussian noise, but effects of fluctuating forward maskers are unknown. Because differences in forward masking due to age and hearing loss are known, the current study assessed effects of masker envelope fluctuations for forward maskers in younger and older adults with normal hearing and older adults with hearing loss. Detection thresholds were measured in these three participant groups for a pure-tone probe in quiet and in Gaussian and low-fluctuation noise forward maskers with either 1 or 1/3 equivalent rectangular bandwidths. Higher masked thresholds were obtained for forward maskers with greater inherent envelope fluctuations for younger adults with normal hearing. This increased effectiveness of highly fluctuating forward maskers was similar for older adults with normal and impaired hearing. Because differences in recovery from forward masking between listeners with normal and impaired hearing may relate to differences in cochlear nonlinearities, these results suggest that mechanisms other than cochlear nonlinearities may be responsible for recovery from rapid masker envelope fluctuations.

Effect of fast-acting compression on modulation detection interference for normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners

To determine the effects of hearing loss and fast-acting compression on auditory grouping based on across-frequency modulation, modulation detection interference (MDI) was measured in listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss. MDI, the increase in the amplitude-modulation detection threshold of a target presented with an interferer distant in frequency, was measured using a 500-Hz target and a 2140-Hz interferer, both modulated with narrow-band noises of the same bandwidth. The two modulated tones were presented at equal loudness levels to listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss in the absence (Exp. 1) and in the presence (Exp. 2) of fast-acting compression applied to the interferer. Modulation detection thresholds increased with increasing modulation depth of the interferer by similar amounts for the two groups of listeners, suggesting that across-frequency grouping based on amplitude modulation is not altered by hearing impairment. Compression provided an additional increase in thresholds for both groups, indicating that compression algorithms might alter across-frequency grouping cues. Partial support for an idea that compression's effect of sharpening the onsets after each envelope valley is provided by a third experiment which found somewhat greater interference produced by square-wave modulation than sine-wave modulation at larger interferer modulation depths.