Spectral weighting functions for localization of complex sound. III. The effect of sensorineural hearing loss
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Spectral weighting functions for sound localization were measured in participants with bilateral mild sloping to moderately severe, high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and compared to normal hearing (NH) participants with and without simulated SNHL. Each participant group localized three types of complex tones, comprised of seven frequency components spatially jittered and presented from the horizontal frontal field. A threshold-elevating noise masker was implemented in the free field to simulate SNHL for participants with NH. On average, participants with SNHL and NH (in quiet and simulated SNHL) placed the greatest perceptual weight on components within the interaural time difference "dominance region," found previously to peak around 800 Hz [Folkerts and Stecker, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 151, 3409-3425 (2022)]. In addition to the peak at 800 Hz, both participant groups (including NH participants in quiet) placed near equal weight on 400 Hz, resulting in a broadened "peak" in the dominance region, most likely due to the reduction of audibility to higher frequency components. However, individual weighting strategies were more variable across participants with SNHL than participants with NH. Localization performance was reduced for participants with SNHL but not for NH participants with simulated hearing loss when compared to NH participants in quiet.
DOI: 10.1121/10.0030471
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4403381197