Frequency glide discrimination in the F2 region by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. 1995

V Summers, and M R Leek
Army Audiology and Speech Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC 20307-5001, USA.

The dynamic formant transitions present within consonant-vowel and vowel-consonant utterances may be poorly processed by hearing-impaired (HI) listeners and may, as a result, provide reduced segmental information to these listeners. Both the brief durations and rapid spectral change associated with these transitions have been proposed as contributing to these deficits in processing. To investigate HI listeners' processing of transitional stimuli, six HI and six normal-hearing (NH) listeners were asked to discriminate between frequency glides patterned after second formant transitions in English CV syllables. The influences of glide duration, rate, and frequency extent were examined for each group in quiet and in broadband noise. Reductions in glide duration and the presence of noise each led to significant increases in frequency difference limens for glide onset. The magnitudes of these effects were similar across groups, thereby failing to show increased susceptibility to noise or greater deficits in dealing with brief stimuli on the part of HI listeners. Contrary to the expectation that HI listeners would show greatest deficits (relative to the NH group) for the most rapidly changing glides, the only significant group differences were observed for gradual glides of limited frequency extent. This latter finding is discussed in terms of sensitivity to "cochlear dispersion" cues [Porter et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90, 1298-1308 (1991)]. It is hypothesized that HI listeners may not process these cues as effectively as NH listeners, perhaps as a result of impaired frequency selectivity.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007839 Functional Laterality Behavioral manifestations of cerebral dominance in which there is preferential use and superior functioning of either the left or the right side, as in the preferred use of the right hand or right foot. Ambidexterity,Behavioral Laterality,Handedness,Laterality of Motor Control,Mirror Writing,Laterality, Behavioral,Laterality, Functional,Mirror Writings,Motor Control Laterality,Writing, Mirror,Writings, Mirror
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D009622 Noise Any sound which is unwanted or interferes with HEARING other sounds. Noise Pollution,Noises,Pollution, Noise
D003051 Cochlea The part of the inner ear (LABYRINTH) that is concerned with hearing. It forms the anterior part of the labyrinth, as a snail-like structure that is situated almost horizontally anterior to the VESTIBULAR LABYRINTH. Cochleas
D006309 Hearing The ability or act of sensing and transducing ACOUSTIC STIMULATION to the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. It is also called audition. Audition
D006319 Hearing Loss, Sensorineural Hearing loss resulting from damage to the COCHLEA and the sensorineural elements which lie internally beyond the oval and round windows. These elements include the AUDITORY NERVE and its connections in the BRAINSTEM. Deafness Neurosensory,Deafness, Neurosensory,Deafness, Sensoryneural,Neurosensory Deafness,Sensorineural Hearing Loss,Sensoryneural Deafness,Cochlear Hearing Loss,Hearing Loss, Cochlear,Deafnesses, Neurosensory,Deafnesses, Sensoryneural,Neurosensory Deafnesses,Sensoryneural Deafness,Sensoryneural Deafnesses
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D000368 Aged A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available. Elderly
D001309 Auditory Threshold The audibility limit of discriminating sound intensity and pitch. Auditory Thresholds,Threshold, Auditory,Thresholds, Auditory

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