The Effects of Static and Moving Spectral Ripple Sensitivity on Unaided and Aided Speech Perception in Noise.

Purpose: This study evaluated whether certain spectral ripple conditions were more informative than others in predicting ecologically relevant unaided and aided speech outcomes.

Method: A quasi-experimental study design was used to evaluate 67 older adult hearing aid users with bilateral, symmetrical hearing loss. Speech perception in noise was tested under conditions of unaided and aided, auditory-only and auditory-visual, and 2 types of noise.

Effects of hearing loss on maintaining and switching attention.

The ability to intentionally control attention based on task goals and stimulus properties is critical to communication in many environments. However, when a person has a damaged auditory system, such as with hearing loss, perceptual organization may also be impaired, making it more difficult to direct attention to different auditory objects in the environment. Here we examined the behavioral cost associated with maintaining and switching attention in people with hearing loss compared to the normal hearing population, and found a cost associated with attending to a target stream in a multi-talker environment that cannot solely be attributed to audibility issues.

Working Memory and Speech Recognition in Noise Under Ecologically Relevant Listening Conditions: Effects of Visual Cues and Noise Type Among Adults With Hearing Loss.

Purpose: This study evaluated the relationship between working memory (WM) and speech recognition in noise with different noise types as well as in the presence of visual cues.

Method: Seventy-six adults with bilateral, mild to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (mean age: 69 years) participated. Using a cross-sectional design, 2 measures of WM were taken: a reading span measure, and Word Auditory Recognition and Recall Measure (Smith, Pichora-Fuller, & Alexander, 2016).

Output signal-to-noise ratio and speech perception in noise: effects of algorithm.

Objective: The aims of this study were to: 1) quantify the amount of change in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a result of compression and noise reduction (NR) processing in devices from three hearing aid (HA) manufacturers and 2) use the SNR changes to predict changes in speech perception. We hypothesised that the SNR change would differ across processing type and manufacturer, and that improvements in SNR would relate to improvements in performance.

Design: SNR at the output of the HAs was quantified using a phase-inversion technique.

Exploring the Relevance of Items in the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB) for Individuals With Hearing Loss.

Purpose: The Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB) was developed to evaluate participation restrictions in communication situations for individuals with speech and language disorders. This study evaluated the potential relevance of CPIB items for individuals with hearing loss.

Method: Cognitive interviews were conducted with 17 adults with a range of treated and untreated hearing loss, who responded to 46 items.

Aided Electrophysiology Using Direct Audio Input: Effects of Amplification and Absolute Signal Level.

Purpose: This study investigated (a) the effect of amplification on cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) at different signal levels when signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were equated between unaided and aided conditions, and (b) the effect of absolute signal level on aided CAEPs when SNR was held constant.

Method: CAEPs were recorded from 13 young adults with normal hearing. A 1000-Hz pure tone was presented in unaided and aided conditions with a linear analog hearing aid.

The effects of frequency lowering on speech perception in noise with adult hearing-aid users.

Objective: Frequency lowering (FL) strategies move high frequency sound into a lower frequency range. This study determined if speech perception differences are observed between some of the different frequency lowering strategies that are available.

Design: A cross-sectional, repeated-measures design was used to compare three hearing aids that used wide-dynamic range compression (WDRC) and either non-linear frequency compression (NFC), linear frequency transposition (LFT), or frequency translation (FT).

Aided cortical auditory evoked potentials in response to changes in hearing aid gain.

Objective: There is interest in using cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to evaluate hearing aid fittings and experience-related plasticity associated with amplification; however, little is known about hearing aid signal processing effects on these responses. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of clinically relevant hearing aid gain settings, and the resulting in-the-canal signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), on the latency and amplitude of P1, N1, and P2 waves. DESIGN & SAMPLE: Evoked potentials and in-the-canal acoustic measures were recorded in nine normal-hearing adults in unaided and aided conditions.

Effects of age on F0 discrimination and intonation perception in simulated electric and electroacoustic hearing.

Objectives: Recent research suggests that older listeners may have difficulty processing information related to the fundamental frequency (F0) of voiced speech. In this study, the focus was on the mechanisms that may underlie this reduced ability. We examined whether increased age resulted in decreased ability to perceive F0 using fine-structure cues provided by the harmonic structure of voiced speech sounds or cues provided by high-rate envelope fluctuations (periodicity).

Effects of age on concurrent vowel perception in acoustic and simulated electroacoustic hearing.

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated the effects of age on the use of fundamental frequency differences (ΔF(0)) in the perception of competing synthesized vowels in simulations of electroacoustic and cochlear-implant hearing.

Method: Twelve younger listeners with normal hearing and 13 older listeners with (near) normal hearing were evaluated in their use of ΔF(0) in the perception of competing synthesized vowels for 3 conditions: unprocessed synthesized vowels (UNP), envelope-vocoded synthesized vowels that simulated a cochlear implant (VOC), and synthesized vowels processed to simulate electroacoustic stimulation (EAS) hearing. Tasks included (a) multiplicity, which required listeners to identify whether a stimulus contained 1 or 2 sounds and (b) double-vowel identification, which required listeners to attach phonemic labels to the competing synthesized vowels.