Auditory Processing Abilities of Parkinson's Disease Patients.

Since Parkinson's Disease (PD) primarily affects older people, a majority of PD patients have age-related hearing loss (HL) that will worsen over time. The goal of this study was to assess peripheral and central auditory functions in a population of PD patients and compare the results with a group of age-matched control subjects. Study participants included 35 adults with PD (mean age = 66.

The role of interaural differences on speech intelligibility in complex multi-talker environments.

Interaural differences in time (ITDs) and interaural differences in level (ILDs) contribute to a listener's ability to achieve spatial release from masking (SRM), and help to improve speech intelligibility in noisy environments. In this study, the extent to which ITDs and ILDs contribute to SRM and the relationships with aging and hearing loss were examined. SRM was greatest when stimuli were presented with consistent ITD and ILD, relative to ITD or ILD alone, all of which produced greater SRM than when ITD and ILD cues were in conflict with each other.