Towards Objective Measures of Functional Hearing Abilities.

Aims: People with impaired hearing often have difficulties in hearing sounds in a noisy background. This problem is partially a result of the auditory systems reduced capacity to process temporal information in the sound signal. In this study we examined the relationships between perceptual sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) cues, brainstem encoding of complex harmonic and amplitude modulated sounds, and the ability to understand speech in noise.

The effect of visual cues on difficulty ratings for segregation of musical streams in listeners with impaired hearing.

Background: Enjoyment of music is an important part of life that may be degraded for people with hearing impairments, especially those using cochlear implants. The ability to follow separate lines of melody is an important factor in music appreciation. This ability relies on effective auditory streaming, which is much reduced in people with hearing impairment, contributing to difficulties in music appreciation.