Cochlear emission fine structure may predict individual listening performance

Evidence

Stimulus frequency OAEs (SFOAEs), which are evoked using a single frequency sound, are one of the most diagnostic OAEs regarding cochlear function. They show a highly replicable individualistic pattern of amplitude maxima and minima when measured with high enough frequency resolution, a pattern called SFOAE fine structure. The level difference between maxima and minima can be as large as 30 dB. Usually SOAEs occur near the maxima of SFOAEs fine structure (Bergevin et al. 2012 ; Dewey and Dhar 2014 ). Given that loudness varies with SFOAE maxima and minima and that loudness is a strong predictor of listener decision weights, it is possible that both SFOAEs and SOAEs may be used to predict individual differences in behavioural decision weights. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5758

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the reader’s broader interest in cochlear mechanics via loudness, threshold microstructure, and individual differences in auditory processing.
• QUESTION: Is the proposed causal chain (SFOAE minima/maxima -> loudness -> decision weights -> speech-in-noise) actually supported, or is loudness a confound rather than a mediator?