Even modest hearing loss increases variability in sound quality judgments

Evidence

Hearing loss is an occupational hazard in many professions, unfortunately including professional audio. At the very least, mixers exposed to periods of very loud sound incur temporary hearing loss. Repetitions of such exposures result in permanent hearing loss. As illustrated in Section 3.2 and discussed in detail in Chapter 17, both of these seriously affect what is heard in mixes, and it is not consistent. Judgments of sound quality are impaired. Paradoxically, the people who do the mixes may not be the best judges of the results. — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1246 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

A number of studies have evaluated the effects of masking in listeners with hearing loss, with a general consensus being that listeners with hearing loss experience poorer frequency selectivity and a greater susceptibility to masking than their normal-hearing counterparts (e.g., Florentine, Buus, Scharf, & Zwicker, 1980; Leek & Summers, 1993). The high stimulus levels used may be part of the reason for poor frequency selectivity in listeners with hearing loss, due to the worsening of frequency selectivity with increasing level. However, even when stimuli are equated between the two groups of listeners and threshold elevation is taken into account, listeners with hearing loss appear to experience an additional reduction in frequency selectivity due to their auditory pathology (Dubno & Schaefer, 1995). — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 558 (#expands, via linked claim)

Taken together, it is thought that sensorineural hearing loss does not yield large deficits in either gap detection or amplitude modulation detection when audibility and bandwidth are taken into account. Across the studies conducted, however, one hallmark is a wide range of performance by listeners with hearing loss (Hall, Grose, Buss, & Hatch, 1998). Gap detection thresholds can be very elevated in some listeners with hearing loss, suggesting that a small subset of listeners may have true deficits in temporal processing. Because these deficits can exist, we should not treat listeners with hearing loss as a homogenous group in their perceptual abilities. We must consider that some listeners with hearing loss experience temporal processing deficits, even if many do not. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1092 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Hearing loss widens critical bands and alters music perception itself — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1897; Aging degrades listening judgment reliability despite accumulated expertise.; Hearing-impaired professionals give confident but unreliable sound quality judgments. (+8 more)

Related

• Hearing loss makes listener opinions unreliable no matter how experienced (similarity 0.93)
• Audio mixers’ occupational hearing loss can impair their sound-quality judgments (similarity 0.93)
• Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. (similarity 0.88)
• Hearing-normal listeners give far more consistent loudspeaker quality ratings. (similarity 0.87)
• Averaging hearing loss across frequencies can mask serious impairment (similarity 0.87)
• Hearing-impaired professionals give confident but unreliable sound quality judgments. (similarity 0.86)
• Mild hearing loss makes trained listeners give inconsistent sound quality judgments (similarity 0.86)
• Listeners with hearing loss form a heterogeneous perceptual group, not a single category (similarity 0.85)
• Hearing loss widens critical bands and alters music perception itself (similarity 0.85)
• Hearing-impaired listeners give inconsistent sound-quality ratings unlike normal-hearing subjects (similarity 0.85)
• Sensorineural hearing loss disrupts some temporal abilities but not others, with wide individual variability (similarity 0.84)
• Hearing loss squeezes the full loudness range into a much smaller dynamic range (similarity 0.84)
• Age and accumulated noise exposure degrade even expert listening panel reliability (similarity 0.83)
• Hearing loss reduces audibility and restricts usable bandwidth for temporal processing (similarity 0.83)
• Individual listeners differ in which abilities support their speech perception per situation (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Audio mixers’ occupational hearing loss can impair their sound-quality judgments #exemplifies (0.85) — , Toole, Floyd E - Sound reproduction-…, 1246
• Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. #expands (0.82) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 558
• Listeners with hearing loss form a heterogeneous perceptual group, not a single category #expands (0.80) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1092
• Loudness judgments at a fixed level vary probabilistically across categories #expands (0.75) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2512