Frequency selectivity, not temporal processing, drives age-related declines in Huggins-pitch thresholds.

Evidence

Füllgrabe et al. ( 2015 ) eliminated confounding effects of hearing loss by testing young (18–27 years) and older (60–79 years) subjects with matched audiograms. Both groups had audiometric thresholds ≤ 20 dB HL from 0.125 to 6 kHz. The TFS1 test was conducted using centre frequencies of 1 and 2 kHz. The older subjects performed significantly more poorly than the young subjects for both centre frequencies. Performance on the TFS1 task was not correlated with audiometric thresholds at the test frequencies. These results confirm that increased age is associated with a poorer ability to use monaural TFS cues, in the absence of any abnormality in the audiogram. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 793 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Thresholds for detecting IPDs in ENVp were positively correlated with age for both carrier frequencies (r = 0.62 for f c = 250 Hz; r = 0.58, for f c = 500 Hz). The correlations remained positive and significant when the effect of absolute threshold was partialled out. These results suggest that increasing age adversely affects the ability to discriminate IPDs in ENVp , independently of the effects of hearing loss. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 809 (#contradicts, 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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Aging reduces envelope processing efficiency but not temporal resolution. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 793; Binaural temporal fine structure sensitivity declines by middle age independently of hearing thresholds — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1078; Impaired temporal resolution degrades fine-structure pitch processing more than reduced frequency selectivity does — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3377 (+3 more)

Related

• Binaural temporal fine structure sensitivity declines by middle age independently of hearing thresholds (similarity 0.91)
• Aging degrades envelope-based binaural phase discrimination independent of hearing loss (similarity 0.89)
• Temporal-structure sensitivity declines with age even when audiograms remain normal. (similarity 0.88)
• Age and hearing loss damage TFS but spare envelope cue processing (similarity 0.87)
• Age-related hearing decline in noise begins while thresholds remain normal (similarity 0.87)
• Huggins pitch and temporal-structure tasks share variance that ITD lateralization does not. (similarity 0.87)
• Aging reduces envelope processing efficiency but not temporal resolution. (similarity 0.87)
• Monaural temporal fine structure processing declines with age even without hearing loss. (similarity 0.86)
• Age-related presbycusis limits high-frequency hearing by the mid-twenties (similarity 0.86)
• Age-related temporal and level sensitivity decline precedes measurable hearing loss (similarity 0.85)
• Hearing loss primarily harms monaural TFS processing while age harms binaural TFS processing (similarity 0.85)
• Cochlear hearing loss raises interaural time discrimination thresholds independent of age (similarity 0.85)
• Age-related hearing decline begins even with clinically normal pure-tone audiograms (similarity 0.84)
• Age-related correlations in auditory tasks may reflect frequency selectivity, not temporal coding. (similarity 0.84)
• Hearing sensitivity within clinically normal range still declines measurably with age (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Temporal-structure sensitivity declines with age even when audiograms remain normal. #contradicts (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 793
• Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. #corroborates (0.80) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 558
• Aging degrades envelope-based binaural phase discrimination independent of hearing loss #contradicts (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 809