Hearing damage widens acoustic filter bandwidth, impairing speech separation and sensitivity

Evidence

The effect of the damage though is not just to reduce the threshold but also to increase the bandwidth of our acoustic filters, as shown in idealized form in Figure 2.20. This has two main effects: first, our ability to separate the different components of the sound is impaired, and this will reduce our ability to understand speech or separate desired sound from competing noise. Interestingly, it may well make musical sounds that were consonant more dissonant because of the presence of more than one frequency harmonic in a critical band; this will be discussed in Chapter 3. The second effect is a reduction in the hearing sensitivity, also shown in Figure 2.20, because the enhancement mechanism also increases the amplitude sensitivity of the ear. This effect is more insidious because the effect is less easy to measure and perceive; it manifests itself as a difficulty in interpreting sounds rather than a mere reduction in their perceived level. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 674

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s loss of quiet places and degraded listening environments theme from One Square Inch of Silence; the idea that hearing damage subtly impairs sound interpretation rather than merely loudness resonates with how noise pollution degrades acoustic perception. — connects to: Hair-cell damage widens acoustic filter bandwidth, harming speech separation and heightening dissonance perception; Cochlear damage widens auditory filters and impairs sound interpretation. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 663; Noise damage degrades frequency separation more severely than sensitivity (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Hair-cell damage widens acoustic filter bandwidth, harming speech separation and heightening dissonance perception #corroborates (0.95)
• Cochlear damage widens auditory filters and impairs sound interpretation. #corroborates (0.90) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 663
• Poor frequency selectivity causes speech-in-noise difficulty and complicates hearing aid fitting #corroborates (0.90)
• Cochlear damage increases susceptibility to masking, hurting speech in noise. #expands (0.85) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 555
• Wider auditory filters and steeper cochlear compression reduce noise-induced hearing loss. #contradicts (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5902
• Broader cochlear filtering reduces low-frequency noise fluctuations, explaining lost masking release #expands (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2161
• Hidden hearing loss impairs separating sounds in complex acoustic scenes #expands (0.80)
• Hearing loss reduces audibility and restricts usable bandwidth for temporal processing #expands (0.80) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1048
• Hidden hearing loss can impair speech in noise without raising thresholds #expands (0.80)
• Small amounts of hearing loss disproportionately impair speech-in-noise perception #expands (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5472
• Noise damage degrades frequency separation more severely than sensitivity #qualifies (0.75)