Hearing loss impairs masking through three compounding spectral mechanisms
Evidence
Taken together, we see that listeners with hearing loss experience a reduction in frequency selectivity, a greater susceptibility to masking, and reduced effects of two-tone suppression compared with listeners with normal hearing. Impaired frequency selectivity directly contributes to a reduced representation of the spectrum and leads to the greater susceptibility to masking. Loss of two-tone suppression also reduces the representation of spectral contrast, and the inability to take advantage of stimulus fluctuations significantly degrades the ability to detect and understand sounds in a variety of noisy environments. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 579
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEFINE: A clean summary taxonomy of the three distinct masking-related deficits of sensorineural hearing loss.
Related
- Impaired frequency selectivity, suppression, and fluctuation use jointly degrade hearing (similarity 0.92)
- Impaired frequency selectivity and lost suppression increase masking and reduce spectral contrasts (similarity 0.91)
- Sensorineural hearing loss worsens masking beyond mere threshold elevation (similarity 0.90)
- Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. (similarity 0.88)
- Cochlear damage increases susceptibility to masking, hurting speech in noise. (similarity 0.87)
- Loss of cochlear suppression explains similar PTCs across masking conditions. (similarity 0.86)
- Broad filters and lost suppression increase masking and blur spectral contrasts. (similarity 0.85)
- Complex QMF resolution must be supplemented to match auditory frequency selectivity (similarity 0.85)
- Hearing loss reduces the effect of inherent noise fluctuations on speech masking. (similarity 0.85)
- Wider peripheral tuning from hearing loss suppresses low-frequency fluctuation amplitude (similarity 0.85)
- Frequency selectivity in normal-hearing listeners worsens at high sound levels (similarity 0.85)
- Hearing loss reduces audibility and restricts usable bandwidth for temporal processing (similarity 0.85)
- Two-tone suppression makes simultaneous masking appear broader than forward masking (similarity 0.84)
- Noise-induced hearing loss flattens temporal masking valleys and breaks the threshold triad alignment (similarity 0.84)
- A narrowband masker selectively taxes temporal coding in hearing-impaired listeners (similarity 0.84)