Hidden hearing loss impairs separating sounds in complex acoustic scenes

Evidence

Coupled with this is hidden hearing loss, which can exist with or without elevated audiometric thresholds. It involves reduction in binaural discrimination, which results in difficulty separating the components of an acoustically complex situation with multiple sound sources and/or reflections. Many of us recognize that carrying on conversations in restaurants gets more difficult with age and hearing loss. Movie mixers deal constantly with dialog competing with background music, sound effects and ambient sounds in the multichannel (i.e. multidirectional) sound field. Are the artistic decisions they make likely to be affected by this kind of hearing loss? — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1899

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines hidden hearing loss as binaural discrimination deficits present without elevated thresholds.
• SEED: Article angle: how audio mixers’ own age-related hidden hearing loss may shape the artistic loudness and separation of film soundtracks.

Related

• Hearing loss impairs spatial sound separation, not just frequency detection. (similarity 0.83)
• Elevated hearing thresholds degrade speech perception by rendering key cues inaudible (similarity 0.82)
• Audio mixers’ occupational hearing loss can impair their sound-quality judgments (similarity 0.82)
• Small amounts of hearing loss disproportionately impair speech-in-noise perception (similarity 0.81)
• Audiometrically normal listeners may still have substantial hidden hearing loss (similarity 0.80)
• Even modest hearing loss increases variability in sound quality judgments (similarity 0.80)
• Averaging hearing loss across frequencies can mask serious impairment (similarity 0.80)
• Elevated hearing thresholds impair spatial separation of direct sound from room reflections. (similarity 0.80)
• Pitch perception deficits from hearing loss impair speech segregation from noise. (similarity 0.80)
• Detecting sounds and discriminating between them are distinct hearing abilities. (similarity 0.80)
• Film mixes with expanded dynamic range strain dialog intelligibility (similarity 0.79)
• Hearing loss squeezes the full loudness range into a much smaller dynamic range (similarity 0.79)
• Hearing loss that harms multichannel dialogue clarity can begin as early as age 30. (similarity 0.79)
• Sensorineural hearing loss worsens masking beyond mere threshold elevation (similarity 0.79)
• Hearing loss reduces the effect of inherent noise fluctuations on speech masking. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Hidden hearing loss can impair speech in noise without raising thresholds #expands (0.95) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 258