Lower-level auditory deficits cascade upward but not all higher-level deficits trace downward.

Evidence

Psychoacoustics primarily focuses on the detection and discrimination levels, although some experiments also address identification abilities. Both detection and discrimination abilities are necessary precursors to recognize and comprehend complex sounds. Deficits in low-level abilities preclude good performance in higher-level abilities, although a listener could have a deficit in a higher-level ability and not a lower-level one. For example, problems with detecting sounds can have a large impact on the ability to recognize and comprehend speech. In contrast, a listener may have difficulty comprehending speech in the absence of deficits at the detection level. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 158

Categorization

• XREF: This one-directional hierarchical dependency in hearing mirrors cascading failure structures in other sensory and cognitive systems - a useful framework. — connects to: Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 558
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 158

Broader Connections

• Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. #corroborates (0.75) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 558