Model-based hearing-impairment simulation isolates the compression component of auditory processing

Evidence

But, all of these potential difficulties apply equally to all of the HI conditions, so it is unlikely that they would affect the results. This suggests that the results truly reflect the role of the loss of compression when listening to speech in everyday environments for people with presbycusis or other forms of hearing impairment. It shows that this new, model-based approach to the simulation of hearing impairment can be used to isolate the compression component of auditory signal processing. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4088

Listeners were presented three-syllable “nonsense words” and required to identify the second syllable. Between trails, the level of the second syllable within the word was varied (“dip” condition) or the level of the entire word was varied (“constant” condition). The difference between second-syllable recognition in the two conditions reveals the effect of compression. The HI simulator is used to adjust syllable level to simulate the hearing of 80 year old listeners with “normal” presbycusis (80 year 100 %) or a complete loss of compression (80 year 0 %). — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4050

Categorization

• QUESTION: This model-based simulation approach (the hearing impairment simulator) could be worth understanding in full — how is compression cancelled independently of other peripheral nonlinearities?
• DEFINE: Explains the ‘dip’ vs ‘constant’ experimental contrast designed to reveal cochlear compression effects on syllable perception.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4088; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4050