Near-threshold sounds may sound louder to impaired than to normal ears

Evidence

A somewhat controversial idea is related to the loudness of sounds at and near threshold for listeners with SNHL. These measurements can be difficult to make, but work by Buus and Florentine (2002) suggests that the loudness of sounds at and near threshold may be higher for listeners with SNHL than for those with normal hearing. Essentially, listeners with SNHL appear to perceive sounds near their threshold as being louder than listeners with normal-hearing. Buus and Florentine have named this particular phenomenon softness imperception. This phenomenon occurs in conjunction with the abnormally rapid growth of loudness observed for levels between 10 dB SL and about 80 dB SPL. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 845

Although we commonly accept that listeners with SNHL experience loudness recruitment, recent experiments have questioned this finding. A somewhat controversial idea is related to the loudness of sounds at and near threshold for listeners with SNHL. These measurements can be difficult to make, but work by Buus and Florentine (2002) suggests that the loudness of sounds at and near threshold may be higher for listeners with SNHL than for those with normal hearing. Essentially, listeners with SNHL appear to perceive sounds near their threshold as being louder than listeners with normal-hearing. Buus and Florentine have named this particular phenomenon softness imperception. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 845

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘softness imperception’ — the surprising finding that SNHL listeners hear near-threshold sounds as louder, not softer.
• QUESTION: Why would near-threshold sounds seem louder in damaged cochleas? What mechanism — reduced compression, spontaneous activity changes — explains it?
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 845
• XREF: connects to: Threshold in quiet affects loudness mainly for faint sounds — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1281; Recording studio background noise should approach the hearing threshold — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 942; Glimpses can fall below audibility threshold for hearing-impaired listeners (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Threshold is a statistical artifact, not a sharp boundary of audibility #complicates (0.80)
• Hearing-impaired listeners need higher signal-to-noise ratios than normal hearers do #corroborates (0.78)
• Listeners with identical hearing thresholds differ in suprathreshold loudness perception #expands (0.75) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 2509