Otoacoustic emission levels predict individual decision weights in level discrimination tasks

Evidence

Given that loudness varies with SFOAE maxima and minima and that loudness is a strong predictor of listener decision weights, we hypothesized that both SFOAEs and SOAEs may be used to predict individual differences in decision weights in a level discrimination task. As expected, the data showed a significant positive correlation between the level difference of the OAE at the SOAE and non-SOAE frequency and the relative decision weights on level discrimination task of two-tone complex (see Fig. 2 ). Also there was a similar positive correlation with the difference between SFOAE maxima and minima (see Fig. 3 ). The results suggest that OAE levels might be used to predict individual differences in more complex target-in-noise listening tasks, even possibly in the diagnosis of speech understanding in specific noise backgrounds. For clinical applications swept frequency SFOAEs might provide a better measure of cochlear fine structure inasmuch as they are less time consuming than SOAE measurements and provide a clearer indication of regions of threshold microstructure and variations in loudness. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5795

In one condition the frequency of one tone was selected to be near that of an SOAE and the frequency of the other was selected to be in a frequency region for which there was no detectable SOAE. In a second condition the frequency of one tone was selected to correspond to an SFOAE maximum, the frequency of the other tone, an SFOAE minimum. In both conditions a statistically significant correlation was found between the average relative decision weight on the two tones and the difference in OAE levels. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5755

There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the relative decision weights and the OAE level difference (r2 = 0.759, p = 0.0148). … This outcome suggests that the association between decision weights and OAEs does not depend on detection of SOAEs. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5775

Categorization

• XREF: Connects cochlear fine-structure measures (SOAEs, SFOAEs) to psychoacoustic decision weights, bridging physiology and cognition; relevant to target-in-noise listening and clinical speech diagnosis. — connects to: Cochlear otoacoustic emissions measurably shift behavioral thresholds, selectivity, and loudness — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5757; Loudness drives decision weights, so OAEs may predict listening-in-noise ability; Decision-weight correlations with OAEs do not require detectable spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (+4 more)
• QUESTION: Would swept SFOAEs prove clinical-grade predictors of speech-in-noise performance beyond the lab finding described here?
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5795; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5755; Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5775

Broader Connections

• Decision-weight correlations with OAEs do not require detectable spontaneous otoacoustic emissions #qualifies (0.85)
• Human efferent tuning measured psychoacoustically matches otoacoustic-emission measures #responds-to (0.80)
• Otoacoustic and psychophysical estimates of efferent gain disagree due to stimulus constraints #responds-to (0.80)
• Auditory detection and discrimination are distinct abilities that can diverge #complicates (0.75)
• Low-pass noise cutoff discrimination degrades with level while high-pass cutoff does not #qualifies (0.72) — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1074