Outer-hair-cell damage destroys the cochlea’s compressive nonlinearity, which hearing aids try to rebuild.

Evidence

The decreased frequency resolution caused by outer hair cell damage effectively makes the critical bands broader with a lower centre frequency and more overlapping. As more energy is added at each critical band, each band receives input from a wider frequency range, the frequency masking effect is stronger. The result is degraded speech intelligibility in noise. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2670 (#expands, via linked claim)

Our Wiener-kernel approach demonstrated reduced suppression in ANF responses from HI animals, which was correlated with a loss of frequency selectivity. These HI animals also exhibited reduced magnitude DPOAEs: additional evidence of reduced compressive nonlinearity. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3878 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) has a robust and profound effect on loudness, with a primary effect being abnormally rapid growth of loudness. Fowler (1928) was the first to report that listeners with SNHL experienced a similar range of loudness (from very soft to uncomfortably loud) but over a smaller range of decibel levels due to reduced audibility. He dubbed this phenomenon loudness recruitment. Numerous studies have followed Fowler’s initial observations, and an illustration of loudness growth in listeners with SNHL is illustrated in Figure 4–14, which shows a sample loudness growth function for a listener with 40 dB hearing loss plotted along with a loudness growth for a listener with normal hearing. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 838 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Outer hair cell damage widens critical bands and worsens speech-in-noise — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2670; Hearing loss reduces cochlear suppression and compressive nonlinearity together — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3878; Outer hair cell damage compresses dynamic range, causing recruitment and distorted loudness perception — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2655 (+3 more)

Related

• Outer hair cell damage compresses dynamic range, causing recruitment and distorted loudness perception (similarity 0.89)
• Hearing loss squeezes the full loudness range into a much smaller dynamic range (similarity 0.89)
• Noise-induced hearing loss begins with impairment of outer hair cells (similarity 0.89)
• Outer hair cell damage widens critical bands and worsens speech-in-noise (similarity 0.88)
• Hearing aid compression maps a wide input range into a narrower output range (similarity 0.88)
• Outer hair cell damage removes cochlear compressive nonlinearity (similarity 0.88)
• Sensorineural hearing loss compresses the full loudness range into fewer decibels (similarity 0.86)
• Cochlear outer hair cells enable speech amid noise and reverberation (similarity 0.85)
• Hearing damage widens acoustic filter bandwidth, impairing speech separation and sensitivity (similarity 0.84)
• Outer hair cell loss is the primary driver of loudness recruitment (similarity 0.84)
• Loud music damages cochlear structures in distinct ways producing distinct perceptual deficits (similarity 0.84)
• Sensorineural hearing loss reduces contrast in F0-synchronized neural rates across frequency (similarity 0.84)
• Noise-induced hearing loss reduces several independent markers of cochlear compression (similarity 0.83)
• Outer hair cell loss reduces hearing sensitivity by up to 60 dB (similarity 0.83)
• Active outer hair cell processing boosts internal response levels by up to 40 dB (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Outer hair cell damage widens critical bands and worsens speech-in-noise #expands (0.85) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2670
• Hearing loss reduces cochlear suppression and compressive nonlinearity together #corroborates (0.85) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3878
• Outer hair cell damage compresses dynamic range, causing recruitment and distorted loudness perception #expands (0.80) — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2655
• Loss of cochlear compression alone impairs hearing soft syllables amid louder ones #expands (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4046
• Sensorineural hearing loss compresses the full loudness range into fewer decibels #expands (0.80) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 838
• Hearing loss squeezes the full loudness range into a much smaller dynamic range #expands (0.75)