Outer-hair-cell damage raises high-side but not low-side suppression thresholds.

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)

This suggests that suppression estimates were significantly greater when measured with a short combined masker. It is possible that the decreased suppression in the older adults was due to their increased auditory thresholds. To determine the effect of auditory threshold on suppression estimates, correlation coefficients were computed between threshold in dB HL and suppression estimates from each of the eight conditions tested. Out of the eight suppression conditions, threshold at 2 kHz was negatively correlated with low-side suppression at the 50-dB SPL signal level measured with the short combined masker [r (10) = − 0.68, p = 0.031] and with the long combined masker [r (10) = − 0.67, p = 0.33]. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 949 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: High-side suppression diminishes or disappears with age — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 921; Outer hair cell damage widens critical bands and worsens speech-in-noise — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 2670; Higher auditory thresholds predict smaller low-side suppression only at high signal levels — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 949

Related

• Outer hair cell damage widens critical bands and worsens speech-in-noise (similarity 0.89)
• High-side suppression diminishes or disappears with age (similarity 0.87)
• Higher auditory thresholds predict smaller low-side suppression only at high signal levels (similarity 0.87)
• Cochlear outer hair cells enable speech amid noise and reverberation (similarity 0.86)
• Suppression estimates decrease significantly with age in both low and high-side configurations (similarity 0.86)
• Noise-induced hearing loss elevates high-side suppression thresholds within single auditory nerve fibers. (similarity 0.83)
• Noise-induced hearing loss begins with impairment of outer hair cells (similarity 0.83)
• High- and low-side suppression rest on different cochlear mechanisms (similarity 0.82)
• Outer-hair-cell damage destroys the cochlea’s compressive nonlinearity, which hearing aids try to rebuild. (similarity 0.82)
• Hearing damage widens acoustic filter bandwidth, impairing speech separation and sensitivity (similarity 0.82)
• Active outer hair cell processing boosts internal response levels by up to 40 dB (similarity 0.81)
• Noise-damaged cochleas keep low-side suppression normal while high-side thresholds rise (similarity 0.81)
• Hair-cell damage widens acoustic filter bandwidth, harming speech separation and heightening dissonance perception (similarity 0.81)
• Outer hair cell damage compresses dynamic range, causing recruitment and distorted loudness perception (similarity 0.81)
• Outer hair cell loss reduces hearing sensitivity by up to 60 dB (similarity 0.81)

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
• Higher auditory thresholds predict smaller low-side suppression only at high signal levels #expands (0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 949