Per-frequency audiogram-based gain can equate audibility across listeners in speech research.

Evidence

People with normal hearing acuity usually can follow a conversation with their friends at a noisy party, a phenomenon known as the “cocktail party effect” (Cherry 1953 ). This remarkable ability to attend to target sounds in background noise deteriorates with age and hearing loss. Yet, people who have been diagnosed in the clinic as having a very mild hearing loss or even normal hearing based on their pure tone audiogram (the clinical gold standard for identifying hearing loss) still often report considerable difficulty communicating with others in such noisy environments (King and Stephens 1992 ). The conventional pure tone audiogram, the cornerstone of hearing loss diagnosis, is not always the best predictor for these kinds of difficulties. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5758 (#complicates, via linked claim)

For the HI test subjects, it was then ensured that in each one-third octave band the RMS level of the stimulus was at least 15 dB above hearing threshold before pinna-cue shaping. The required gain was added by designing an IIR filter in the test software to shape the stimulus. Note that the + 15-dB gain strategy was terminated at 9 kHz. In higher frequency bands, the same gain as found for 9 kHz was applied, because of the lack of audiogram information. A similar approach was used towards the lowest frequencies. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3061 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Compensating hearing-impaired listeners relies on incomplete audiogram data at extreme frequencies — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3061; Sensation level and per-band audiogram equalization are distinct ways to control audibility — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1726; Pure tone audiograms fail to predict speech-in-noise listening difficulties — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5758 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Audibility alone cannot fully account for speech-in-speech intelligibility loss in hearing-impaired listeners #complicates (0.86)
• Pure tone audiograms fail to predict speech-in-noise listening difficulties #complicates (0.82) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 5758
• Compensating hearing-impaired listeners relies on incomplete audiogram data at extreme frequencies #complicates (0.78) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3061