Sensorineural hearing loss damages pitch, harming speech-in-noise communication

Evidence

The studies described here both illustrate the importance of pitch perception in our ability to separate a target sound from a background. Given that much of everyday communication occurs in complex environments with many competing signals, robust pitch perception mechanisms are important to facilitate effective communication. Deficits in pitch perception are likely to lead to deficits in the ability to understand speech in the presence of background noise, particularly when that background noise is also speech. As we discuss next, sensorineural hearing loss damages pitch perception and therefore contributes to difficulty communicating in complex environments. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1324

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1324
• XREF: connects to: Increasing sensorineural hearing loss shifts tone perception from fine structure to envelope cues — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3380; Hearing loss impairs frequency selectivity beyond what stimulus level differences explain. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 558; Hearing impairment disrupts both place and temporal pitch codes — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1326 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Hidden hearing loss can impair speech in noise without raising thresholds #exemplifies (0.85)
• Sloping or rising hearing loss can create contradictory pitch codes across frequency regions #expands (0.80)
• Wider peripheral tuning from hearing loss suppresses low-frequency fluctuation amplitude #expands (0.74)
• The audiogram does not predict pitch perception deficits in hearing loss #expands (0.72)