Sensory neural hearing loss preserves temporal resolution when audibility is compensated

Evidence

Welch’s test in a one-way ANOVA found significant differences of TGD thresholds among the three groups of subjects [F(2,56) = 9.9, p < 0.001]. Post hoc Tamhane’ T2 correction test analysis indicated that the mean TGD thresholds for both ears was significantly higher in the listeners with ANSD (11.9 ms) than in the listeners with SNHL (4.0 ms; p < 0.001) and in the NH (3.9 ms; p < 0.001) listeners; while the subjects with SNHL had the TGD thresholds close to normal. It is notable that the variability in TGD thresholds for the ANSD subjects was very large, ranging from normal limits to 10 times the norm. This result indicates that the SNHL subjects had normal temporal resolution as long as the audibility was compensated, but a majority of the subjects with ANSD had poor temporal resolution in the present study. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3404

Sensorineural hearing loss impacts temporal masking and temporal integration, but many listeners with SNHL do not demonstrate deficits in temporal resolution when measured using gap detection or amplitude modulation detection. Some listeners, however, may experience true temporal resolution deficits, and there is considerable variability in temporal resolution measures in this group of listeners. Overall, the audiogram provides insufficient information to determine whether these deficits are present and the degree to which listeners experience temporal processing difficulties. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1122

Categorization

• XREF: Ties to the SNHL-vs-ANSD frequency/temporal resolution dissociation; reader’s interest in which peripheral damage types degrade which auditory cues.
• QUESTION: What mechanism makes temporal resolution spared in SNHL while masking and integration degrade? This seems worth chasing in the audiology literature.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3404; Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1122