Simulated loudness recruitment harms speech intelligibility but hearing-aid compensation does not restore it

Evidence

In addition to altering the overall loudness of sounds in the environment, loudness recruitment may lead to deficits in speech perception. Moore and Glasberg (1993) simulated loudness recruitment using a loudness model and measured speech perception ability under different amounts of recruitment. They demonstrated a detrimental impact of loudness recruitment on speech intelligibility, particularly when coupled with simulation of elevated absolute threshold. However, whether loudness recruitment degrades speech perception is not clearly established. For example, Stone, Moore, Alcántara, and Glasberg (1999) demonstrated that compensating for recruitment using hearing aids did not alter speech identification in quiet or noise. — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1693

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• QUESTION: Interesting tension: modeling says recruitment degrades speech but compensation studies show no change — worth chasing the resolution.

Related

• Whether loudness recruitment degrades speech perception remains unsettled (similarity 0.94)
• Loudness recruitment makes raised speech feel too loud even without abnormal sound perception (similarity 0.83)
• Recruitment-induced loudness discomfort in aided listeners is a level artifact, not hypersensitivity (similarity 0.83)
• Testing hearing-impaired listeners could reveal how loudness distortion maps to brain activity (similarity 0.83)
• Sensorineural hearing loss produces rapid loudness growth while discomfort thresholds stay normal (similarity 0.83)
• Comparing normal and recruiting-impaired listeners would reveal where loudness is decoded (similarity 0.82)
• Understanding loudness’s neural basis could improve recruitment treatment (similarity 0.82)
• Hearing impairment degrades signal-to-noise tolerance more than quiet speech perception. (similarity 0.82)
• Mild-moderate losses show recruitment while severe-profound losses show underrecruitment (similarity 0.82)
• Loudness recruitment shrinks dynamic range while preserving overall loudness (similarity 0.81)
• Hearing aids rarely deliver meaningful speech-intelligibility benefits exceeding their detectability (similarity 0.81)
• Speech-in-speech intelligibility depends on non-auditory factors beyond audibility alone (similarity 0.81)
• Very high speech levels can reduce word recognition scores. (similarity 0.81)
• Hearing aid algorithms distort auditory cues yet still improve speech understanding (similarity 0.81)
• Sensorineural hearing loss causes abnormal rapid loudness growth called recruitment (similarity 0.81)