Speech processing deficits can impair understanding independent of hearing

Evidence

Interfering noises that have similar rates of variation as speech are particularly difficult to deal with, as they fool our higher-order processing centers into attending to them as if they are speech. Because of this, their effect is often more severe than a simple measurement of level would indicate. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2481 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Semantic knowledge helps listeners interpret degraded speech signals; Speech processing deficits are hard to diagnose in mild cases — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4428; Top-down instructional attention modulates audiovisual speech perception in unimpaired listeners (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Perceptual deficits correlate poorly with audiogram thresholds and vary widely #corroborates (0.88)
• Speech-like noise fools the brain and harms intelligibility more than its level suggests #corroborates (0.82) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 2481