Wide-cue pinna size improves MAA only for hearing-impaired listeners
Evidence
A mixed-model ANOVA was used to analyze the NH MAA data. Besides a significant test-subject effect (p = 0.002) (the random variable “test subject” was only included as a main effect), the various effects in the model came out as being non-significant, as already indicated by the rather similar mean values shown in Fig. 6 . Thus, the NH-group performance did not depend on either cue type or reference angle. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3118 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
One potential solution to this problem is to provide hearing-aid users with artificially enhanced pinna cues—as if they were listening through oversized pinnas. In the present study, it was tested whether test subjects were better at discriminating spectral patterns similar to enlarged-pinna cues. The enlarged-pinna patterns were created by transposing (T) generic normal-sized pinna cues (N) one octave down, or by using the approach (W) suggested by Naylor and Weinrich (System and method for generating auditory spatial cues, United States Patent, 2011). The experiment was cast as a determination of simulated minimum audible angle (MAA) in the median saggital plane. 13 test subjects with sloping hearing loss and 11 normal-hearing test subjects participated. The normal-hearing test subjects showed similar discrimination performance with the T, W, and N-type simulated pinna cues, as expected. However, the results for the hearing-impaired test subjects showed only marginally lower MAAs with the W and T-cues compared to the N-cues, while the overall discrimination thresholds were much higher for the hearing-impaired compared to the normal-hearing test subjects. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3050 (
#qualifies, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Oversized-pinna cue simulation barely improves vertical localization for hearing-impaired listeners — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3048; Enhanced pinna cues only partially close the spatial-resolution gap in hearing-impaired listeners — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3133; Down-shifted Weinrich cues improve MAA in hearing-impaired listeners by about ten degrees — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3052 (+5 more)
Related
- Even enlarged pinna cues leave hearing-impaired localization far below normal (similarity 0.94)
- Hearing impairment makes fine high-frequency pinna cues imperceptible (similarity 0.93)
- Enhanced pinna cues only partially close the spatial-resolution gap in hearing-impaired listeners (similarity 0.93)
- Oversized-pinna cue simulation barely improves vertical localization for hearing-impaired listeners (similarity 0.93)
- Down-shifted Weinrich cues improve MAA in hearing-impaired listeners by about ten degrees (similarity 0.92)
- Enlarging the pinna improves azimuth localization only for hearing-impaired listeners (similarity 0.91)
- The pinna’s low-frequency notch shifts upward in frequency as sound source elevates (similarity 0.90)
- Hearing-impaired subjects localized via pinna frequency shaping, not level differences (similarity 0.90)
- Normal-hearing MAA is unaffected by pinna cue type or reference angle (similarity 0.89)
- Hearing loss impairs pinna-cue discrimination for vertical sound localization (similarity 0.88)
- Hearing-impaired listeners benefit from oversized-pinna spectral cues more than normal-hearing listeners do. (similarity 0.88)
- Vertical-plane discrimination may improve when pinna cues are shifted to a perceptible band (similarity 0.87)
- Exaggerated outer-ear cues improve sound localization only in hearing-impaired listeners. (similarity 0.86)
- Hearing aids distort localization cues and often worsen localization (similarity 0.86)
- Enhanced cues still leave hearing-impaired MAA far above normal-hearing performance (similarity 0.84)
Broader Connections
- Normal-hearing MAA is unaffected by pinna cue type or reference angle
#corroborates(0.92) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3118 - Even enlarged pinna cues leave hearing-impaired localization far below normal
#qualifies(0.80) — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 3050 - Head-related transfer functions encode how the head and pinna shape spatial hearing
#expands(0.75) - Hearing-impaired ears can outperform normal ears at amplitude modulation detection
#complicates(0.72) — Jennifer Lentz, Psychoacoustics- Perception of Normal…, 1102