An Energetic Limit on Spatial Release from Masking

This study tested the hypothesis that energetic masking limits the benefits obtained from spatial separation in multiple-talker listening situations, particularly for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss. A speech target was presented simultaneously with two or four speech maskers. The target w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 2013-08, Vol.14 (4), p.603-610
Main Authors: Best, Virginia, Thompson, Eric R., Mason, Christine R., Kidd, Gerald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Auditory Perception - physiology
Auditory Threshold - physiology
Hearing - physiology
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - physiopathology
Humans
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Neurobiology
Neurosciences
Otorhinolaryngology
Perceptual Masking - physiology
Research Article
Speech Perception - physiology
Task Performance and Analysis
Time Factors
Young Adult
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Summary:This study tested the hypothesis that energetic masking limits the benefits obtained from spatial separation in multiple-talker listening situations, particularly for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss. A speech target was presented simultaneously with two or four speech maskers. The target was always presented diotically, and the maskers were either presented diotically or dichotically. In dichotic configurations, the maskers were symmetrically placed by introducing interaural time differences (ITDs) or infinitely large interaural level differences (ILDs; monaural presentation). Target-to-masker ratios for 50 % correct were estimated. Thresholds in all separated conditions were poorer in listeners with hearing loss than listeners with normal hearing. Moreover, for a given listener, thresholds were similar for conditions with the same number of talkers per ear (e.g., ILD with four talkers equivalent to ITD with two talkers) and hence the same energetic masking. The results are consistent with the idea that increased energetic masking, rather than a specific spatial deficit, may limit performance for hearing-impaired listeners in spatialized speech mixtures.
ISSN:1525-3961
1438-7573
DOI:10.1007/s10162-013-0392-1