Abstract
Purpose: In a previous paper (Souza, Wright, Blackburn, Tatman, & Gallun, 2015), we explored the extent to which individuals with sensorineural hearing loss used different cues for speech identification when multiple cues were available. Specifically, some listeners placed the greatest weight on spectral cues (spectral shape and/or formant transition), whereas others relied on the temporal envelope. In the current study, we aimed to determine whether listeners who relied on temporal envelope did so because they were unable to discriminate the formant information at a level sufficient to use it for identification and the extent to which a brief discrimination test could predict cue weighting patterns. Method: Participants were 30 older adults with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The first task was to label synthetic speech tokens based on the combined percept of temporal envelope rise time and formant transitions. An individual profile was derived from linear discriminant analysis of the identification responses. The second task was to discriminate differences in either temporal envelope rise time or formant transitions. The third task was to discriminate spectrotemporal modulation in a nonspeech stimulus. Results: All listeners were able to discriminate temporal envelope rise time at levels sufficient for the identification task. There was wide variability in the ability to discriminate formant transitions, and that ability predicted approximately one third of the variance in the identification task. There was no relationship between performance in the identification task and either amount of hearing loss or ability to discriminate nonspeech spectrotemporal modulation. Conclusions: The data suggest that listeners who rely to a greater extent on temporal cues lack the ability to discriminate fine-grained spectral information. The fact that the amount of hearing loss was not associated with the cue profile underscores the need to characterize individual abilities in a more nuanced way than can be captured by the pure-tone audiogram.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 334-344 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research |
Volume | 63 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2020 |
Funding
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants R01 DC006014 (PI: Souza) and R01 DC015051 (PI: Gallun). The authors thank Kendra Marks for her assistance with data collection and management, Lauren Balmert for assistance with the data analysis, and Marco Rosado for technical support.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Speech and Hearing
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language