Frequency discrimination at 1200 Hz in the presence of high‐frequency masking noise

1982 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 660-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Nelson ◽  
Mary E. Stanton
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Masking Noise

scholarly journals Evaluation of working memory in relation to cochlear implant consonant speech discrimination

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai M. El Ghazaly ◽  
Mona I. Mourad ◽  
Nesrine H. Hamouda ◽  
Mohamed A. Talaat
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Word List ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Frequency Resolution ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Strong Positive Relationship ◽  
Speech And Language Development

Abstract Background Speech perception in cochlear implants (CI) is affected by frequency resolution, exposure time, and working memory. Frequency discrimination is especially difficult in CI. Working memory is important for speech and language development and is expected to contribute to the vast variability in CI speech reception and expression outcome. The aim of this study is to evaluate CI patients’ consonants discrimination that varies in voicing, manner, and place of articulation imparting differences in pitch, time, and intensity, and also to evaluate working memory status and its possible effect on consonant discrimination. Results Fifty-five CI patients were included in this study. Their aided thresholds were less than 40 dBHL. Consonant speech discrimination was assessed using Arabic consonant discrimination words. Working memory was assessed using Test of Memory and Learning-2 (TOMAL-2). Subjects were divided according to the onset of hearing loss into prelingual children and postlingual adults and teenagers. Consonant classes studied were fricatives, stops, nasals, and laterals. Performance on the high frequency CVC words was 64.23% ± 17.41 for prelinguals and 61.70% ± 14.47 for postlinguals. These scores were significantly lower than scores on phonetically balanced word list (PBWL) of 79.94% ± 12.69 for prelinguals and 80.80% ± 11.36 for postlinguals. The lowest scores were for the fricatives. Working memory scores were strongly and positively correlated with speech discrimination scores. Conclusions Consonant discrimination using high frequency weighted words can provide a realistic tool for assessment of CI speech perception. Working memory skills showed a strong positive relationship with speech discrimination abilities in CI.

Effects of Time-Compression on Feature and Frequency Discrimination in Aged Listeners

1989 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rastatter ◽  
Marie Watson ◽  
Dianna Strauss-Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
Compression Rate ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Time Compression ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
Age Range

This study measured the ability of 16 aged listeners, normal for their age (age range, 63 to 84 yr.) to discriminate phonemic contrasts in sentential stimuli (Subtest 13 of the Carrow-Auditory Visual Abilities Test) presented at 50% time-compression rate. A series of linear regression analyses were performed in which each independent variable was regressed against the continuous variable of age. Over-all performance on the time-compressed task significantly decreased as a function of age. Also discrimination of place of articulation and mid- to high-frequency contrasts was significantly and negatively related to age In general, such findings suggest that the course of aging continuously imposes degrading effects on speech-processing that are related to discrimination of place feature contrasts.

scholarly journals Auditory Psychophysics in Birds: the Effects of Unique Noise on Sensitivity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alan J. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Common Noise ◽  
Extraneous Noise ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Operant Procedure ◽  
Data Group ◽  
Measures Of Performance ◽  
The Ideal

<p>The performances of observers in auditory experiments are likely to be affected by extraneous noise from physiological or neurological sources and also by decision noise. Attempts have been made to measure the characteristics of this noise, in particular its level relative to that of masking noise provided by the experimenter. This study investigated an alternative approach, a method of analysis which seeks to reduce the effects of extraneous noise on measures derived from experimental data. Group-Operating-Characteristic (GOC) analysis was described by Watson (1963) and investigated by Boven (1976). Boven distinguished between common and unique noise. GOC analysis seeks to reduce the effects of unique noise. In the analysis, ratings of the same stimulus on different occasions are sunned. The cumulative frequency distributions of the resulting variable define a GOC curve. This curve is analogous to an ROC curve, but since the effects of unique noise tend to be averaged out during the summation, the GOC is less influenced by extraneous noise. The amount of improvement depends on the relative variance of the unique and common noise (k). Higher levels of unique noise lead to greater improvement. In this study four frequency discrimination experiments were carried out with pigeons as observers, using a three-key operant procedure. In other experiments, computer-simulated observers were used. The first two pigeon experiments, and the simulations, were based on known distributions of common noise. The ROCs for the constructed distributions provided a standard with which the GOC curve could be compared. In all cases the analysis led to improvements in the measures of performance and increased the match of the experimental results and the ideal ROC. The amount of improvement, as well as reflecting the level of unique noise, depended on the number of response categories. With smaller numbers of categories, improvement was reduced and k was underestimated. Since the pigeon observers made only "yes" or "no" responses, the results for the pigeon experiments were compared with the results of simulations with known distributions in order to obtain more accurate estimates of k. The third and fourth pigeon experiments involved frequency discrimination tasks with a standard of 450 Hz and comparison frequencies of 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 Hz, and 650 Hz, respectively. With the multiple comparison frequencies the results were very variable. This was due to the small number of trials for each frequency and the small number of replications. The results obtained with one comparison frequency were more orderly but, like those of the previous experiment, were impossible to distinguish from those which would be expected if there was no common noise. A final set of experiments was based on a hardware simulation. Signals first used in the fourth pigeon experiment were processed by a system made up of a filter, a zero-axis crossing detector and a simulated observer. The results of these experiments were compatible with the possibility that the amount of unique noise in the pigeon experiments overwhelmed any evidence of common noise.</p>

Stimulus, Response, and Observer Variables in the Auditory Screening of Newborn Infants

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ling ◽  
Agnes H. Ling ◽  
Donald G. Doehring
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Newborn Infants ◽  
Response Strength ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Narrow Band Noise ◽  
Band Noise ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Infant Screening

Behavioral responses of 144 healthy neonates to actual and simulated presentations of three different high-frequency sounds of 85 dB SPL were studied. Stimuli were a narrow-band noise centered at 2000 Hz, a narrow-band noise centered at 3150 Hz, and a pure tone increasing and decreasing in frequency between 2000 and 4000 Hz. A masking noise which prevented knowledge of stimulus events was presented to one member of each observer pair. Results indicated that an observer’s judgments of infant behavior may be significantly influenced by knowledge of stimulus events. More responses were observed with the narrow-band noise centered at 2000 Hz; the most frequently observed responses were strong whole-body movements. A decrement in response strength tended to occur with repeated stimulation. Neither positive nor false positive responses were related to sex, anomalies, gestation period, birth weight, age at test, or body temperature. The inherent complexities of infant screening are discussed in relation to a signal detection paradigm.

scholarly journals Auditory Psychophysics in Birds: the Effects of Unique Noise on Sensitivity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alan J. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Common Noise ◽  
Extraneous Noise ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Operant Procedure ◽  
Data Group ◽  
Measures Of Performance ◽  
The Ideal

<p>The performances of observers in auditory experiments are likely to be affected by extraneous noise from physiological or neurological sources and also by decision noise. Attempts have been made to measure the characteristics of this noise, in particular its level relative to that of masking noise provided by the experimenter. This study investigated an alternative approach, a method of analysis which seeks to reduce the effects of extraneous noise on measures derived from experimental data. Group-Operating-Characteristic (GOC) analysis was described by Watson (1963) and investigated by Boven (1976). Boven distinguished between common and unique noise. GOC analysis seeks to reduce the effects of unique noise. In the analysis, ratings of the same stimulus on different occasions are sunned. The cumulative frequency distributions of the resulting variable define a GOC curve. This curve is analogous to an ROC curve, but since the effects of unique noise tend to be averaged out during the summation, the GOC is less influenced by extraneous noise. The amount of improvement depends on the relative variance of the unique and common noise (k). Higher levels of unique noise lead to greater improvement. In this study four frequency discrimination experiments were carried out with pigeons as observers, using a three-key operant procedure. In other experiments, computer-simulated observers were used. The first two pigeon experiments, and the simulations, were based on known distributions of common noise. The ROCs for the constructed distributions provided a standard with which the GOC curve could be compared. In all cases the analysis led to improvements in the measures of performance and increased the match of the experimental results and the ideal ROC. The amount of improvement, as well as reflecting the level of unique noise, depended on the number of response categories. With smaller numbers of categories, improvement was reduced and k was underestimated. Since the pigeon observers made only "yes" or "no" responses, the results for the pigeon experiments were compared with the results of simulations with known distributions in order to obtain more accurate estimates of k. The third and fourth pigeon experiments involved frequency discrimination tasks with a standard of 450 Hz and comparison frequencies of 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 Hz, and 650 Hz, respectively. With the multiple comparison frequencies the results were very variable. This was due to the small number of trials for each frequency and the small number of replications. The results obtained with one comparison frequency were more orderly but, like those of the previous experiment, were impossible to distinguish from those which would be expected if there was no common noise. A final set of experiments was based on a hardware simulation. Signals first used in the fourth pigeon experiment were processed by a system made up of a filter, a zero-axis crossing detector and a simulated observer. The results of these experiments were compatible with the possibility that the amount of unique noise in the pigeon experiments overwhelmed any evidence of common noise.</p>

scholarly journals Improved Sensitivity of Digits-in-Noise Test to High-Frequency Hearing Loss

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Motlagh Zadeh ◽  
Noah Silbert ◽  
De Wet Swanepoel ◽  
David R Moore
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Broadband Noise ◽  
Pass Filter ◽  
Low Pass Filter ◽  
High Frequency Hearing Loss ◽  
Low Pass ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
Speech Reception Thresholds ◽  
Filtered Noise

Objectives: Hearing loss is most commonly observed at high frequencies. High-frequency hearing loss (HFHL) precedes and predicts hearing loss at lower frequencies. It was previously shown that an automated, self-administered digits-in-noise (DIN) test can be sensitized for detection of HFHL by low-pass filtering the speech-shaped masking noise at 1.5 kHz. This study was designed to investigate whether sensitivity of the DIN to HFHL can be enhanced further using low-pass noise filters with higher cutoff frequencies. Design: US-English digits 0-9, homogenized for audibility, were binaurally presented in different noise maskers including one broadband and three low-pass (cut-off at 2, 4, 8 kHz) filtered speech-shaped noises. DIN-Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were obtained from 60 normal hearing (NH), and 40 mildly hearing impaired (HI) listeners with bilateral symmetric sensorineural hearing-loss. Standard and extended high frequency audiometric pure tone averages (PTAs) were compared with the DIN-SRTs. Results: Narrower masking noise bandwidth generally produced better (more sensitive) mean DIN-SRTs. There were strong and significant correlations between SRT and PTA in the HI group. Lower frequency, PTALF 0.5,1, 2, 4 kHz had the highest correlation and steepest slope with SRTs obtained from the 2 kHz filter. Higher frequency, PTAHF 4,8,10,12.5 kHz correlated best with SRTs obtained from 4 and 8 kHz filtered noise. The 4 kHz low-pass filter also had the highest sensitivity (92%) and equally-highest (with the 8 kHz filter) specificity (90%) for detecting an average PTAHF of 20 dB or more. Conclusions: Of the filters used, DIN sensitivity to higher frequency hearing loss was greatest using the 4 kHz low-pass filter. These results suggest that low-pass filtered noise may be usefully substituted for broadband noise to improve earlier detection of HFHL using DIN.

Masking of Tone Bursts by Modulated Noise in Normal, Noise-Masked Normal, and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry E. Humes
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Modulation Depth ◽  
Tone Burst ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Good Representation ◽  
Modulation Spectrum ◽  
Masking Noise ◽  
The Difference ◽  
High Pass

Threshold of 4.6-ms tone bursts was measured in quiet and in the presence of a 100% sinusoidally amplitude-modulated speech-shaped noise. For the modulated-noise conditions, the onset of the tone burst coincided either with the maximum or the minimum modulator amplitude. The difference in these two masked thresholds provided an indication of the psychoacoustic modulation depth, or the modulation depth preserved within the auditory system. Modulation frequencies spanning the modulation spectrum of speech (2.5 to 20 Hz) were examined. Tone bursts were 500, 1400, and 4000 Hz. Subjects included normal listeners, normal listeners with a hearing loss simulated by high-pass noise, and hearing-impaired listeners having high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. Normal listeners revealed a psychoacoustic modulation depth of 30–40 dB for the lowest modulation frequencies which decreased to about 15 dB at 20 Hz. The psychoacoustic modulation depth was decreased in the normal listeners with simulated hearing loss and in the hearing-impaired listeners. There was general agreement in the data, however, for the latter two groups of listeners suggesting that the normal listeners with hearing loss simulated by an additional masking noise provided a good representation of the performance of hearing-impaired listeners on this task.

Personal music systems and hearing

2016 ◽  
Vol 130 (8) ◽  
pp. 717-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
U A Kumar ◽  
S R Deepashree
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Otoacoustic Emissions ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Modulation Frequency ◽  
Pure Tone Audiometry ◽  
Otoacoustic Emission ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Modulation Transfer ◽  
Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission ◽  
Sound Pressure Levels

AbstractObjectives:To measure the output sound pressure levels of personal music systems and evaluate their effect on hearing.Methods:Output sound pressure levels at preferred volume settings and listening environment were measured using a manikin. Effects of personal music system use on hearing were evaluated using pure tone audiometry (in conventional and extended high frequency ranges), transient evoked otoacoustic emissions, syllable identification in noise, intensity discrimination, frequency discrimination and temporal modulation transfer function.Results:Results showed, alarmingly, that large proportions of young adults are using personal music systems at levels higher than the safety limits set by regulatory bodies. Individuals who listened to personal music systems at levels higher than 80 dB LAeq exhibited poorer extended high frequency thresholds, reduced transient evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes, poorer frequency discrimination, reduced modulation detection thresholds at 32 Hz modulation frequency, and reduced syllable identification in noise at −5 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Listening levels were significantly correlated with extended high frequency thresholds and transient evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes.Conclusion:These results suggest that listening to music through personal music systems at higher volume levels may be hazardous to hearing.

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