Identifying Subclinical Hearing Loss: Extended Audiometry and Word Recognition in Noise

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ward R. Drennan
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Normal Range ◽  
Closed Set ◽  
Age Related ◽  
High Frequency Audiometry ◽  
Hearing Problems

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Normal-hearing people often have complaints about the ability to recognize speech in noise. Such disabilities are not typically assessed with conventional audiometry. Suprathreshold temporal deficits might contribute to reduced word recognition in noise as well as reduced temporally based binaural release of masking for speech. Extended high-frequency audibility (&#x3e;8 kHz) has also been shown to contribute to speech perception in noise. The primary aim of this study was to compare conventional audiometric measures with measures that could reveal subclinical deficits. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Conventional and extended high-frequency audiometry was done with 119 normal-hearing people ranging in age from 18 to 72. The ability to recognize words in noise was evaluated with and without differences in temporally based spatial cues. A low-uncertainty, closed-set word recognition task was used to limit cognitive influences. <b><i>Results:</i></b> In normal-hearing listeners, word recognition in noise ability decreases significantly with increasing pure-tone average (PTA). On average, signal-to-noise ratios worsened by 5.7 and 6.0 dB over the normal range, for the diotic and dichotic conditions, respectively. When controlling for age, a significant relationship remained in the diotic condition. Measurement error was estimated at 1.4 and 1.6 dB for the diotic and dichotic conditions, respectively. Controlling for both PTA and age, EHF-PTAs showed significant partial correlations with SNR50 in both conditions (<i>ρ</i> = 0.30 and 0.23). Temporally based binaural release of masking worsened with age by 1.94 dB from 18 to 72 years old but showed no significant relationship with either PTA. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> All three assessments in this study demonstrated hearing problems independently of those observed in conventional audiometry. Considerable degradations in word recognition in noise abilities were observed as PTAs increased within the normal range. The use of an efficient words-in-noise measure might help identify functional hearing problems for individuals that are traditionally normal hearing. Extended audiometry provided additional predictive power for word recognition in noise independent of both the PTA and age. Temporally based binaural release of masking for word recognition decreased with age independent of PTAs within the normal range, indicating multiple mechanisms of age-related decline with potential clinical impact.

scholarly journals The Relevance of the High Frequency Audiometry in Tinnitus Patients with Normal Hearing in Conventional Pure-Tone Audiometry

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Vielsmeier ◽  
Astrid Lehner ◽  
Jürgen Strutz ◽  
Thomas Steffens ◽  
Peter M. Kreuzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Pure Tone Audiometry ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
High Frequency Hearing Loss ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Tinnitus Severity ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
High Frequency Audiometry

Objective. The majority of tinnitus patients suffer from hearing loss. But a subgroup of tinnitus patients show normal hearing thresholds in the conventional pure-tone audiometry (125 Hz–8 kHz). Here we explored whether the results of the high frequency audiometry (>8 kHz) provide relevant additional information in tinnitus patients with normal conventional audiometry by comparing those with normal and pathological high frequency audiometry with respect to their demographic and clinical characteristics.Subjects and Methods. From the database of the Tinnitus Clinic at Regensburg we identified 75 patients with normal hearing thresholds in the conventional pure-tone audiometry. We contrasted these patients with normal and pathological high-frequency audiogram and compared them with respect to gender, age, tinnitus severity, pitch, laterality and duration, comorbid symptoms and triggers for tinnitus onset.Results. Patients with pathological high frequency audiometry were significantly older and had higher scores on the tinnitus questionnaires in comparison to patients with normal high frequency audiometry. Furthermore, there was an association of high frequency audiometry with the laterality of tinnitus.Conclusion. In tinnitus patients with normal pure-tone audiometry the high frequency audiometry provides useful additional information. The association between tinnitus laterality and asymmetry of the high frequency audiometry suggests a potential causal role for the high frequency hearing loss in tinnitus etiopathogenesis.

Older Listeners' Use of Temporal Cues Altered by Compression Amplification

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 661-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela E. Souza
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Dynamic Range ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
Spectral Information ◽  
Temporal Cues ◽  
Age Related

This study compared the ability of younger and older listeners to use temporal information in speech when that information was altered by compression amplification. Recognition of vowel-consonant-vowel syllables was measured for four groups of adult listeners (younger normal hearing, older normal hearing, younger hearing impaired, older hearing impaired). There were four conditions. Syllables were processed with wide-dynamic range compression (WDRC) amplification and with linear amplification. In each of those conditions, recognition was measured for syllables containing only temporal information and for syllables containing spectral and temporal information. Recognition of WDRC-amplified speech provided an estimate of the ability to use altered amplitude envelope cues. Syllables were presented with a high-frequency masker to minimize confounding differences in high-frequency sensitivity between the younger and older groups. Scores were lower for WDRC-amplified speech than for linearly amplified speech, and older listeners performed more poorly than younger listeners. When spectral information was unrestricted, the age-related decrement was similar for both amplification types. When spectral information was restricted for listeners with normal hearing, the age-related decrement was greater for WDRC-amplified speech than for linearly amplified speech. When spectral information was restricted for listeners with hearing loss, the age-related decrement was similar for both amplification types. Clinically, these results imply that when spectral cues are available (i.e., when the listener has adequate spectral resolution) older listeners can use WDRC hearing aids to the same extent as younger listeners. For older listeners without hearing loss, poorer scores for compression-amplified speech suggest an age-related deficit in temporal resolution.

Development of a Speech-in-Multitalker-Babble Paradigm to Assess Word-Recognition Performance

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (09) ◽  
pp. 453-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Presentation Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Binaural Listening

A simple word-recognition task in multitalker babble for clinic use was developed in the course of four experiments involving listeners with normal hearing and listeners with hearing loss. In Experiments 1 and 2, psychometric functions for the individual NU No. 6 words from Lists 2, 3, and 4 were obtained with each word in a unique segment of multitalker babble. The test paradigm that emerged involved ten words at each of seven signal-to-babble ratios (S/B) from 0 to 24 dB. Experiment 3 examined the effect that babble presentation level (70, 80, and 90 dB SPL) had on recognition performance in babble, whereas Experiment 4 studied the effect that monaural and binaural listening had on recognition performance. For listeners with normal hearing, the 90th percentile was 6 dB S/B. In comparison to the listeners with normal hearing, the 50% correct points on the functions for listeners with hearing loss were at 5 to 15 dB higher signal-to-babble ratios.

The 500 Hz Masking-Level Difference and Word Recognition in Multitalker Babble for 40- to 89-Year-Old Listeners with Symmetrical Sensorineural Hearing Loss

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 367-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Wilson ◽  
Deborah G. Weakley
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽  
Pure Tone ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing ◽  
Systematic Relationship ◽  
Masking Level Difference

The purpose of this study was to determine if performances on a 500 Hz MLD task and a word-recognition task in multitalker babble covaried or varied independently for listeners with normal hearing and for listeners with hearing loss. Young listeners with normal hearing (n = 25) and older listeners (25 per decade from 40–80 years, n = 125) with sensorineural hearing loss were studied. Thresholds at 500 and 1000 Hz were ≤30 dB HL and ≤40 dB HL, respectively, with thresholds above 1000 Hz <100 dB HL. There was no systematic relationship between the 500 Hz MLD and word-recognition performance in multitalker babble. Higher SoNo and SπNo; thresholds were observed for the older listeners, but the MLDs were the same for all groups. Word recognition in babble in terms of signal-to-babble ratio was on average 6.5 (40- to 49-year-old group) to 10.8 dB (80- to 89-year-old group) poorer for the older listeners with hearing loss. Neither pure-tone thresholds nor word-recognition abilities in quiet accurately predicted word-recognition performance in multitalker babble.

Extended high frequency audiometry can diagnose sub-clinic involvement in a seemingly normal hearing systemic lupus erythematosus population

2016 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mar Lasso de la Vega ◽  
Ithzel María Villarreal ◽  
Julio López Moya ◽  
José Ramón García-Berrocal
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus ◽  
Lupus Erythematosus ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Systemic Lupus ◽  
High Frequency Audiometry

Perceptual Organization of Sequential Stimuli in Listeners With Cochlear Hearing Loss

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Grose ◽  
J. W. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Perceptual Organization ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Frequency Separation ◽  
Sequential Processing ◽  
Melody Recognition ◽  
Cochlear Hearing Loss ◽  
Two Measures

The perceptual organization of sequential stimuli presumably depends in part on the fidelity with which acoustic cues are encoded in the auditory system. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cochlear hearing loss on two measures of sequential processing that rely on spectro-temporal information. The results of a gap detection/discrimination task indicated that listeners with cochlear hearing loss exhibited particular difficulty discriminating gaps between tonal markers that were disparate in frequency. Performance improved when the disparate tones were embedded into a sequence of alternating low- and high-frequency tones that may have facilitated the perceptual parsing of the stimuli into separate auditory streams. However, performance for listeners with cochlear hearing loss was generally poorer than that of normal-hearing listeners and did not appear to be related to threshold in quiet or to frequency selectivity. The results of a melody recognition task that required a target melody to be "heard out" from simultaneous competing melodies also indicated generally poorer performance on the part of the listeners with hearing loss, although the pattern of results across all listeners was highly idiosyncratic. It was concluded that cochlear hearing loss deleteriously affects the processes underlying perceptual organization of sequential stimuli. In particular, perceptual organization in the presence of cochlear hearing loss appears to require a greater frequency separation between presumed auditory streams in comparison to normal-hearing listeners.

scholarly journals Identification of the Spectrotemporal Modulations That Support Speech Intelligibility in Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Listeners

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 1051-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Venezia ◽  
Allison-Graham Martin ◽  
Gregory Hickok ◽  
Virginia M. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Small Region ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Age Related

Purpose Age-related sensorineural hearing loss can dramatically affect speech recognition performance due to reduced audibility and suprathreshold distortion of spectrotemporal information. Normal aging produces changes within the central auditory system that impose further distortions. The goal of this study was to characterize the effects of aging and hearing loss on perceptual representations of speech. Method We asked whether speech intelligibility is supported by different patterns of spectrotemporal modulations (STMs) in older listeners compared to young normal-hearing listeners. We recruited 3 groups of participants: 20 older hearing-impaired (OHI) listeners, 19 age-matched normal-hearing listeners, and 10 young normal-hearing (YNH) listeners. Listeners performed a speech recognition task in which randomly selected regions of the speech STM spectrum were revealed from trial to trial. The overall amount of STM information was varied using an up–down staircase to hold performance at 50% correct. Ordinal regression was used to estimate weights showing which regions of the STM spectrum were associated with good performance (a “classification image” or CImg). Results The results indicated that (a) large-scale CImg patterns did not differ between the 3 groups; (b) weights in a small region of the CImg decreased systematically as hearing loss increased; (c) CImgs were also nonsystematically distorted in OHI listeners, and the magnitude of this distortion predicted speech recognition performance even after accounting for audibility; and (d) YNH listeners performed better overall than the older groups. Conclusion We conclude that OHI/older normal-hearing listeners rely on the same speech STMs as YNH listeners but encode this information less efficiently. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7859981

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