scholarly journals Temporal resolution with click and pure tone stimuli in youngsters with normal hearing sensitivity

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana Leal de Sousa ◽  
Karin Ziliotto Dias ◽  
Liliane Desgualdo Pereira

PURPOSE: To assess the auditory ability of temporal resolution and to compare the random gap detection test (RGDT) versions with pure tone and clicks stimuli. METHODS: Participants were 40 young individuals of both genders with ages between 18 and 25 years, and normal hearing thresholds for the sound frequencies of 250 Hz to 8 kHz. Initially, participants were submitted to the basic audiological evaluation. Then they underwent the RGDT with pure tone and clicks stimuli. Finally, we obtained the temporal acuity threshold, which corresponds to the shorter silence interval in which the patient perceives two sounds, for each type of stimulus, called final temporal acuity threshold for pure tones (mean of the thresholds obtained for 500 Hz, 1k, 2k and 4 kHz), and temporal acuity threshold for clicks. RESULTS: The mean temporal acuity threshold for the sound frequency of 500 Hz was 7.25 ms; for the frequency of 1 kHz was 7.25 ms; for 2 kHz was 6.73 ms; for the frequency of 4 kHz was 6.03 ms. The final temporal acuity threshold was 6.72 ms. The mean temporal acuity threshold for clicks was 6.43 ms. No difference was found between the temporal acuity thresholds obtained with pure tone and clicks stimuli. CONCLUSION: There is no difference in the performance of individuals on the auditory ability of temporal resolution, regardless of the auditory stimulus used.

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (07) ◽  
pp. 393-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Leigh-Paffenroth ◽  
Saravanan Elangovan

Background: Hearing loss and age interfere with the auditory system's ability to process temporal changes in the acoustic signal. A key unresolved question is whether high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss (HFSNHL) affects temporal processing in the low-frequency region where hearing loss is minimal or nonexistent. A second unresolved question is whether changes in hearing occur in middle-aged subjects in the absence of HFSNHL. Purpose: The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the influence of HFSNHL and aging on the auditory temporal processing abilities of low-frequency auditory channels with normal hearing sensitivity and (2) to examine the relations among gap detection measures, self-assessment reports of understanding speech, and functional measures of speech perception in middle-aged individuals with and without HFSNHL. Research Design: The subject groups were matched for either age (middle age) or pure-tone sensitivity (with or without hearing loss) to study the effects of age and HFSNHL on behavioral and functional measures of temporal processing and word recognition performance. These effects were analyzed by individual repeated-measures analyses of variance. Post hoc analyses were performed for each significant main effect and interaction. The relationships among the measures were analyzed with Pearson correlations. Study Sample: Eleven normal-hearing young adults (YNH), eight normal-hearing middle-aged adults (MANH), and nine middle-aged adults with HFSNHL were recruited for this study. Normal hearing sensitivity was defined as pure-tone thresholds ≤25 dB HL for octave frequencies from 250 to 8000 Hz. HFSNHL was defined as pure-tone thresholds ≤25 dB HL from 250 to 2000 Hz and ≥35 dB HL from 3000 to 8000 Hz. Data Collection and Analysis: Gap detection thresholds (GDTs) were measured under within-channel and between-channel conditions with the stimulus spectrum limited to regions of normal hearing sensitivity for the HFSNHL group (i.e., <2000 Hz). Self-perceived hearing problems were measured by a questionnaire (Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit), and word recognition performance was assessed under four conditions: quiet and babble, with and without low-pass filtering (cutoff frequency = 2000 Hz). Results: The effects of HFSNHL and age were found for gap detection, self-perceived hearing problems, and word recognition in noise. The presence of HFSNHL significantly increased GDTs for stimuli presented in regions of normal pure-tone sensitivity. In addition, middle-aged subjects with normal hearing sensitivity reported significantly more problems hearing in background noise than the young normal-hearing subjects. Significant relationships between self-report measures of hearing ability in background noise and word recognition in babble were found. Conclusions: The conclusions from the present study are twofold: (1) HFSNHL may have an off-channel impact on auditory temporal processing, and (2) presenescent changes in the auditory system of MANH subjects increased self-perceived problems hearing in background noise and decreased functional performance in background noise compared with YNH subjects.


2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 965-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Roberts ◽  
Jennifer J. Lister

Older listeners with normal-hearing sensitivity and impaired-hearing sensitivity often demonstrate poorer-than-normal performance on tasks of speech understanding in noise and reverberation. Deficits in temporal resolution and in the precedence effect may underlie this difficulty. Temporal resolution is often studied by means of a gap-detection paradigm. This task is similar to binaural fusion paradigms used to measure the precedence effect. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if within-channel (measured with monotic and diotic gap detection) or across-channel (measured with dichotic gap detection) temporal resolution is related to fusion (measured with lag-burst thresholds; LBTs) under dichotic, anechoic, and reverberant conditions. Gap-detection thresholds (GDTs) and LBTs were measured by means of noise-burst stimuli for 3 groups of listeners: young adults with normal-hearing sensitivity (YNH), older adults with normal-hearing sensitivity (ONH), and older adults with impaired-hearing sensitivity (OIH). The GDTs indicated that across-channel temporal resolution is poorer than within-channel temporal resolution and that the effects of age and hearing loss are dependent on condition. Results for the fusion task indicated higher LBTs in reverberation than for the dichotic and anechoic conditions, regardless of group, and no effect of age or hearing loss for the nonreverberant conditions. However, higher LBTs were observed in the reverberant condition for the ONH listeners. Further, there was a correlation between across-channel temporal resolution and fusion in reverberation. Gap detection and fusion may not necessarily reflect the same underlying processes; however, across-channel gap detection may influence fusion under certain conditions (i.e., in reverberation).


2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 482-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer J. Lister ◽  
Richard A. Roberts

Deficits in temporal resolution and/or the precedence effect may underlie part of the speech understanding difficulties experienced by older listeners in degraded acoustic environments. In a previous investigation, R. Roberts and J. Lister (2004) identified a positive correlation between measures of temporal resolution and the precedence effect, specifically across-channel gap detection (as measured dichotically) and fusion. Across-channel gap detection may also be measured using frequency-disparate markers. Thus, the present investigation was designed to determine if the relation is specific to dichotic gap detection or may generalize to all types of across-channel gap detection. Gap-detection thresholds (GDTs) for fixed-frequency and frequency-disparate markers and lag-burst thresholds (LBTs) were measured for 3 groups of listeners: young with normal hearing sensitivity (YNH), older with normal hearing sensitivity (ONH), and older with sensorineural hearing loss (OIH). Also included were conditions of diotic and dichotic GDT. Largest GDTs were measured for the frequency-disparate markers, whereas largest LBTs were measured for the fixed-frequency markers. ONH and OIH listeners exhibited larger frequency-disparate and dichotic GDTs than YNH listeners. Listener age and hearing loss appeared to influence temporal resolution for frequency-disparate and dichotic stimuli, which is potentially important for the resolution of timing cues in speech. Age and hearing loss did not significantly influence fusion as measured by LBTs. Within each participant group, most GDTs and LBTs were positively, but not significantly, correlated. For all participants combined, across-channel GDTs and LBTs were positively and significantly correlated. This suggests that the 2 tasks may rely on a common across-channel temporal mechanism.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (01) ◽  
pp. 037-045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon B. Palmer ◽  
Frank E. Musiek

Background: Normal temporal processing is important for the perception of speech in quiet and in difficult listening situations. Temporal resolution is commonly measured using a behavioral gap detection task, where the patient or subject must participate in the evaluation process. This is difficult to achieve with subjects who cannot reliably complete a behavioral test. However, recent research has investigated the use of evoked potential measures to evaluate gap detection. Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to record N1-P2 responses to gaps in broadband noise in normal hearing young adults. Comparisons were made of the N1 and P2 latencies, amplitudes, and morphology to different length gaps in noise in an effort to quantify the changing responses of the brain to these stimuli. It was the goal of this study to show that electrophysiological recordings can be used to evaluate temporal resolution and measure the influence of short and long gaps on the N1-P2 waveform. Research Design: This study used a repeated-measures design. All subjects completed a behavioral gap detection procedure to establish their behavioral gap detection threshold (BGDT). N1-P2 waveforms were recorded to the gap in a broadband noise. Gap durations were 20 msec, 2 msec above their BGDT, and 2 msec. These durations were chosen to represent a suprathreshold gap, a near-threshold gap, and a subthreshold gap. Study Sample: Fifteen normal-hearing young adult females were evaluated. Subjects were recruited from the local university community. Data Collection and Analysis: Latencies and amplitudes for N1 and P2 were compared across gap durations for all subjects using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. A qualitative description of responses was also included. Results: Most subjects did not display an N1-P2 response to a 2 msec gap, but all subjects had present clear evoked potential responses to 20 msec and 2+ msec gaps. Decreasing gap duration toward threshold resulted in decreasing waveform amplitude. However, N1 and P2 latencies remained stable as gap duration changed. Conclusions: N1-P2 waveforms can be elicited by gaps in noise in young normal-hearing adults. The responses are present as low as 2 msec above behavioral gap detection thresholds (BGDT). Gaps that are below BGDT do not generally evoke an electrophysiological response. These findings indicate that when a waveform is present, the gap duration is likely above their BGDT. Waveform amplitude is also a good index of gap detection, since amplitude decreases with decreasing gap duration. Future studies in this area will focus on various age groups and individuals with auditory disorders.


1994 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 1003-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Coren ◽  
A. Ralph Hakstian

Hearing sensitivity is most commonly still reported in terms of pure tone thresholds. Unfortunately, simple procedures for predicting Speech Recognition Thresholds from Pure Tone Thresholds are not currently available. To remedy this problem, pure tone thresholds were collected from 802 individuals over the range of 250 to 8000 Hz. Five subsets of pure tone thresholds which are commonly used to report hearing status were then considered. An average correlation of 0.878 was found between the various pure tone indexes and the speech recognition threshold. Using regressions between pure tone and the speech measure, a table was constructed that allows conversion of the various pure tone indexes to a predicted speech recognition threshold and involves only a very simple computation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elif Tugba Sarac ◽  
Bilgehan Boke ◽  
Semsettin Okuyucu

Introduction: Sickle cell anemia is a disease characterized by a wide vaso-occlusive incident from micro-vascular incident to muscularactivity. The cochlear function can also get affected by this vaso-occlusion. Objective: It is aimed at determining what kind of effects sickle cell anemia has on hearing and balance system. Methods: This study has been conducted on 46 patients with sickle cell anemia and 45 healthy individuals. For all participants, their pure tone hearing thresholds and videonystagmography (VNG) findings have been determined in 17 frequencies between 125–16.000 Hz. Results: All hearing thresholds between 125 and 16,000 Hz, pure tone averages of patients with sickle cell anemia have been found statistically significant to be higher than the corresponding values in the control group(p < 0.05). The normal hearing rate of patients with sickle cell anemia has been determined to be 71.1% conductive hearing loss (CHL) to be 4.4%, sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) to be 22.2%, and mixed type hearing loss to be 2.2% in right ear; the normal hearing rate has been determined to be 71.1%, CHL to be 2.2%, SNHL to be 22.2%, and mixed type hearing loss to be 4.4% in left ear. Statistically significant difference has not been found between head shake, spontaneous nystagmus, optokinetic, tracking test batteries, static and dynamic positional tests used in VNG, saccade accuracy and saccade peak velocity, which are saccadic test findings of 2 groups. However, saccadic latency, which is a saccadic test finding, has been determined to be longer in patients with sickle cell anemia in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: While sickle cell anemia causes hearing deficits, it does not have any effect on the central or peripheral vestibular system.


1986 ◽  
Vol 94 (5) ◽  
pp. 568-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank E. Musiek ◽  
Karen Kibbe-Michal ◽  
Nathan A. Geurkink ◽  
Anne Forrest Josey ◽  
Michael Glasscock

Sixteen patients with confirmed mass lesions of the posterior fossa and normal hearing sensitivity for pure tones were studied. Patients’ main symptoms, auditory brain-stem response (ABR), and lesion size were analyzed. All patients manifested neurologic and/or otoneurologic symptoms or complained of hearing difficulty disproportionate to their pure-tone findings. Interestingly, the patients in this select group were younger (mean = 34 years) than the typical patient with a posterior fossa tumor. ABR results were abnormal in 15 of the patients, although several indices—including absolute and interwave latencies, interaural latency difference, and wave presence/absence—were employed to achieve this sensitivity. Lesion size varied considerably and failed to correlate with ABR or pure-tone results.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Vielsmeier ◽  
Astrid Lehner ◽  
Jürgen Strutz ◽  
Thomas Steffens ◽  
Peter M. Kreuzer ◽  
...  

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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhicheng Li ◽  
Xiaofen Lai ◽  
Jinmei Lai ◽  
Min Qi ◽  
Lianxiong Yuan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Optimal medical intervention for veterans suffering from military noise-induced hearing impairment is a major concern of the specialists in military medicine, otology, and audiology sectors. Thus, it is important to objectively and accurately reflect the hearing level of the subject in the intervention to aid hearing and improve the existing hearing disability evaluation program. Purpose: The present study intends to identify the optimal correction scheme by comparing the accuracy and range of deviation of narrow-band chirps evoked auditory brainstem responses (NB Chirp ABR) corrected by different schemes in estimating the hearing level of people with normal hearing. Methods: A total of 66 individuals could hear sounds of a frequency <25dB hearing level (HL) in the pure tone audiometry were randomly divided into a model group (26 subjects), test group 1 (with 20 subjects), and test group 2 (with 20 subjects). The mean threshold difference and the regression equation at each frequency were obtained through the model group, and the correction results of the “mean threshold difference scheme (S1)” and the “regression equation scheme (S2)” were compared in the test groups 1 and 2. All data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0. Results: 1) The accuracy of the estimated hearing level (eHL) of non-corrected NB Chirp ABR was significantly higher than that of NB Chirp ABR corrected by S1 or S2; 2) The range of deviation of the eHL of non-corrected NB Chirp ABR from the pure tone audiometry threshold was greater than that of NB Chirp ABR corrected by S1 or S2 from the pure tone audiometry threshold at 500 and 1000 Hz, while at 2000 and 4000 Hz, the values were similar. Conclusion: Among people with normal hearing, it was necessary to correct NB Chirp ABR at 500 and 1000 Hz for higher accuracy of the eHL, but the strengths of different correction schemes were not defined. For clinical convenience, the “mean threshold difference scheme,” with the correction values of 7 and 4 dB, was recommended for correction. At 2000 and 4000 Hz, it was not necessary to correct NB Chirp ABR. Thus, additional subjects with different HLs should be included in future studies to discuss the differences between the two schemes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-225
Author(s):  
Ramya Vaidyanath ◽  
Asha Yathiraj

Purpose Gap-detection thresholds have been reported to vary depending on the type of stimuli used. The current study compared the performance of older adults on 2 tests of temporal resolution, one with random gaps and the other with gaps in the center of a noise signal. The study also determined which of the 2 tests was able to detect more temporal resolution deficits in older individuals. Method Two tests of temporal resolution, the Gap Detection Test (GDT; Shivaprakash, 2003) and the Gaps-In-Noise test (GIN; Musiek et al., 2005), were administered to 31 older adults with near normal hearing, aged 55 to 70 years. The order in which the tests were administered was randomized. Results The gap-detection thresholds obtained using GIN were significantly higher than those obtained using GDT. The difference in thresholds was ascribed to the randomness with which gaps were interspersed within noise segments in the 2 tests. More individuals failed on GIN than GDT. The older adults with high-frequency hearing loss obtained poorer gap thresholds than those with normal hearing. Conclusion The results indicated that older individuals failed GIN more often compared to GDT. This was attributed to the differences in stimuli and procedure used in the 2 tests.


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