Effects of Age on F0 Discrimination and Intonation Perception in Simulated Electric and Electroacoustic Hearing
| Autor: | Christi W. Miller, Kathryn H. Arehart, Pamela E. Souza, Ramesh Kumar Muralimanohar |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Hearing aid Aging medicine.medical_specialty Sound Spectrography Speech perception Steady state (electronics) Speech recognition medicine.medical_treatment Audiology Prosthesis Design behavioral disciplines and activities Article Speech Acoustics Pitch Discrimination Communication Aids for Disabled Speech and Hearing Phonetics Vowel Cochlear implant otorhinolaryngologic diseases medicine Humans Aged Aged 80 and over Auditory Threshold Middle Aged Cochlear Implants Acoustic Stimulation Otorhinolaryngology Speech Perception Female Cues Psychology Software psychological phenomena and processes |
| Zdroj: | Ear & Hearing. 32:75-83 |
| ISSN: | 0196-0202 |
| Popis: | Objectives: Recent research suggests that older listeners may have difficulty processing information related to the fundamental frequency (F 0 ) of voiced speech. In this study, the focus was on the mechanisms that may underlie this reduced ability. We examined whether increased age resulted in decreased ability to perceive F o using fine-structure cues provided by the harmonic structure of voiced speech sounds or cues provided by high-rate envelope fluctuations (periodicity). Design: Younger listeners with normal hearing and older listeners with normal to near-normal hearing completed two tasks of F o perception. In the first task (steady state F 0 ), the fundamental frequency difference limen (F 0 DL) was measured adaptively for synthetic vowel stimuli. In the second task (time-varying F 0 ), listeners relied on variations in F o to judge intonation of synthetic diphthongs. For both tasks, three processing conditions were created: eight-channel vocoding that preserved periodicity cues to F 0 ; a simulated electroacoustic stimulation condition, which consisted of high-frequency vocoder processing combined with a low-pass-filtered portion, and offered both periodicity and fine-structure cues to F 0 ; and an unprocessed condition. Results: F o difference limens for steady state vowel sounds and the ability to discern rising and falling intonations were significantly worse in the older subjects compared with the younger subjects. For both older and younger listeners, scores were lowest for the vocoded condition, and there was no difference in scores between the unprocessed and electroacoustic simulation conditions. Conclusions: Older listeners had difficulty using periodicity cues to obtain information related to talker fundamental frequency. However, performance was improved by combining periodicity cues with (low frequency) acoustic information, and that strategy should be considered in individuals who are appropriate candidates for such processing. For cochlear implant candidates, this effect might be achieved by partial electrode insertion providing acoustic stimulation in the low frequencies or by the combination of a traditional implant in one ear and a hearing aid in the opposite ear. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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