Toward Routine Assessments of Auditory Filter Shape

Abstract

Purpose A Bayesian adaptive procedure, that is, the quick auditory filter (qAF) procedure, has been shown to improve the efficiency for estimating auditory filter shapes of listeners with normal hearing. The current study evaluates the accuracy and test–retest reliability of the qAF procedure for naïve listeners with a variety of ages and hearing status. Method Fifty listeners who were naïve to psychophysical experiments and exhibit wide ranges of age (19–70 years) and hearing threshold (−5 to 70 dB HL at 2 kHz) were recruited. Their auditory filter shapes were estimated for a 15-dB SL target tone at 2 kHz using both the qAF procedure and the traditional threshold-based procedure. The auditory filter model was defined using 3 parameters: (a) the sharpness of the tip portion of the auditory filter, p ; (b) the prominence of the low-frequency tail of the filter, 10log( w ); and (c) the listener's efficiency in detection, 10log( K ). Results The estimated parameters of the auditory filter model were consistent between 2 qAF runs tested on 2 separate days. The parameter estimates from the 2 qAF runs also agreed well with those estimated using the traditional procedure despite being substantially faster. Across the 3 auditory filter estimates, the dependence of the auditory filter parameters on listener age and hearing threshold was consistent across procedures, as well as consistent with previously published estimates. Conclusions The qAF procedure demonstrates satisfactory test–retest reliability and good agreement to the traditional procedure for listeners with a wide range of ages and with hearing status ranging from normal hearing to moderate hearing impairment.