Discrimination of rippled spectra with various ripple widths in listeners with normal and impaired hearing

Abstract

In listeners aged 26 to 82 years with various degrees of hearing loss (from normal to moderate), the frequency resolving power (FRP) was assessed as the resolved ripple density resolution in rippled-spectrum signals at various ripple widths. In normal-hearing listeners, FRP increased with narrowing the ripple width. In impaired-hearing listeners, the effect of narrowing the ripple width was minor. The difference between the normal- and impaired-hearing listeners could not be explained by the excitation pattern model of the rippled spectrum resolution. The temporal analysis model did explain this difference on an assumption that in normal hearing listeners, enhancing the autocorrelation of the input signal resulted in prolongation of the delay at which the autocorrelation could be detected by the auditory system, whereas in impaired-hearing listeners this effect was reduced or absent.