Investigation of Binaural Interference in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Adults

Abstract

AbstractWhen speech recognition testing is performed under diotic conditions, some elderly persons with asymmetric hearing loss exhibit a phenomenon in which the performance of the poorer ear interferes with that of the better ear. This binaural interference phenomenon has been estimated to occur in 8 to 10 percent of elderly hearing aid users. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of this phenomenon in groups (n = 12) of young and elderly listeners with normal hearing, plus groups of elderly listeners with hearing loss who were aided or unaided. Of 48 subjects tested, only 2 exhibited significant evidence of binaural interference, a result that is close to that expected by chance. Although both of these subjects were elderly, one had normal hearing and the other was aided binaurally. A third elderly unaided subject exhibited a significant binaural advantage. Further studies are needed to determine the prevalence of binaural interference in normal-hearing or hearing-impaired listeners in any decade of life. Abbreviations: ANOVA = analysis of variance, HFPTA = high-frequency pure-tone average of hearing levels at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz, OA = older aided hearing-impaired adults, OHI = older unaided hearing-impaired adults, ON = older normal-hearing adults, SRT = speech reception threshold, WRS = word recognition score, YN = young, normal-hearing adults