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Impaired frequency selectivity and sensitivity to temporal fine structure, but not envelope cues, in children with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Halliday, Lorna F 
Rosen, Stuart 
Tuomainen, Outi 
Calcus, Axelle 

Abstract

Psychophysical thresholds were measured for 8-16 year-old children with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss (MMHL; N = 46) on a battery of auditory processing tasks that included measures designed to be dependent upon frequency selectivity and sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) or envelope cues. Children with MMHL who wore hearing aids were tested in both unaided and aided conditions, and all were compared to a group of normally hearing (NH) age-matched controls. Children with MMHL performed more poorly than NH controls on tasks considered to be dependent upon frequency selectivity, sensitivity to TFS, and speech discrimination (/bɑ/-/dɑ/), but not on tasks measuring sensitivity to envelope cues. Auditory processing deficits remained regardless of age, were observed in both unaided and aided conditions, and could not be attributed to differences in nonverbal IQ or attention between groups. However, better auditory processing in children with MMHL was predicted by better audiometric thresholds and, for aided tasks only, higher levels of maternal education. These results suggest that, as for adults with MMHL, children with MMHL may show deficits in frequency selectivity and sensitivity to TFS, but sensitivity to the envelope may remain intact.

Description

Keywords

Adolescent, Audiometry, Auditory Threshold, Child, Cues, Female, Hearing Aids, Hearing Loss, Hearing Loss, Sensorineural, Humans, Male, Noise, Speech Perception, Young Adult

Journal Title

J Acoust Soc Am

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0001-4966
1520-8524

Volume Title

146

Publisher

Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Sponsorship
MRC (MR/S002464/1)
Economic and Social Research Council First Grants Award (RES-061-25- 0440) and Medical Research Council Senior Fellowship in Hearing Research (MR/S002464/1) awarded to L.F.H.