Evaluating the Benefit of Hearing Aids in Solving the Cocktail Party Problem

Overview

Journal Trends Amplif

Publisher Sage Publications

Date 2008 Nov 18

PMID 19010794

Citations 31

Authors

Nicole Marrone

Christine R Mason

Gerald Kidd Jr

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The benefit of wearing hearing aids in multitalker, reverberant listening environments was evaluated in a study of speech-on-speech masking with two groups of listeners with hearing loss (younger/older). Listeners selectively attended a known spatial location in two room conditions (low/high reverberation) and identified target speech in the presence of two competing talkers that were either co-located or symmetrically spatially separated from the target. The amount of spatial release from masking (SRM) with bilateral aids was similar to that when listening unaided at or near an equivalent sensation level and was negatively correlated with the amount of hearing loss. When using a single aid, SRM was reduced and was related to the level of the stimulus in the unaided ear. Increased reverberation also reduced SRM in all listening conditions. Results suggest a complex interaction between hearing loss, hearing aid use, reverberation, and performance in auditory selective attention tasks.

Citing Articles

Improving Tracking of Selective Attention in Hearing Aid Users: The Role of Noise Reduction and Nonlinearity Compensation.

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Factors underlying masking release by voice-gender differences and spatial separation cues in multi-talker listening environments in listeners with and without hearing loss.

Oh Y, Hartling C, Srinivasan N, Diedesch A, Gallun F, Reiss L Front Neurosci. 2022; 16:1059639.

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The influence of auditory selective attention on linguistic outcomes in deaf and hard of hearing children with cochlear implants.

Nicastri M, Giallini I, Inguscio B, Turchetta R, Guerzoni L, Cuda D Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2022; 280(1):115-124.

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