Ninetieth percentile cutoffs for acoustic reflex thresholds (ART) were determined for a sample of 1,374 adult subjects with normal hearing and sensorineural loss of cochlear origin. It was found that 12.2 percent had one ear ART elevated above the ninetieth percentile, but only 5.6 percent had more than one elevated ART. (DB)

The study examined the test-retest reliability in unaided and aided sound-field thresholds and the functional gain values derived from these measurements in 24 hearing-impaired adults. Test-retest standard deviations were slightly larger for functional gain than for unaided thresholds. (Author/DB)

This study investigated comodulation masking release (CMR) in 42 children (ages 5 to 10) with a history of otitis media with effusion (OME) and 19 control children with no history of ear disease. Results indicated that monotic CMRs were reduced in children with hearing loss due to OME and these CMRs remained abnormally small for several months.…

This study, with 26 normal hearing subjects, investigated the development of temporal resolution as a function of frequency region, using a modified masking period pattern model. Results indicated that temporal resolution improves with age, with improvement for low frequencies continuing beyond age 10 but high frequency improvement approaching…

Infants (n=34) were tested on a speech-sound discrimination-in-noise task using the visual reinforcement of infant speech discrimination procedure. An adult control group was also tested. The infant-adult difference in discrimination threshold in noise was 6.9 dB. Advantages of this adaptive threshold procedure and possible applications are noted.…

Study measures the precision of auditory localization in 26- to 30-week-old infants using the adult minimum audible angle test. Results show that infants discriminate sound displacements of about 19 degrees, considerably less accurate than adult values of one to two degrees. (Author/RWB)

Forward-masked psychophysical tuning curves were obtained at multiple probe levels from 26 normal-hearing listeners and 24 ears of 21 hearing-impaired listeners with cochlear hearing loss. Results indicated that some cochlear hearing losses influence the sharp tuning capabilities usually associated with outer hair cell function. (Author/JDD)

The paper describes the unexpected finding of evoked otoacoustic emissions from one ear of a subject with severe-to-profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. It is suggested that the subject may have a group of surviving outer hair cells in some regions of the left cochlea with corresponding inner hair cell or neural damage. (Author/DB)

The application of the Articulation Index (AI) model to the fitting of linear amplification was evaluated for 12 subjects with sensorineural hearing loss. For all subjects, the relationship between percent-correct scores on a nonsense syllable test and AIs was monotonic, indicating that AI was effective for comparing conditions typical of those…

This investigation examined the response strategies and discrimination accuracy of adults and children (aged 5-10) as the ratio of same to different trials was varied across 3 conditions of an auditory discrimination task. All subjects changed response strategies depending on the ratio of same-to-different trials. (DB)

Determines the test-retest reliability of dichotic listening procedures for assessing cerebral lateralization of receptive language in preschoolers.%x$OD)

Materials from the Northwestern University Auditory Test Number 6, spoken by a female speaker, were passed through a low-frequency notch filter, reducing the amplitude range within the spectrum. Data obtained from 12 normal-hearing listeners in filtered and unfiltered conditions demonstrated that alterations to words spoken by the same speaker…

This study of 14 children (ages 5-9) with a history of otitis media with effusion found that subjects had significantly reduced masking-level differences (MLD) compared to controls. Results suggest that the reduction in MLD may be related to abnormal brainstem processing. (Author/JDD)

Three experiments with young children and adults were performed to examine the development of frequency selectivity and to attempt to separate peripheral versus central contributions to frequency selectivity. Results suggested that the shallow notched-noise, fixed-masker-level functions of four-year-old children are probably a result of poor…

A forward-gating procedure employing familiar monosyllabic words was used in auditory testing of age- and gender-matched elementary students with and without learning disabilities. Results indicate auditory closure skills were comparable between disabled and nondisabled subjects, but sensory discrimination problems may contribute significantly to…