Purpose: The effects of multichannel expansion on the objective and subjective evaluation of 20 listeners fitted binaurally with 4-channel, digital in-the-ear hearing instruments were investigated. Method: Objective evaluations were conducted in quiet using the Connected Speech Test (CST) and in noise using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) at 40,…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine in listeners with normal hearing and listeners with sensorineural hearing loss the within- and between-group differences obtained with 4 commonly available speech-in-noise protocols. Method: Recognition performances by 24 listeners with normal hearing and 72 listeners with sensorineural hearing…

Purpose: To determine the rankings of 6 input-output functions for understanding low-level, conversational, and high-level speech in multitalker babble without manipulating volume control for listeners with normal hearing, flat sensorineural hearing loss, and mildly sloping sensorineural hearing loss. Method: Peak clipping, compression limiting,…

Purpose: The contribution of audible high-frequency information to speech-understanding performance in listeners with varying degrees of high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss was examined. Method: Thirty-six elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) and 24 young normal-hearing (YNH) listeners were tested in quiet (+20 dB speech-to-noise ratio [SNR]) and…

A method that allows direct comparisons between pure-tone loudness-matching and intensity-discrimination data in normal and hearing impaired listeners is described. (Author)

This study assessed the feasibility of doing hearing screening in Migrant, American Indian and Early Head Start programs using otoacoustic emissions (OAE) technology. Staff members were trained to screen 0-3-year-old children for hearing loss using hand-held OAE equipment and a multi-step screening and referral protocol. Of the 3486 children…

Audibility thresholds were measured at 500 and 4000 Hz with a standard clinical procedure and a two-interval, forced-choice adaptive procedure for 72 normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners, age 17 to 83. Response bias played only a small role in accounting for difference in threshold estimated by adaptive and clinical procedures or for…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to determine the impact of age, gender, and race on the prevalence and severity of hearing loss in elder adults, aged 72-96 years, after accounting for income, education, smoking, and clinical and subclinical cardiovascular disease. Methods: Air-conduction thresholds for standard and extended high-frequency…

Purpose: To investigate the effects of talker variability on vowel recognition by cochlear implant (CI) users and by normal-hearing (NH) participants listening to 4-channel acoustic CI simulations. Method: CI users were tested with their clinically assigned speech processors. For NH participants, 3 CI processors were simulated, using different…

Binaural loudness summation was measured using three different paradigms with 10 normally hearing and 20 bilaterally symmetrical high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss subjects. Binaural summation increased with presentation level using the loudness matching procedure, with values in the 6-10 dB range. Summation decreased with level using the…

A procedure is described that uses operant conditioning principles to shape earphone wearing in block-dropping play audiometry. Vibrotactile stimulation is used as the first step in testing difficult-to-test children. (Author/CL)

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 outcome of hearing screening using conventional pure tone behavioral testing was compared with the outcome employing measures of transient otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in a preschool population under conditions typical of educational settings. Two hundred children ranging in age from 2 years 1 month to 5 years 10 months were screened. Nearly…