Relations between psychophysical measures of spatial hearing and self-reported spatial-hearing abilities.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate how well the virtual psychophysical measures of spatial hearing from the preliminary auditory profile predict self-reported spatial-hearing abilities. DESIGN: Virtual spatial-hearings tests (conducted unaided, via headphones) and a questionnaire were administered in five centres in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. Correlations and stepwise linear regression models were calculated among a group of hearing-impaired listeners. STUDY SAMPLE: Thirty normal-hearing listeners aged 19-39 years, and 72 hearing-impaired listeners aged 22-91 years with a broad range of hearing losses, including asymmetrical and mixed hearing losses. RESULTS: Several significant correlations (between 0.24 and 0.54) were found between results of virtual psychophysical spatial-hearing tests and self-reported localization abilities. Stepwise linear regression analyses showed that the minimum audible angle (MAA) test was a significant predictor for self-reported localization abilities (5% extra explained variance), and the spatial speech reception threshold (SRT) benefit test for self-reported listening to speech in spatial situations (6% extra explained variance). CONCLUSIONS: The MAA test and spatial SRT benefit test are indicative measures of everyday binaural functioning. The binaural SRT benefit test was not found to predict self-reported spatial-hearing abilities.

How we do it: The Dutch functional hearing-screening tests by telephone and internet.

Keypoints * The Dutch National Hearing Test is a reliable and very successful functional hearing-screening test by telephone. An internet version of the National Hearing Test was also implemented. * The National Hearing Test is a fully automatic adaptive speech-in-noise test that uses digit-triplets as speech material. The result of the test is given as 'good,''insufficient,' or 'poor.' * The test by telephone performs better in reaching older subjects, who are more likely to suffer from hearing loss, than the test by internet. * More than 50% of the participants who scored 'insufficient' or 'poor' followed the recommendation to visit a GP, hearing-aid dispenser, ENT specialist or Audiological Center. * The tests contribute to increase the identification and treatment of older hearing-impaired subjects.

A speech enhancement scheme incorporating spectral expansion evaluated with simulated loss of frequency selectivity.

Hearing-impaired listeners often suffer from supra-threshold speech perception deficits. One such deficit is reduced frequency selectivity. We applied a speech enhancement scheme that incorporated spectral expansion in an attempt to reduce the effects of this deficit. The speech processing could contain up to three stages, a first in which the peak-valley ratio of the speech spectrum was enlarged to counteract the broadening of the auditory filtering, and a second in which the overall speech spectrum was modified to counteract the effects of upward-spread-of-masking, using a linear filter. The third stage was a noise suppression stage, applied before the spectral enhancement. The effectiveness of the speech processing with and without noise suppression was evaluated for various parameter settings by measuring the speech reception threshold (SRT) in noise, i.e., the signal-to-noise ratio at which listeners repeat 50% of presented sentences correctly. We used normal-hearing subjects. To simulate the loss of frequency selectivity we applied spectral smearing to the stimuli presented to the subjects. The speech material of the SRT tests was mixed with the noise before processing, and, when present, the smearing was applied last. The results indicated that for one specific parameter setting the SRT values decreased (i.e., improved) by approximately 1 dB when incorporating the spectral expansion together with the linear filtering. Employing either of these two stages separately did not improve the SRT. The application of the noise suppression stage did not further improve the SRT. A pilot study using hearing-impaired listeners showed more promising results for a female than for a male speaker.

Effects of degradation of intensity, time, or frequency content on speech intelligibility for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

Many hearing-impaired listeners suffer from distorted auditory processing capabilities. This study examines which aspects of auditory coding (i.e., intensity, time, or frequency) are distorted and how this affects speech perception. The distortion-sensitivity model is used: The effect of distorted auditory coding of a speech signal is simulated by an artificial distortion, and the sensitivity of speech intelligibility to this artificial distortion is compared for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. Stimuli (speech plus noise) are wavelet coded using a complex sinusoidal carrier with a Gaussian envelope (1/4 octave bandwidth). Intensity information is distorted by multiplying the modulus of each wavelet coefficient by a random factor. Temporal and spectral information are distorted by randomly shifting the wavelet positions along the temporal or spectral axis, respectively. Measured were (1) detection thresholds for each type of distortion, and (2) speech-reception thresholds for various degrees of distortion. For spectral distortion, hearing-impaired listeners showed increased detection thresholds and were also less sensitive to the distortion with respect to speech perception. For intensity and temporal distortion, this was not observed. Results indicate that a distorted coding of spectral information may be an important factor underlying reduced speech intelligibility for the hearing impaired.

The effect of intensity perturbations on speech intelligibility for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

Hearing-impaired listeners are known to suffer from reduced speech intelligibility in noise, even if sounds are above their hearing thresholds. This study examined the possible contribution of reduced acuity of intensity coding to this problem. The "distortion-sensitivity model" was used: the effect of reduced acuity of auditory intensity coding on intelligibility was mimicked by an artificial distortion of the speech intensity coding, and the sensitivity to this distortion for hearing-impaired listeners was compared with that for normal-hearing listeners. Stimuli (speech plus noise) were wavelet coded using a Gaussian wavelet (1/4-octave bandwidth). The intensity coding was distorted by multiplying the modulus of each wavelet coefficient by a random factor. Speech-reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for various degrees of intensity perturbation. Hearing-impaired listeners were classified as suffering from suprathreshold deficits if intelligibility of undistorted speech was worse than predicted from audibility by the speech intelligibility index model [ANSI, ANSI S3.5-1997 (1997)]. Hearing-impaired listeners without suprathreshold deficits were as sensitive to the intensity distortion as the normal-hearing listeners. Hearing-impaired listeners with suprathreshold deficits appeared to be less sensitive. Results indicate that reduced acuity of auditory intensity coding may be a factor underlying reduced speech intelligibility in noise for the hearing impaired.

Relations between intelligibility of narrow-band speech and auditory functions, both in the 1-kHz frequency region.

Relations between perception of suprathreshold speech and auditory functions were examined in 24 hearing-impaired listeners and 12 normal-hearing listeners. The speech intelligibility index (SII) was used to account for audibility. The auditory functions included detection efficiency, temporal and spectral resolution, temporal and spectral integration, and discrimination of intensity, frequency, rhythm, and spectro-temporal shape. All auditory functions were measured at 1 kHz. Speech intelligibility was assessed with the speech-reception threshold (SRT) in quiet and in noise, and with the speech-reception bandwidth threshold (SRBT), previously developed for investigating speech perception in a limited frequency region around 1 kHz. The results showed that the elevated SRT in quiet could be explained on the basis of audibility. Audibility could only partly account for the elevated SRT values in noise and the deviant SRBT values, suggesting that suprathreshold deficits affected intelligibility in these conditions. SII predictions for the SRBT improved significantly by including the individually measured upward spread of masking in the SII model. Reduced spectral resolution, reduced temporal resolution, and reduced frequency discrimination appeared to be related to speech perception deficits. Loss of peripheral compression appeared to have the smallest effect on the intelligibility of suprathreshold speech.

The precedence effect for lateralization at low sensation levels.

Using dichotic signals presented by headphone, stimulus onset dominance (the precedence effect) for lateralization at low sensation levels was investigated for five normal hearing subjects. Stimuli were based on 2400-Hz low pass filtered 5-ms noise bursts. We used the paradigm, as described by Aoki and Houtgast (Hear. Res., 59 (1992) 25-30) and Houtgast and Aoki (Hear. Res., 72 (1994) 29-36), in which the stimulus is divided into a leading and a lagging part with opposite lateralization cues (i.e. an interaural time delay of 0.2 ms). The occurrence of onset dominance was investigated by measuring lateral perception of the stimulus, with fixed equal duration of leading and lagging part, while decreasing absolute signal level or adding a filtered white noise with the signal level set at 65 dBA. The dominance of the leading part was quantified by measuring the perceived lateral position of the stimulus as a function of the relative duration of the leading (and thus the lagging) part. This was done at about 45 dB SL without masking noise and also at a signal-to-noise ratio resulting in a sensation level of 10 dB. The occurrence and strength of the precedence effect was found to depend on sensation level, which was decreased either by lowering the signal level or by adding noise. With the present paradigm, besides a decreased lateralization accuracy, a decrease in the precedence effect was found for sensation levels below about 30-40 dB. In daily-life conditions, with a sensation level in noise of typically 10 dB, the onset dominance was still manifest, albeit degraded to some extent.

Measuring the threshold for speech reception by adaptive variation of the signal bandwidth. II. Hearing-impaired listeners.

In a previous study [Noordhoek et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 2895-2902 (1999)], an adaptive test was developed to determine the speech-reception bandwidth threshold (SRBT), i.e., the width of a speech band around 1 kHz required for a 50% intelligibility score. In this test, the band-filtered speech is presented in complementary bandstop-filtered noise. In the present study, the performance of 34 hearing-impaired listeners was measured on this SRBT test and on more common SRT (speech-reception threshold) tests, namely the SRT in quiet, the standard SRT in noise (standard speech spectrum), and the spectrally adapted SRT in noise (fitted to the individual's dynamic range). The aim was to investigate to what extent the performance on these tests could be explained simply from audibility, as estimated with the SII (speech intelligibility index) model, or require the assumption of suprathreshold deficits. For most listeners, an elevated SRT in quiet or an elevated standard SRT in noise could be explained on the basis of audibility. For the spectrally adapted SRT in noise, and especially for the SRBT, the data of most listeners could not be explained from audibility, suggesting that the effects of suprathreshold deficits may be present. Possibly, such a deficit is an increased downward spread of masking.

Method for the selection of sentence materials for efficient measurement of the speech reception threshold.

A method is described to select sentence materials for efficient measurement of the speech reception threshold (SRT). The first part of the paper addresses the creation of the sentence materials, the recording procedure, and a listening experiment to evaluate the new speech materials. The result is a set of 1272 sentences, where every sentence has been uttered by two male and two female speakers. In the second part of the paper, a method is described to select subsets with properties that are desired for an efficient measurement of the SRT. For two speakers, this method has been applied to obtain two subsets for measurement of the SRT in stationary noise with the long-term average spectrum of speech. Lastly, a listening experiment has been conducted where the two subsets (each comprising 39 lists of 13 sentences each) are directly compared to the existing sets of Plomp and Mimpen [Audiology 18, 43-52 (1979)] and Smoorenburg [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91, 421-437 (1992)]. One of the outcomes is that the newly developed sets can be considered as equivalent to these existing sets.

Preference judgments of artificial processed and hearing-aid transduced speech.

In order to assess the relative importance of various signal processing algorithms and distortions on hearing-aid preference, male and female speech was manipulated in a number of ways and subsequently presented to normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects (the latter having a mild sensorineural high-frequency hearing loss). Signal manipulations were artificial (e.g., filtering, compression, peak clipping, or adding noise) or were actual dummy-head recordings of five different hearing aids. Listeners judged the sounds in a pairwise-comparison format. Their task was to indicate the "hearing aid" they would prefer assuming they had to wear it all day. The data were analyzed with multidimensional scaling techniques; Principal Components Analysis revealed that the first two dimensions on which preference judgments were based, can be interpreted as (1) intelligibility or clarity, and (2) distinction between signal distortion and added background distortion. Furthermore, the results showed that normal-hearing subjects generally preferred the original signal, whereas hearing-impaired subjects were inclined to choose the signals with a high-frequency emphasis. Severe band-pass filtering or low-frequency emphasis were disliked, as was to be expected. Surprisingly, however, a soft background noise (S/N ratio of 25 dB) was often among the least preferred of all signals. The differences in preference between the five hearing aids were small, but consistent. For hearing-impaired subjects, hearing-aid ordering could be accounted for by the amount of low-frequency cutoff; for normal-hearing subjects both high- and low-frequency cutoff played a role. Results of a retest experiment with normal-hearing subjects, about one year later, showed that subjects' criteria remain remarkably stable.

Intensity discrimination of Gaussian-windowed tones: indications for the shape of the auditory frequency-time window.

The just-noticeable difference in intensity jnd(I) was measured for 1-kHz tones with a Gaussian-shaped envelope as a function of their spectro-temporal shape. The stimuli, with constant energy and a constant product of bandwidth and duration, ranged from a long-duration narrow-band "tone" to a short-duration broadband "click." The jnd(I) was measured in three normal-hearing listeners at sensation levels of 0, 10, 20, and 30 dB in 35 dB(A) SPL pink noise. At intermediate sensation levels, jnd(I) depends on the spectro-temporal shape: at the extreme shapes (tones and clicks), intensity discrimination performance is best, whereas at intermediate shapes the jnd(I) is larger. Similar results are observed at a higher overall sound level, and at a higher carrier frequency. The maximum jnd(I) is observed for stimuli with an effective bandwidth of about 1/3 octave and an effective duration of 4 ms at 1 kHz (1 ms at 4 kHz). A generalized multiple-window model is proposed that assumes that the spectro-temporal domain is partitioned into "internal" auditory frequency-time windows. The model predicts that intensity discrimination thresholds depend upon the number of windows excited by a signal: jnd(I) is largest for stimuli covering one window.

Measuring the threshold for speech reception by adaptive variation of the signal bandwidth. I. Normal-hearing listeners.

An adaptive test has been developed to determine the minimum bandwidth of speech that a listener needs to reach 50% intelligibility. Measuring this speech-reception bandwidth threshold (SRBT), in addition to the more common speech-reception threshold (SRT) in noise, may be useful in investigating the factors underlying impaired suprathreshold speech perception. Speech was bandpass filtered (center frequency: 1 kHz) and complementary bandstop filtered noise was added. To obtain reference values, the SRBT was measured in 12 normal-hearing listeners at four sound-pressure levels, in combination with three overall spectral tilts. Plotting SRBT as a function of sound-pressure level resulted in U-shaped curves. The most narrow SRBT (1.4 octave) was obtained at an A-weighted sound-pressure level of 55 dB. The required bandwidth increases with increasing level, probably due to upward spread of masking. At a lower level (40 dBA) listeners also need a broader band, because parts of the speech signal will be below threshold. The SII (Speech Intelligibility Index) model reasonably predicts the data, although it seems to underestimate upward spread of masking.

Compression and expansion of the temporal envelope: evaluation of speech intelligibility and sound quality.

Sensorineural hearing loss is accompanied by loudness recruitment, a steeper-than-normal rise of perceived loudness with presentation level. To compensate for this abnormality, amplitude compression is often applied (e.g., in a hearing aid). Alternatively, since speech intelligibility has been modeled as the perception of fast energy fluctuations, enlarging these (by means of expansion) may improve speech intelligibility. Still, even if these signal-processing techniques prove useful in terms of speech intelligibility, practical application might be hindered by unacceptably low sound quality. Therefore, both speech intelligibility and sound quality were evaluated for syllabic compression and expansion of the temporal envelope. Speech intelligibility was evaluated with an adaptive procedure, based on short everyday sentences either in noise or with a competing speaker. Sound quality was measured by means of a rating-scale procedure, for both speech and music. In a systematic setup, both the ratio of compression or expansion and the number of independent processing bands were varied. Individual hearing thresholds were compensated for by a listener-specific filter and amplification. Both listeners with normal hearing and listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment participated as paid volunteers. The results show that, on average, both compression and expansion fail to show better speech intelligibility or sound quality than linear amplification.

Auditory distance perception in rooms.

The perceived distance of a sound source in a room has been shown to depend on the ratio of the energies of direct and reflected sound. Although this relationship was verified in later studies, the research has never led to a quantitative model. The advent of techniques for the generation of virtual sound sources has made it possible to study distance perception using controlled, deterministic stimuli. Here we present two experiments that make use of such stimuli and we show that a simple model, based on a modified direct-to-reverberant energy ratio, can accurately predict the results and also provide an explanation for the 'auditory horizon' in distance perception. The modification of the ratio consists of the use of an integration time of 6 milliseconds in the calculation of the energy of the direct sound. This time constant seems to be important in spatial hearing-the precedence effect is also based on a similar integration window.

Peaks in the frequency response of hearing aids: evaluation of the effects on speech intelligibility and sound quality.

In a series of experiments, we introduced peaks of 10, 20, and 30 dB, in various combinations, onto a smooth reference frequency response. For each of the conditions, we evaluated speech intelligibility in noise, using a test as developed by Plomp and Mimpen (1979), and sound quality (for both speech and music), using a rating-scale procedure. We performed the experiments with 26 listeners with sensorineurally impaired hearing and 10 listeners with normal hearing. Signal processing was accomplished digitally; for each listener, the stimuli were filtered and subsequently amplified so that the average speech spectrum was well above the threshold of hearing at all frequencies. The results show that, as a result of the introduction of peaks onto the frequency response, speech intelligibility is affected more for the listeners with impaired hearing than for those with normal hearing. Sound-quality judgments tend to be less different between the listener groups. Conditions with 30-dB peaks especially show serious effects on both speech intelligibility and sound quality.

Effect of temporal modulation reduction on spectral contrasts in speech.

In this paper the effect of temporal modulation reduction on spectral contrasts is investigated. First, a spectral modulation transfer function (SMTF) is presented as a method to measure the transfer of spectral ripples (sinusoidal periods/oct) in the short-time spectral envelope by comparing the spectral modulation depth of original and processed speech fragments. Measuring the SMTF for speech subjected to uniform reduction of the temporal modulation depth (i.e., modulation-frequency-independent reduction) in 24 1/4-oct bands showed an almost equal uniform reduction of the spectral modulations. Furthermore, the SMTF was used to measure the reduction of spectral contrasts associated with low-pass and high-pass temporal-envelope filtering [Drullman et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am.95, 1053-1064 and 2670-2680 (1994a, b)]. For a perceptual evaluation, sentences were processed to reduce spectral contrasts and the speech-reception threshold (SRT) in noise was measured with ten normal-hearing subjects. Comparison of the results with those obtained previously after temporal-envelope filtering revealed that the SRT-effect of temporal high-pass filtering can be completely accounted for by the associated reduction of spectral contrasts. However, this relationship cannot be demonstrated conclusively in the case of temporal low-pass filtering.

Stimulus-onset dominance in the perception of binaural information.

With dichotic signals presented by headphone, stimulus-onset dominance (the 'precedence effect') was investigated for various types of binaural-processing-based percepts. The following three dichotic cues were considered: (1) inter-aural time delay (IATD, underlying the lateralization of the sound image), (2) inter-aural level difference (IALD, also underlying lateralization), and (3) inter-aural cross correlation (IACC, underlying the spaciousness of the sound image in terms of broadness/compactness). For all three cases, the degree of stimulus-onset dominance is estimated by one and the same experimental paradigm, which is essentially the same as used by Aoki and Houtgast [Hear. Res. 59, 25-30 (1992)]: When subdividing a brief stimulus in two parts of equal duration, a leading and a trailing part, in which the dichotic cue has opposite values, the over-all sensation is found to be dominated by the cue in the leading part. This dominance can be compensated by shortening the leading part (while keeping total signal duration constant), providing a quantitative measure for the onset dominance. The signals were octave-band filtered noise (center frequencies 500 or 2000 Hz) or 7-kHz low-pass filtered noise, and total signal duration was 5, 10, 20 or 40 ms. The results obtained for the four signal durations have been converted to a weighting function, representing the perceptual weight of the dichotic information as a function of time-after-signal-onset.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A precedence effect in the perception of inter-aural cross correlation.

Does the precedence effect, well known in the field of sound localization or lateralization, also apply to other percepts based on binaural processing? We have compared, with one and the same experimental paradigm, a manifestation of the traditional precedence effect in lateralization with a possible similar effect in the perception of diffuseness or compactness of a sound image. With dichotic headphone stimulation, lateralization was controlled by the inter-aural time delay (IATD), and diffuseness/compactness by the inter-aural cross correlation (IACC). The experimental paradigm rests on the principle of estimating the over-all sensation of a 20-ms noise burst, which was subdivided in two parts, with the relevant dichotic information (IATD or IACC) in the leading part being opposite to that in the trailing part. When each part is 10 ms, it is found that the overall sensation is slightly dominated by the information in the leading part, both for lateralization and for compactness/diffuseness. This dominance of the leading part can be compensated by a certain decrease of its duration and/or amplitude relative to that of the trailing part. It is found that this quantitative measure for the 'strength' of the precedence effect for the present stimulus is essentially the same for IATD and IACC, suggesting that the precedence effect does not apply exclusively to sound localization or lateralization, but to at least one other percept based on binaural processing as well, namely the processing of inter-aural cross correlation.

Signal detection in temporally modulated and spectrally shaped maskers.

The first part of this paper presents several experiments on signal detection in temporally modulated noise, yielding a general approach toward the concept of comodulation masking release (CMR). Measurements were made on masked thresholds of both long- and short-duration, narrow-band signals presented in a 100% sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) noise masker (modulation frequency 32 Hz), as a function of masker bandwidth from 1/3 oct up to 13/3 octs, while the masker band was geometrically centered at signal frequency. With the short-duration signals placed in the valley of the masker, a substantial CMR (i.e., a decrease of masked threshold with increasing masker bandwidth) was found, whereas for the long-duration signals CMR was smaller. Furthermore, investigations were carried out to determine whether CMR changes when the bandwidth of the signals, consisting of bandpass impulse responses, is increased. The data indicate that substantial CMR remains even when all masker bands contain a signal component, thus minimizing across-channel differences. This finding is not in line with current models accounting for the CMR phenomenon. The second part of this paper concerns signal detection in spectrally shaped noise. Also investigated was whether release from masking occurs for the detection of a pure-tone signal at a valley or a peak of a simultaneously presented masking noise with a sinusoidally rippled power spectrum, when this masker was preceded and followed by a second noise (temporal flanking burst) with an identical spectral shape as the on-signal noise. Similar to CMR effects for temporal modulations, the data indicate that coshaping masking release (CSMR) occurs when the signal is placed in a valley of the spectral envelope of the masker, whereas no release from masking is found when the signal is placed at a peak of the spectral envelope of the masker. The implications of these experiments for measures of spectral and temporal resolution are discussed.

Spectro-temporal integration in signal detection.

This paper is concerned with aspects of temporal integration and across-frequency integration in signal detection. Previous experiments on the detection of brief broadband signals (clicks) in continuous broadband noise revealed efficient spectral integration. The extent to which this effect is restricted to a critical time window was investigated by manipulating the temporal relations among the signal components in different frequency regions. In a typical experiment, the signal consists of nine brief Gaussian-shaped tone pulses, equally distributed at 1/3-oct intervals, each with a spectral width of about 1/3 oct, and each equally detectable in white noise. In the synchronized condition (i.e. coinciding peaks of the nine Gaussian envelopes), the detection threshold is reached when the levels of the nine individual tone pulses are about 8 dB below their individual threshold levels (efficient spectral integration). When the signal is progressively desynchronized (i.e. noncoinciding peaks of the Gaussian envelopes), detection threshold is found to increase. This suggests that efficient spectral integration in signal detection is confined to a narrow time window, with a typical value of 30 ms. Similar experiments were performed with respect to the efficiency of temporal integration. For constant-duration signals (100 ms), the detection threshold is found to increase when progressively widening signal bandwidth. The data indicate that the efficient temporal integration in signal detection is confined to a narrow frequency window, which, not surprisingly, corresponds to the critical bandwidth.