Intelligibility of filtered speech and its relation to electrophysiological markers of supra-threshold hearing deficits

The origins and perceptual consequences of supra-threshold hearing deficits are not well understood. Sensory and neural deficits are likely contributors, underlining the need for an objective measure which quantifies the neural contributors and complements audiometric measures of sensory loss. The envelope-following response (EFR) is sensitive to neural fiber loss in animal models and has been proposed as a marker. However, its diagnostic sensitivity in humans and relationship to speech intelligibility are still unclear. Here we argue that the relationship between electrophysiological measures of temporal coding ability and the performance in speech-in-noise tasks crucially depends on the underlying stimulus parameters. We discuss ways in which experimental protocols can be adjusted to improve the predictive relationship between electrophysiological measures of temporal coding fidelity and behavioral measures of speech intelligibility and test these predictions in a group of young normal-hearing, elderly normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired participants as groups reflecting different degrees of neural or sensory hearing deficits.

ISBN:9783939296157

Publication year:2019

Accessibility:Open