Discrimination of rippled spectra with various ripple widths in listeners with normal and impaired hearing

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Abstract

In listeners aged 26 to 82 years with various degrees of hearing loss (from normal to moderate), the frequency resolving power (FRP) was assessed as the resolved ripple density resolution in rippled-spectrum signals at various ripple widths. In normal-hearing listeners, FRP increased with narrowing the ripple width. In impaired-hearing listeners, the effect of narrowing the ripple width was minor. The difference between the normal- and impaired-hearing listeners could not be explained by the excitation pattern model of the rippled spectrum resolution. The temporal analysis model did explain this difference on an assumption that in normal hearing listeners, enhancing the autocorrelation of the input signal resulted in prolongation of the delay at which the autocorrelation could be detected by the auditory system, whereas in impaired-hearing listeners this effect was reduced or absent.

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About the authors

D. I. Nechaev

Institute of Ecology and Evolution of The Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: alex_supin@mail.ru
Russian Federation, 119071, Moscow, Leninsky Prospect, 33

O. N. Milekhina

Institute of Ecology and Evolution of The Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: alex_supin@mail.ru
Russian Federation, 119071, Moscow, Leninsky Prospect, 33

M. S. Tomozova

Institute of Ecology and Evolution of The Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: alex_supin@mail.ru
Russian Federation, 119071, Moscow, Leninsky Prospect, 33

A. Y. Supin

Institute of Ecology and Evolution of The Russian Academy of Sciences

Author for correspondence.
Email: alex_supin@mail.ru
Russian Federation, 119071, Moscow, Leninsky Prospect, 33

References

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. Characteristics of filters used to synthesize comb signals with different ridge widths. Comb density 5 cycles/oct. Equivalent width of ridges: a - 37% of the frequency interval between adjacent ridges; b - 16%; c - 9% (the exponents in equation (1) are 1, 4 and 16, respectively). 1 and 2 are variants of characteristics with opposite positions of spectral maxima and minima on the frequency scale.

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3. Fig. 2. Averaged audiograms of subjects by category of hearing loss. 1 - normal hearing; 2 - mild hearing loss; 3 - moderate hearing loss. Error bars are standard errors of the means.

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4. Fig. 3. Dependence of auditory perception thresholds on the age of the subject. Average threshold values at frequencies of 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz and thresholds at the central frequency of signals for measuring FRS (2 kHz) are given, as indicated in the legend.

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5. Fig. 4. Dependence of FRS on the width of spectral ridges. The width of the ridges is indicated as a percentage of the frequency interval between adjacent ridges.

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6. Fig. 5. Spectral model for distinguishing the comb structure of the spectrum with different widths of the ridges: normal hearing a - characteristic of a cochlear filter with an equivalent rectangular bandwidth of 0.16 oktas (modeling the perception of signals in normal hearing); b — spectrum of the input signal with a spectral ridge density of 8 cycles/oct, ridge width 37% (cosine shape of the ridges); c-calculated excitation profile with the characteristics given in pos. a and b, d and e, the same with a ridge width of 12%. The spectral amplitude is normalized, taking the maximum of the spectrum as unity.

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7. Fig. 6. Same as fig. 6 with a cochlear filter bandwidth of 0.4 oct and spectral ridge density of 3.2 cycles/oct (simulation of signal perception with a filter quality factor reduced by 2.5 times compared to the norm). The narrowing of the ridges results in a deepening of the ridge structure of the excitation profile, just as in normal hearing.

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8. Fig. 7. Autocorrelograms of a signal with different ridge widths for normal hearing a — spectrum of the perceived signal (identical to the spectrum of the input signal) with a ridge density of 8 cycles/oct and a ridge width of 37% (cosine shape of the ridges); b — autocorrelogram of the signal. The amplitude is normalized relative to the value at zero delay, which is taken as one. Autocorrelation is maximum at a delay of 5.6 ms, which is numerically equal to the density of ridges at the maximum of the spectrum in cycle/kHz dimension; c and d - the same as a and b with a ridge width of 16%. With narrow ridges, the amplitude and duration of the delayed segment of the autocorrelogram are increased compared to those with wide spectral ridges.

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9. Fig. 8. Same as in fig. 7 for moderate hearing loss Ridge density 3.2 cycles/oct. The spectrum of the perceived signal is shifted relative to the spectrum of the input signal towards low frequencies by 0.4 octave (maximum peak at a frequency of 1.54 kHz instead of 2 kHz in the input signal). Autocorrelation is maximum at a delay of 2.5 ms, which is numerically equal to the density of ridges at the maximum of the spectrum in the cycle/kHz dimension. Just as with normal hearing, with narrow ridges the amplitude and duration of the delayed segment of the autocorrelogram are increased compared to those with wide spectral ridges.

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