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Effects of Age and Hearing Impairment on the Ability to Benefit From Temporal and Spectral Modulation
Ear and Hearing, 05/16/2012
Hall JW et al. – Although the reduced masking release for temporal modulation shown by the younger children with normal hearing could be a result of poor temporal resolution, it more likely reflects inefficient use of speech cues in temporal gaps or factors stemming from higher signal–to–noise ratios required by children in the baseline condition. The reduced masking release for combined temporal/spectral modulation demonstrated by both the younger and older children with normal hearing may indicate that children in the age range tested here have some difficulty in combining speech information that is distributed across temporal and spectral gaps. Hearing impairment was associated with higher thresholds and reduced masking release in all modulation conditions. Children with hearing impairment showed the poorest performance of any group, consistent with additive effects of hearing loss and development.
