The effect of hearing loss on auditory spatial attention

Authors

  • Gurjit Singh Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Canada; Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, 550 University Avenue, Toronto, Canada
  • M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Canada; Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, 550 University Avenue, Toronto, Canada
  • Thomas Behrens Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Kongevejen 243, 3070 Snekkersten, Denmark
  • Tobias Neher Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Kongevejen 243, 3070 Snekkersten, Denmark

Abstract

To understand better how hearing loss affects spatial listening abilities in complex multi-talker situations, we investigated auditory spatial attention in 8 older adults with normal audiometric thresholds below 4 kHz and 8 older adults with bilateral sloping sensorineural hearing losses ranging from moderate to severe in the higher frequencies. In a condition with real spatial separation, a target sentence from the Coordinate Response Measure (CRM) corpus was presented from one spatial location and competing sentences from two different locations, with pre-trial cues specifying the target’s identity and location. In a condition with simulated spatial separation, corresponding perceived spatial locations of the target and competitors were achieved through exploitation of the precedence effect. Seven different probability speci cations indicated the likelihood of the target being presented at the three locations (100-0-0, 80-0- 20, 60-0-40, 0-0-100, 20-0-80, 40-0-60, and 50-0-50, respectively for 0°, 45°, and 90° azimuth). As expected, hearing-impaired listeners performed worse than normal-hearing listeners across all listening conditions, but especially in conditions where the location of the target was less certain. For both groups, performance was superior when the target was presented from the more probable location than when it was presented from the less probable location. Implications for clinical practice and future research will be discussed.

References

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Additional Files

Published

2009-12-15

How to Cite

Singh, G., Pichora-Fuller, M. K., Behrens, T., & Neher, T. (2009). The effect of hearing loss on auditory spatial attention. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 2, 155–164. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2009-16

Issue

Vol. 2 (2009): Binaural Processing and Spatial Hearing

Section

2009/2. Perceptual measures and models of spatial hearing

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