Modeling auditory signal processing in hearing-impaired listeners
Abstract
Recently, an auditory signal processing model was developed which can sim- ulate psychoacoustic data from a large variety of conditions related to spectral and temporal masking in normal-hearing listeners (Jepsen et al., 2008). The model includes the dual-resonance non-linear (DRNL) filterbank suggested by Lopez-Poveda and Meddis (2001) to simulate the non-linear cochlear signal processing, and is otherwise similar to the modulation lterbank model by Dau et al. (1997). In the present study, the model parameters were modi ed to sim- ulate cochlear hearing impairment. The modi cations of the model were based on individual data from notched-noise masking and forward masking and were associated with changes of the parameters of the DRNL stage of the model. Data from a pure-tone audiogram were used to further reduce listener sensitivity in connection with an assumed loss of inner hair cells. In addition, intensity discrimination experiments and a modulation depth discrimination experiment were performed to estimate potential retro-cochlear (central) limitations of the processing of supra-threshold stimuli. The model helps understanding the perceptual consequences of hearing impairment in individual listeners and might be useful for the evaluation of hearing-aid signal processing.
References
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