Attention seems to play an important role in the ability of a listener to extract information from a complex environment. The first hypothesis to be tested is that auditory tasks performed in a complex environment require more attentional resources than in a simple environment. This will be tested by measuring the ability of listeners to perform one or more tasks in the presence of interfering sounds. By using the dual-task methodology, the costs of dividing attention between tasks will be quantified. The second hypothesis is that hearing impaired listeners must devote more attentional resources to equivalent auditory tasks - simple or complex - than must normal hearing listeners. A number of researchers have concluded, based on their research, that listeners with sensory-neural hearing loss have deficits that go beyond degraded sensory representations. If a normal hearing listener can perform a particular task with a given amount of attentional resources, it is possible that the amount of resources required for impaired listeners to do the same task is greater, in an amount correlated with the degree of hearing loss. By again employing the dual-task, the attentional resources used by hearing-impaired listeners will be compared with those used by normal-hearing listeners in the same tasks.
| Best, Virginia; Gallun, Frederick J; Mason, Christine R et al. (2010) The impact of noise and hearing loss on the processing of simultaneous sentences. Ear Hear 31:213-20 |
| Dent, Micheal L; McClaine, Elizabeth M; Best, Virginia et al. (2009) Spatial unmasking of birdsong in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). J Comp Psychol 123:357-67 |
| Kidd Jr, Gerald; Richards, Virginia M; Mason, Christine R et al. (2008) Informational masking increases the costs of monitoring multiple channels. J Acoust Soc Am 124:EL223-9 |
| Gallun, Frederick J; Durlach, Nathaniel I; Colburn, H Steven et al. (2008) The extent to which a position-based explanation accounts for binaural release from informational masking. J Acoust Soc Am 124:439-49 |
| Gallun, Frederick J; Mason, Christine R; Kidd Jr, Gerald (2007) The ability to listen with independent ears. J Acoust Soc Am 122:2814-25 |
| Gallun, Frederick J; Mason, Christine R; Kidd Jr, Gerald (2007) Task-dependent costs in processing two simultaneous auditory stimuli. Percept Psychophys 69:757-71 |
| Durlach, Nathaniel I; Gallun, Frederick J (2007) Theory construction in auditory perception: need for development of teaching materials. J Acoust Soc Am 122:1014-6 |
| Best, Virginia; Gallun, Frederick J; Carlile, Simon et al. (2007) Binaural interference and auditory grouping. J Acoust Soc Am 121:1070-6 |
| Best, Virginia; Gallun, Frederick J; Ihlefeld, Antje et al. (2006) The influence of spatial separation on divided listening. J Acoust Soc Am 120:1506-16 |
| Gallun, Frederick J; Mason, Christine R; Kidd Jr, Gerald (2005) Binaural release from informational masking in a speech identification task. J Acoust Soc Am 118:1614-25 |
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