The overall goal of this research is to apply basic knowledge of binaural hearing to the solution of clinical problems. Specifically, the two goals of this work are: (1) to evaluate the binaural performance of individuals with various degrees and configurations of hearing loss fitted with different hearing aid configurations, and (2) to determine the extent to which psychoacoustic detection measurements (masking-level differences and contralateral masking) are capable of predicting speech intelligibility and localization ability with these hearing aid configurations. Hearing-aid evaluations will entail measuring word-intelligibility thresholds and source localization in quiet and in noise in both anechoic and reverberant environments. Both the acoustic sound fields and the hearing aids will be simulated by applying measured transfer functions (for the sound fields) and filters specified by most-comfortable-level adjustments (for the hearing aids). One configuration will be designed to optimize the use of binaural cues. Psychoacoustic detection tests will assess the ability to use binaural cues under the same hearing-aid configurations. The results of these detection tests will be used in a theoretical model to predict binaural and directional advantages in speech intelligibility. The outcome of this work will help to clarify understanding of the potential benefit of binaural hearing aids. Further, by establishing relations between aided binaural performance and simple detection measures, we will be laying the foundation for a clinical test that can be used to predict binaural performance with different hearing aids.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
First Independent Research Support & Transition (FIRST) Awards (R29)
Project #
5R29NS025267-02
Application #
3477114
Study Section
Hearing Research Study Section (HAR)
Project Start
1987-07-01
Project End
1992-06-30
Budget Start
1988-07-01
Budget End
1989-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1988
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Type
Sch Allied Health Professions
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Koehnke, J; Durlach, N I (1989) Range effects in the identification of lateral position. J Acoust Soc Am 86:1176-8