creating sound value TM Spatial release from masking deficits in hearing-impaired people: Is inadequate audibility the problem? Helen Glyde 1,2,3, Jörg Buchholz 1,2, Lillian Nielsen 2, Virginia Best 1,2, Harvey Dillon 1,2, Sharon Cameron 1,2, & Louise Hickson 1,3 1. HEARing CRC, 2. National Acoustic Laboratories, 3. University of Queensland XXXII World Congress of Audiology, Brisbane, 2014

Spatially separating speech from distracting noise typically results in improved speech understanding. Referred to as spatial release from masking (SRM) SRM can be measured clinically using the Listening in Spatialized Noise – Sentences Test (LiSN-S) Background 2

Previous research suggested SRM declines with hearing loss. Background 3 Spatial release from masking (dB) Glyde et al (2013)

Why? 4 Poor temporal resolution? Poor frequency resolution? Inadequate audibility?

To determine whether inadequate audibility could explain the apparent relationship between SRM and hearing loss. Aim 5

Method 6 Hearing statusAmplificationParticipantsMean age (range) Simulated hearing- impairment NAL-RPn = yrs (25 – 47) NAL-RP + 25 % NAL-RP + 50 % n = yrs (18 – 53) Normal hearingn = 96 (Cameron et al. 2011) 31.9 yrs (18 – 60) Hearing impairment NAL-RPn = 16 (Glyde et al. 2013) 73.1 yrs (39 – 87) NAL-RP + 25 % NAL-RP + 50 % n = yrs (21 – 80)

Same Voice - 0° Condition Same Voice - ±90° Condition Spatial Release From Masking Method Low cue 7

Method 8

Results – Objective analysis 9

10

Results - Data 11 Sig. improvement in SRM with increase in audibility (p ranging from < to 0.047) NH performance remains sig. better than HI performance at all levels of audibility (p ranging from to 0.011) HI group Sim. HI group

Conclusion 12 Inadequate audibility explains the majority of the difference in SRM measured between NH and HI adults. Improving audibility allows HI adults to gain greater benefit from spatial separation. An amplification strategy which increases audibility but is practical for use in everyday life may improve speech understanding in noise.

Acknowledgements creating sound value TM This research was financially supported by the HEARing CRC established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program. Thanks for listening