Spectro-temporal analysis in normal-hearing and cochlear-impaired listeners

Detection thresholds for a 1.0-kHz pure tone were determined in unmodulated noise and in noise modulated by a 15-Hz square wave. Comodulation masking release (CMR) was calculated as the difference in threshold between the modulated and unmodulated conditions. The noise bandwidth varied between 100 and 1000 Hz. Frequency selectivity was also examined using an abbreviated notched-noise masking method. The subjects in the main experiment consisted of 12 normal-hearing and 12 hearing-impaired subjects with hearing loss of cochlear origin. The most discriminating conditions were repeated on 16 additional hearing-impaired subjects. The CMR of the hearing-impaired group was reduced for the 1000-Hz noise bandwidth. The reduced CMR at this bandwidth correlated significantly with reduced frequency selectivity, consistent with the hypothesis that the across-frequency difference cue used in CMR is diminished by poor frequency selectivity. The results indicated that good frequency selectivity is a prerequisite, but not a guarantee, of large CMR.