The effect of hearing impairment on localization dominance for single-word stimuli

Akeroyd, M.A. and Guy, F.H. (2011) The effect of hearing impairment on localization dominance for single-word stimuli. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(1), pp. 312-323. (doi: 10.1121/1.3598466)

Abstract

Localization dominance (one of the phenomena of the "precedence effect") was measured in a large number of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired individuals and related to self-reported difficulties in everyday listening. The stimuli (single words) were made-up of a "lead" followed 4 ms later by a equal-level "lag" from a different direction. The stimuli were presented from a circular ring of loudspeakers, either in quiet or in a background of spatially diffuse babble. Listeners were required to identify the loudspeaker from which they heard the sound. Localization dominance was quantified by the weighting factor c [B. G. Shinn-Cunningham et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 93, 2923-2932 (1993)]. The results demonstrated large individual differences: Some listeners showed near-perfect localization dominance (c near 1) but many showed a much reduced effect. Two-thirds (64/93) of the listeners gave a value of c of at least 0.75. There was a significant correlation with hearing loss, such that better hearing listeners showed better localization dominance. One of the items of the self-report questionnaire ("Do you have the impression of sounds being exactly where you would expect them to be?") showed a significant correlation with the experimental results. This suggests that reductions in localization dominance may affect everyday auditory perception. (C) 2011 Acoustical Society of America. [DOI: 10.1121/1.3598466]

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Guy, Miss Fiona and Akeroyd, Dr Michael
• Authors: Akeroyd, M.A., and Guy, F.H.
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing
• Journal Name: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Publisher: Acoustical Society of America
• ISSN: 0001-4966
• ISSN (Online): 1520-8524