ABSTRACT
Additive spectrally shaped masking noise can induce many effects of sensorineural hearing impairment, including elevated detection thresholds and abnormal growth of loudness. As such, it provides a convenient reference for evaluating the effects of signal processing schemes, such as multiband amplitude compression, intended for listeners with impaired hearing. As in the case of listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment, the listeners with simulated losses achieved higher test scores with materials processed by the better linear amplification system than with those processed by the multiband syllabic compression system. The octaves at most comfortable levels linear amplification system generally provided the highest levels of performance in the Lippmann et al. study. One rationale for the use of fast-acting wide-dynamic-range syllabic amplitude compression in hearing aids is that threshold elevation and recruitment are largely responsible for the degraded speech perception associated with sensorineural hearing impairment.
