ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the effects of component phase on the discrimination of harmonic complexes are evaluated in relation to measured frequency resolution for a group of hearing-impaired subjects. Listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment nearly always suffer distortions in spectral processing in addition to reductions in threshold sensitivity. This impaired processing, in the form of broader and more asymmetric auditory filters, is likely to impact temporal as well as spectral analysis of complex sounds. Hearing-impaired listeners, who generally have broader auditory filters, are, in theory, likely to be more sensitive to changes in phase of adjacent frequency components than normal-hearing listeners whose channels are more narrow and selective. Hearing-impaired individuals show effects of lower sensation levels of these stimuli in producing greater-than-normal phase discrimination thresholds for changes that are likely processed within auditory channels. The hearing-impaired subjects had mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing losses over the frequency range from 250 to 4,000 Hz, and ranged in age from 55 to 85 years old.
