ABSTRACT
Impaired auditory processing represents an important test of what we understand about speech perception and its auditory basis. The World Health Organization estimates that hearing impairment of a degree that severely affects speech perception occurs in around 2% of the population. The goal of improving speech perception for the hearing impaired also represents a challenge to speech technology-to produce robust speech analysis techniques that can maximize the transmission of useful speech information while minimizing the transmission of noise. The development of cochlear implants and other aids to match very limited auditory abilities has often been informed by an understanding of more central aspects of auditory pattern processing in speech perception. The perceptual role of temporal structure in speech has until recently been rather neglected in comparison to spectral structure. The study of speech perception in hearing-impaired listeners can be seen to be leading to important advances in our understanding of the roles of spectral and temporal processing.
