Comparison of gap in noise test results between congenital blind and sighted subjects with normal hearing (original) (raw)
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Auditory gap detection in the early blind
Hearing Research, 2006
For blind individuals, audition provides critical information for interacting with the environment. Individuals blinded early in life (EB) typically show enhanced auditory abilities relative to sighted controls as measured by tasks requiring complex discrimination, attention and memory. In contrast, few deficits have been reported on tasks involving auditory sensory thresholds (e.g., Yates, J.T., Johnson, R.M., Starz, W.J., 1972. Loudness perception of the blind. Audiology 11(5), 368-376; Starlinger, I., Niemeyer, W., 1981. Do the blind hear better? Investigations on auditory processing in congenital or early acquired blindness. I. Peripheral functions. Audiology 20(6), 503-509). A study of gap detection stands at odds with this distinction [Muchnik, C., Efrati, M., Nemeth, E., Malin, M., Hildesheimer, M., 1991. Central auditory skills in blind and sighted subjects. Scand. Audiol. 20(1), 19-23]. In the current investigation we re-examined gap detection abilities in the EB using a single-interval, yes/no method. A group of younger sighted control individuals (SCy) was included in the analysis in addition to EB and sighted age matched control individuals (SCm) in order to examine the effect of age on gap detection performance. Estimates of gap detection thresholds for EB subjects were nearly identical to SCm subjects and slightly poorer relative to the SCy subjects. These results suggest some limits on the extent of auditory temporal advantages in the EB.
Congenitally blind individuals have been found to show superior performance in perceptual and memory tasks. In the present study, we asked whether superior stimulus encoding could account for performance in memory tasks. We characterized the performance of a group of congenitally blind individuals on a series of auditory, memory and executive cognitive tasks and compared their performance to that of sighted controls matched for age, education and musical training.
Acta Physica Polonica A, 2012
The present work discusses results concerning sound perception obtained in selected auditory tasks, such as pitch discrimination and pitch-timbre categorization for blind and visually impaired subjects (children and teenagers). Listeners were divided into two age groups: 713 year olds and 1418 year olds. The study tested 20 individuals (8 congenitally blind and 12 visually impaired) and 20 sighted persons comprising reference groups. The timing of the experiments was as short as possible due to the fact that our listeners were children. To date, no study has described results of such experiments for blind/visually handicapped children and teenagers. It was shown that the performance of blind/visually impaired participants was not as good as that of blind adults in pitch discrimination and pitch-timbre categorization tasks. These results may have implications for the development of auditory training in orientation and mobility of young visually handicapped people.
1978
A battery of 26 auditory tests was given to groups of 30 blind, partially sighted, and sighted children. Primary factors defined by the tests corresponded closely to those previously found with a similar battery (Stankov & Horn, in press). Overall, the blind and sighted were equal on most of the abilities measured by the tests; however, differences could be observed if particular primaries were considered. Blind children performed better on tests measuring tonal memory but worse on tests of masking and rhythm. The partially sighted group demonstrated poorer performance than the other two groups; this was attributed to possible cognitive and/or personality problems in addition to those associated with reduced vision. Auditory abilities have been studied since the beginnings of experimental psychology, but two papers by Karlin (1941, 1942) can be viewed as landmarks for the approach to be adopted here. In these papers Karlin used the Thurstonian method of factor analysis in order to a...
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2019
We evaluated whether blind subjects have advantages in auditory spectral resolution, temporal resolution, and speech perception in noise compared with sighted subjects. We also compared psychoacoustic performance between early blind (EB) subjects and late blind (LB) subjects. Nineteen EB subjects, 16 LB subjects, and 20 sighted individuals were enrolled. All subjects were right-handed with normal and symmetric hearing thresholds and without cognitive impairments. Three psychoacoustic measurements of the subjects' right ears were performed via an inserted earphone to determine spectral-ripple discrimination (SRD), temporal modulation detection (TMD), and speech recognition threshold (SRT) in noisy conditions. Acoustic change complex (ACC) responses were recorded during passive listening to standard ripple-inverted ripple stimuli. EB subjects exhibited better SRD than did LB (p = 0.020) and sighted (p = 0.003) subjects. TMD was better in EB (p < 0.001) and LB (p = 0.007) subjects compared with sighted subjects. SRD was positively correlated with the duration of blindness (r = 0.386, p = 0.024). Acoustic change complex data for ripple noise change at the Cz and Fz electrodes showed trends toward significant correlations with the behavioral results. In conclusion, compared with sighted subjects, EB subjects showed advantages in terms of auditory spectral and temporal resolution, while LB subjects showed an advantage in temporal resolution exclusively. These findings suggest that it might take longer for auditory spectral resolution to functionally enhance following visual deprivation compared to temporal resolution. Alternatively, a critical period of very young age may be required for auditory spectral resolution to improve following visual deprivation.
Evaluation of temporal processing skills in individuals with normal hearing
Turkish Journal of Audiology And Hearing Research, 2021
Objective: In a cumulative perspective, the aim of this study is to perform Frequency Pattern Test (FPT), Duration Pattern Test (DPT) and Gap In Noise (GIN) Test in order to determine descriptive values of these tests to evaluate central auditory processing on the individuals’ with normal hearing. Material and Methods: A total of 52 participants, as of 28 women and 24 men, with normal hearing, within the age range of 20 to 55 were included in the study. Otoscopic examination, pure tone audiometry and FPT, DPT GIN Test which are central auditory processing tests, were performed on the participants who meet the criteria of the study and voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. Results: Descriptive values were obtained as an average of 78% in FPT, 92.11% in DPT, an average of 61.22% in GIN Test and an average of 6.34 ms in Gap Detection Threshold Conclusions: It is thought that the obtained descriptive values will contribute to the clinics and the literature. Keywords: Auditory ...
Human Auditory Brainstem Response to Temporal Gaps in Noise
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2001
Gap detection is a commonly used measure of temporal resolution, although the mechanisms underlying gap detection are not well understood. To the extent that gap detection depends on processes within, or peripheral to, the auditory brainstem, one would predict that a measure of gap threshold based on the auditory brainstem response (ABR) would be similar to the psychophysical gap detection threshold. Three experiments were performed to examine the relationship between ABR gap threshold and gap detection. Thresholds for gaps in a broadband noise were measured in young adults with normal hearing, using both psychophysical techniques and electrophysiological techniques that use the ABR. The mean gap thresholds obtained with the two methods were very similar, although ABR gap thresholds tended to be lower than psychophysical gap thresholds. There was a modest correlation between psychophysical and ABR gap thresholds across participants.