Chapter 10 covers hearing and the auditory cortex. I wanted to do some research on the hearing disorder known as auditory neuropathy. According to the article "Speech perception in individuals with auditory neuropathy", one of the main characteristics of this disorder is disrupted auditory nerve activity with normal or almost normal cochlear amplification function. There is also an impaired capacity for temporal processing, as well as difficulty understanding speech. There are many probable causes of auditory neuropathy, such as drug agents, infections, hereditary neuropathies, etc. Researchers believe that clear speech is easier for those with auditory neuropathy to understand as opposed to normal conversational speech. There is higher intelligibility in clear speech than conversational speech. In this study, researchers wanted to compare clear speech versus conversational speech in participants with this hearing disorder. They also wanted to see if cochlear implants would make a difference in hearing. The researchers used a sample of 13 participants who had been diagnosed with AN. 7 received cochlear implants. Speech sentences recorded in clear and conversational speech styles were used. The participants were asked to copy the sentences they heard by typing them on a computer. After testing the participants, researchers found that participants heard the sentences much better when the clear speech style was used. They also found that those with the cochlear implants had a greater hearing advantage. These findings suggest that cochlear implants could be an effective method of treatment for this disorder. The researchers also suggested innovative hearing aids that incorporate temporal envelope enhancement, low-frequency filtering, and high-frequency transposition as another method of treatment.
Zeng, F., & Liu, S. (2006). Speech perception in individuals with auditory neuropathy. Journal Of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 49(2), 367-380. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
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