Reduced speech redundancy scores in comparison to pure tone scores in persons with sensori-neural hearing losses

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Authors
Brooks, Susan Carol
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Issue Date
1974
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Thesis (M.A.)
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Abstract

This research paper is designed to test the null hypothesis that there is no significant statistical difference in performance on tests of central auditory abilities in persons with sensori-neural hearing loss as compared to persons with normal hearing. Central hearing may be described in detail on a theoretical basis. The perception of a sound message does not really depend upon a choice between single elements; rather it depends on a choice between integrated groups of elements. The central auditory function is the capacity to organize simultaneous or successive elements into a definite pattern. This phenomena is linked to acoustic redundancy, which is a definite relationship between the various linguistic and physical elements of a speech signal. Intrinsic cues are received within a message. These are such things as nouns, prepositions, verbs, etc. Extrinsic cues are such things as voice inflection and relationship to the subject. The cues allow patterns of neural activity to be differentiated and or discriminated from one another. The activity provoked by the speech message is at a certain level of auditory station (neuronal hierarchy) at an instance in time (Jerger, 1963) (fig. 1). That is, some types of auditory stimulus or auditory patterns are processed at the cochlea; while others require transmission to higher stations in the auditory pathways.Speech discrimination problems may be attributed to central nervous system dysfunction. An individual may have normal or abnormal hearing acuity but may not comprehend linguistic symbols. The problem of differentiating peripheral hearing from central processing is under consideration in this research. This will be done by using speech discrimination tests which have been especially designed to differentiate peripheral hearing processes from central hearing processes.

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