Vowel discrimination in noise with formant enhancement: Effects of hearing loss and aging

The aim of this study was to investigate whether formant enhancement of F2 would improve vowel formant discrimination in noise for three groups of listeners (i.e., older listeners with hearing loss, older listeners with normal hearing, and young listeners with normal hearing). Thresholds of vowel formant discrimination were examined for the F2 frequencies of three American English vowels: /ʌ/, /ɛ/, and /i/ in long-term speech-shaped noise with signal-to-noise ratio of + 6 dB and + 12 dB. F2 frequencies of three vowels were enhanced by 6 dB. Thresholds of vowel formant discrimination were significantly highest for older listeners with hearing loss, while young listeners with normal hearing had lowest thresholds with the older listeners with normal hearing in between. However, discrimination thresholds were improved significantly for all three groups after F2 enhancement was implemented regardless of low or high SNR of background noise. Hearing loss and aging resulted in higher thresholds of vowel formant discrimination in noise and F2 enhancements could improve discrimination performance for all listeners in noise.The aim of this study was to investigate whether formant enhancement of F2 would improve vowel formant discrimination in noise for three groups of listeners (i.e., older listeners with hearing loss, older listeners with normal hearing, and young listeners with normal hearing). Thresholds of vowel formant discrimination were examined for the F2 frequencies of three American English vowels: /ʌ/, /ɛ/, and /i/ in long-term speech-shaped noise with signal-to-noise ratio of + 6 dB and + 12 dB. F2 frequencies of three vowels were enhanced by 6 dB. Thresholds of vowel formant discrimination were significantly highest for older listeners with hearing loss, while young listeners with normal hearing had lowest thresholds with the older listeners with normal hearing in between. However, discrimination thresholds were improved significantly for all three groups after F2 enhancement was implemented regardless of low or high SNR of background noise. Hearing loss and aging resulted in higher thresholds of vowel formant d...