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Biomedical subjects

M W Skinner

Publications and source records attributed to M W Skinner.

42 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Amplification bandwidth and speech intelligibility for two listeners with sensorineural hearing loss.

The intelligibility of speech as a function of its bandwidth was measured for two listeners with similar, moderately severe sensorineural hearing losses. The shape of the speech spectrum was adjusted to approximate the individual listener's contour of most comfortable listening levels (MCLs) and the overall level was set so that the levels in each band were below (-7 dB), near to (+3 dB), or above (+13 or +18 dB) the MCLs. At each level, nine pairings of three low-frequency and three high-frequency cutoffs (266, 375 and 530 Hz; 3,000, 4,242 and 6,000 Hz) were used. These conditions were achieved by passing the speech through a Limiting Master Hearing Aid (LMHA) which allows independent control of gain and maximum output in each of nine, half-octave bands. It was found that the wider the bandwidth, the higher the score, and the greater the amount of speech energy above threshold, the higher the score. Listeners' ability to understand the test material, after adjustment for listener differences, was correlated (0.7 and 0.8) with the articulation index.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Speech intelligibility in noise-induced hearing loss: effects of high-frequency compensation.

The speech-recognition ability of six listeners with permanent noise-induced hearing losses above 1 kHz was evaluated with the Pascoe High-Frequency Work List spoken by a female talker and presented in the field. In experiment I the words were presented at five intensity levels through five different amplification systems (one with a uniform response and four with increasing amounts of high-frequency emphasis). In experiment II the frequency response of the system associated with the highest scores in experiment I was modified in four ways: elimination of frequences above 6.3 kHz, addition and deletion of 1/3-octave emphasis at the low-frequency boundary of the hearing loss, and addition of 6-dB high-frequency emphasis. The frequency response that was associated with the highest word-identification score for each listener had between 20 and 33 dB more gain in the frequency region of the hearing loss than did the uniform response. Three major factors were found to affect the work-identification scores: audibility of the speech energy, separation of the third-octave-band levels of the words from the discomfort threshold, and balance between the low- and high-frequency levels of the speech signal.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Auditory function in children with diabetes mellitus.

Fifty-one insulin-dependent diabetics and 13 nondiabetics between the ages of 8 and 21 years, without a history of exposure to noise, ototoxic drugs or ear disease, were evaluated to examine the relation between auditory function and diabetes, diabetic control and diabetic complications. Audiologic assessment included pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, impedance measures and brainstem evoked response audiometry. No statistically significant differences in auditory function were noted between insulin-dependent diabetics and normal controls, between the diabetics in good or poor control or between diabetics with or without neurologic or vascular complications.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Recent advances in hearing aid selection and adjustment.

Recent research has shown that speech is most intelligible for hearing-impaired individuals when it is amplified to a comfortable level in specific frequency regions between 250 and 6,000 Hz, and is limited below the discomfort level. If commercial hearing aids and earmold coupling are adjusted appropriately, they will provide amplified sound within these parameters for most hearing-impaired individuals. A clinical procedure is described 1) to preselect an aid and earmold with the approximate electroacoustic characteristics that are needed, 2) to determine the gain actually provided by this hearing aid/earmold combination, and 3) to adjust the hearing aid and/or earmold if the gain and maximum output do not meet the prescribed criteria, or if the wearer finds the sound quality unacceptable.

Acoustics↗