Title :
Effect of Contralateral Stimulation on Auditory Filter Bandwidth: A Preliminary Study
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Commun. Sci. & Disorders, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Abstract :
The main goal of this study was to examine the effect of contralateral stimulation on auditory filter shape. Auditory filter was measured at 1 and 2 kHz for normal-hearing listeners using notched-noise method with and without contralateral stimulation presented. A broadband noise was presented as contralateral stimulation at three levels: 50, 60, and 70 dB SPL. Results indicated that contralateral stimulation at 50 dB SPL slightly increased frequency selectivity (i.e. reduced auditory filter bandwidth) for 2 kHz, suggesting that auditory efferent fibers such as medial olivocochlear bundles may function to improve frequency selectivity of the cochlear. Such improvement in the cochlear frequency selectivity appeared to be dependent on signal frequency and intensity of contralateral stimulation.
Keywords :
acoustic noise; acoustic signal processing; ear; hearing; neurophysiology; auditory efferent fibers; auditory filter bandwidth; auditory filter shape; broadband noise; cochlear frequency selectivity improvement; contralateral stimulation effects; contralateral stimulation intensity; frequency 1 kHz; frequency 2 kHz; gain 50 dB; gain 60 dB; gain 70 dB; medial olivocochlear bundles; normal hearing listeners; notched noise method; signal frequency; Acoustic noise; Auditory system; Bandwidth; Ear; Filters; Frequency; Noise level; Optical fiber sensors; Signal detection; Speech enhancement;
Conference_Titel :
Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering , 2009. ICBBE 2009. 3rd International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Beijing
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2901-1
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2902-8
DOI :
10.1109/ICBBE.2009.5162691
