FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSITION USE BY THE HARD OF HEARING

影响重听者共振峰使用的因素 语音中的过渡将在三个实验中进行研究。 选择听力损失者的依据是：1）听力损失：（a）轻度至 中度或（B）中度至重度，2）听力配置：（a）平坦 或（B）倾斜，和3）听觉经验量：（a）广泛，或 (b)有限的，根据听力损失发作的年龄定义， 放大使用，以及家庭/学校通信模式。 这三个实验将使用不同的方法来研究 HOH听众使用共振峰转换。 这些措施是： 1)调查听众使用共振峰转换的滑音和 作为听力损失的函数的浊塞音识别， 听觉体验 语音刺激将被修改， 过渡是辅音的唯一可用的声学线索， 识别. 过渡可听度将根据以下因素确定 每个转变开始和偏移的阈值测量 频率. 将制定一个可听度指标，并应用于 描述过渡可听度对过渡使用的影响。 的 共振峰转换的使用和听众的 还将检查听觉体验。 2)比较听者的频率/时间辨别力， 具有用于辅音识别过渡的过渡类刺激。 过渡类刺激将模拟过渡特性 在滑行/停止识别刺激中发现。 之间的关系 将描述转换辨别和转换使用。 3)HOH听者共振峰感知加权的研究 与其他声学提示相比，过渡到停止/滑行对比。 合成和自然的语音刺激将被开发， 沿着两个声学连续体（共振峰过渡和振幅起始）。 分析两个听觉线索的感知重要性，听觉 听力损失的程度和经验将被完成。 在所有的实验中，听力正常的听众将被使用 作为对照

Factors affecting hard-of-hearing (HOH) listeners' use of formant transitions in speech will be investigated in three experiments. Listeners will be selected on the basis of: 1) hearing loss: (a) mild-to- moderate or (b) moderate-to-severe, 2) audiometric configuration: (a) flat or (b) sloping, and 3) amount of auditory experience: (a) extensive, or (b) limited, as define by age of hearing loss onset, years of amplification use, and home/school mode of communication. The three experiments will use different approaches for the study of formant transition use by HOH listeners. These are: 1) investigation of listeners' use of formant transitions for glide and voiced stop consonant identification as a function of hearing loss and auditory experience. Spoken stimuli will be modified so that formant transitions are the only available acoustic cues for consonant identification. Transition audibility will be determined based on threshold measurements for each of the transition onset and offset frequencies. An audibility metric will be developed and applied to describe the effects of transition audibility on transition use. The relationships between use of formant transitions and the listeners' auditory experience will also be examined. 2) comparison of listeners' frequency/temporal discrimination for transition-like stimuli with transition use for consonant identification. The transition-like stimuli will simulate the transition characteristics found in the glide/stop identification stimuli. Relationships between transition discrimination and transition use will be described. 3) investigation of HOH listeners' perceptual weighting of formant transitions compared to other acoustic cues to the stop/glide contrast. Both synthesized and natural speech stimuli will be developed that vary along two acoustic continua (formant transition and amplitude onset). Analysis of the perceptual importance of the two acoustic cues, auditory experience, and degree of hearing loss will be completed. In all experiments, listeners with normal hearing thresholds will be used as controls.