Nozza R J, Wagner E F, Crandell M A
University of Pittsburgh, Children's Hospital.
J Speech Hear Res. 1988 Jun;31(2):212-8. doi: 10.1044/jshr.3102.212.
Binaural masked thresholds for a speech sound [ba] were estimated under two interaural phase conditions (NoSo and NoS pi) in three age groups (infants, preschool children, and adults). A computer-based head-turn with visual reinforcement procedure was used to test the infants. Preschoolers were tested using a modified play audiometry task, and adults were tested conventionally with the same apparatus as used with the infants. Differences in masked threshold as a function of both age and interaural phase condition, and differences in the binaural masking level difference (BMLD) with age, were found when the masker intensity was the same for each group. However, testing of adults with maskers of reduced intensity to compensate for hearing threshold differences relative to the two younger groups (a possible confounding variable in the estimate of the BMLD) eliminated the difference in BMLD between adults and preschoolers. The difference between infants and adults remained statistically significant, suggesting a possible developmental change in binaural hearing early in life. The relevance of developmental change in binaural hearing with respect to both infant auditory processing and the methods we use to assess it are discussed.
在三种年龄组（婴儿、学龄前儿童和成年人）中，在两种双耳相位条件（NoSo和NoS π）下估计了语音[ba]的双耳掩蔽阈值。使用基于计算机的带视觉强化程序的转头法对婴儿进行测试。学龄前儿童使用改良的游戏测听任务进行测试，成年人则使用与测试婴儿相同的设备按照常规方法进行测试。当每组的掩蔽声强度相同时，发现掩蔽阈值随年龄和双耳相位条件的变化而存在差异，并且双耳掩蔽级差（BMLD）随年龄也存在差异。然而，用强度降低的掩蔽声对成年人进行测试，以补偿相对于两个较年轻组的听力阈值差异（这在BMLD估计中可能是一个混杂变量），消除了成年人与学龄前儿童之间BMLD的差异。婴儿与成年人之间的差异在统计学上仍然显著，这表明生命早期双耳听力可能存在发育变化。本文讨论了双耳听力发育变化与婴儿听觉处理以及我们用于评估它的方法的相关性。
