Noble W, Byrne D, Lepage B
Department of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W., Australia.
J Acoust Soc Am. 1994 Feb;95(2):992-1005. doi: 10.1121/1.408404.
Localization ability of 87 bilaterally hearing-impaired listeners was tested in the horizontal and vertical planes, frontally and laterally. In those with sensorineural hearing loss, it was found that deficits in localization accuracy in different regions of auditory space could be related to different configurations of hearing loss. For example, there were associations between vertical plane discrimination and high-frequency sensitivity; and front-rear discrimination and mid-to-high-frequency sensitivity. These results agree with theoretical expectations, while the outcome overall contrasts with previous reports that localization performance is unrelated to audiometric configuration. A comparison of 13 listeners with conductive/mixed types of impairment with a sensorineural-loss group, matched for degree of loss, showed that a conductive component adds significantly to localization disturbance, particularly in the horizontal plane. The probable reason is a disturbance of low-frequency interaural time cues, and this occurs because a higher proportion of low-frequency sound is likely to be transmitted via bone conduction relative to air conduction. Correlations between hearing loss and localization are only moderate, suggesting that aspects of hearing impairment, in addition to simple attenuation, may also reduce auditory localization performance.
对87名双侧听力受损的受试者在水平和垂直平面、前方和侧方的定位能力进行了测试。在感音神经性听力损失患者中，发现听觉空间不同区域的定位准确性缺陷可能与听力损失的不同结构有关。例如，垂直平面辨别与高频敏感度之间存在关联；前后辨别与中高频敏感度之间存在关联。这些结果与理论预期相符，但总体结果与之前关于定位表现与听力测定结构无关的报告形成对比。对13名传导性/混合性听力障碍患者与一组听力损失程度匹配的感音神经性听力损失患者进行比较，结果显示传导性成分会显著增加定位干扰，尤其是在水平面。可能的原因是低频双耳时间线索受到干扰，这是因为相对于空气传导，更高比例的低频声音可能通过骨传导传播。听力损失与定位之间的相关性仅为中等程度，这表明除了简单的衰减外，听力障碍的其他方面也可能降低听觉定位表现。
