The influence of central auditory processing on the intelligibility of the speech in the patients presenting with hearing impairment

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate to what degree the function of the central auditory pathways influences the intelligibility of the speech in the patients suffering from the sensorineural loss of hearing (SNLH). The study included a total of 20 patients at the age varying from 31 to 80 years presenting with moderate to moderately severe symmetrical SNLN. All the patients were permanent hearing aid users. They underwent the standard audiological examination including pure-tone threshold and suprathreshold audimetries together with impedancemetry, the evaluation of the functional ability of the central auditory pathways with special reference to temporal resolution and differential frequency sensitivity, binaural integration, and the ability to distinguish a sound stimulus against the background noise. It has been found that the impaired intelligibility of the speech and the decreased efficiency of the hearing aids in the patients presenting with SNLH were attributable to the central auditory pathway disorders detected in 50% of the participants in the study. The strong correlation between the results of detection of the stimulus under conditions of tonal signal interference, the binaural integration test, and intelligibility of the speech in the users of hearing aids was documented.

The use of speech sentence audiometry in a free sound field

“…Большую роль в различении речевого сигнала на фоне помехи играет межполушарное взаимодействие: длительная депривация одного из ушей снижает афферентную импульсацию в центральные отделы мозга [8]. Большинство обследованных нами пациентов имели длительный опыт ношения СА на одно ухо, что способствовало депривации непротезированного уха и могло привести к нарушению бинаурального взаимодействия и снижению помехоустойчивости слуховой системы.…”

Behavioral assessment tests for central hearing skills in individuals with sensorineural hearing loss: an integrative review

“…The present study sample comprised 13 articles retrieved from the databases (Chart 1). There was variability in the participants' age ranges; nine articles researched adults aged 19 to 59 years [9][10][11][12][13][15][16][17]19 , except for four studies, which had wider age ranges 12,15,17,19 . One article included not only adults but also older adults up to 80 years old to verify, with a greater number, the influence of CAP on speech intelligibility in patients with SNHL 13 .…”

“…Two studies were selected regarding age groups 12,17 whose results can be filtered to include only participants who met the criteria and dismiss results of participants younger than 9 years or older than 59 years. The results of children less than 9 years old may be influenced by immaturity, and those of older adults can have possible aging effects on the central auditory nervous system, besides the SNHL 7,21-.…”

“…Since this study did not aim to observe only the effects of presbycusis on hearing skills, the age filter was rather encompassing to demonstrate that possible abnormal results in CAP behavioral tests are not explained only by the aging of the peripheral hearing system. Thus, it shows that young and adult individuals with mild to moderate SNHL may have abnormal behavioral test results [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] .…”

“…Cognitive and linguistic skills are known to be necessary to comprehend required test tasks. However, the only article with older adults 12 did not use cognitive assessments as a CAP assessment prerequisite. This may lead to imprecise results, as it cannot be established whether low scores were due to cognitive difficulties understanding commands or the tested skills were indeed affected by SNHL.…”