The impact of reverberation on speech intelligibility and adaptation for people with unilateral hearing lossa).

Abstract

Individuals with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) encounter difficulties in specific scenarios that may not be considered as unfavorable conditions for people with normal hearing. It is well known that reverberation degrades speech intelligibility for elderly and hearing-impaired populations. However, the impact of reverberation on individuals with UHL has been less investigated. In the current study, an experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of reverberation on speech intelligibility and spatial release from masking (SRM) and to assess the adaptation to a reverberant environment for individuals with UHL. For these purposes, data were measured in three groups of listeners, namely, those with binaurally stimulated normal hearing, monaurally stimulated normal hearing (MNH), and UHL. As a result, reverberation degraded speech intelligibility and SRM, with the greatest impact observed when the target sound was located on the impaired ear side for participants with UHL. However, the participants with long-standing UHL showed reduced effects of reverberation and informational masking compared to the MNH group, which simulated the listening situation immediately after the onset of UHL. These results indicated necessity of rehabilitation protocols, particularly immediately after the onset of UHL, to improve the quality of life for people with UHL.