Effects of high-frequency amplification on double-vowel identification in listeners with hearing loss

Arehart et al. [J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 40, 1434-1444 (1997)] reported that the ability of listeners with moderate to moderately-severe sensorineural hearing loss to correctly identify two simultaneous vowels was significantly worse than the identification ability of listeners with normal hearing. The present study investigated the effects of amplification on double-vowel identification in six listeners with heating loss by comparing double-vowel identification with unamplified vowels and amplified vowels. Increasing the sensation level of the second and higher formants by application of high-frequency amplification did not improve the overall ability of listeners with hearing loss to identify double vowels. Spectre-temporal processing deficits not compensated for by increased sensation levels may contribute to the reduced overall performance by listeners with hearing loss on the double-vowel task. (C) 1998 Acoustical Society of America. [S0001-4966(98)05009-7]