The benefit of binaural summation ("summation") is often measured in co-located steady-state noise; summation for competing speech is less understood. The goal of the present study was to evaluate how the target-masker acoustic properties and binaural listening mode affect summation for speech-in-speech recognition....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Findings on talker sex differences in binaural summation for CI users may inform bilateral implant counselling and programming strategies, but replication in larger samples is needed before changing clinical protocols.
Understanding how talker characteristics interact with binaural hearing in cochlear implant users can help refine fitting strategies and set realistic patient expectations for speech understanding in noisy, real-world environments.
- 01Study compared binaural summation benefits in cochlear implant (CI) users vs. normal-hearing listeners.
- 02Talker sex (male vs. female voice) was manipulated as an experimental variable.
- 03Co-located noise paradigms were used to isolate the binaural summation effect.
- 04CI users and normal-hearing listeners showed different patterns of binaural benefit depending on talker sex.
- 05Results have implications for bilateral CI fitting and speech-in-noise rehabilitation.
Talker sex differences affect binaural summation benefits differently in cochlear implant users compared to normal-hearing listeners.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42289315
- DOI
- 10.1177/23312165261461168.
- Journal
- Trends in Hearing
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Cochlear implant users and normal-hearing listeners
- Intervention
- Binaural summation under competing speech conditions varying by talker sex
- Comparator
- Normal-hearing listeners; within-subject comparison of talker-sex conditions
Primary outcomes
Binaural summation benefit for speech intelligibility; Effect of talker sex on binaural summation in CI users vs. normal-hearing listeners