Abstract
Objective: To extend the study of Hopkins and Moore (2011) by examining the effect of age in the medium age range on sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS), which is assumed to be represented in the patterns of phase locking in the auditory nerve. Design: Monaural TFS sensitivity was assessed using the TFS1 test (Moore & Sek, 2009) at centre frequencies of 850 and 2000 Hz, and binaural TFS sensitivity was assessed using the TFS-LF test (Hopkins & Moore, 2010a) at centre frequencies of 500 and 850 Hz, using a sensation level of 30 dB. Study sample: Thirty-five newly recruited normal-hearing subjects (thresholds better than 20 dB HL from 250 to 6000 Hz) were tested. Their ages ranged from 22 to 61 years. Results: There was a significant correlation between age and TFS sensitivity at all frequencies for both TFS tests. For the single centre frequency (850 Hz) that was used for both tests, scores for the two tests were modestly but significantly correlated. Conclusions: Sensitivity to TFS decreases with increasing age. The monaural and binaural TFS tests appear to reflect at least somewhat distinct auditory processes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 715-721 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | International Journal of Audiology |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The work of author BM was supported by the MRC (UK) and by Deafness Research UK. We thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Keywords
- Aging
- Binaural hearing
- Temporal fine structure