Abstract
The highest frequency for which the temporal fine structure (TFS) of a sinewave can be compared across ears varies between listeners with an upper limit of about 1400 Hz for young normal-hearing adults (YNHA). In this study, binaural TFS sensitivity was investigated for 63 typically developing children, aged 5 years, 6 months to 9 years, 4 months using the temporal fine structure-adaptive frequency (TFS-AF) test of Füllgrabe, Harland, Sęk, and Moore [Int. J. Audiol. 56, 926-935 (2017)]. The test assesses the highest frequency at which an interaural phase difference (IPD) of ϕ° can be distinguished from an IPD of 0°. The values of ϕ were 30° and 180°. The starting frequency was 200 Hz. The thresholds for the children were significantly lower (worse) than the thresholds reported by Füllgrabe, Harland, Sęk, and Moore [Int. J. Audiol. 56, 926-935 (2017)] for YNHA. For both values of ϕ, the median age at which children performed above chance level was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than for those who performed at chance. For the subgroup of 40 children who performed above chance for ϕ = 180°, the linear regression analyses showed that the thresholds for ϕ = 180° increased (improved) significantly with increasing age (p < 0.001) with adult-like thresholds predicted to be reached at 10 years, 2 months of age. The implications for spatial release from masking are discussed.
Highlights
Parental informed written consent was obtained for all participants, and the study was approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee of the University of Cambridge
The temporal fine structure (TFS)-AF thresholds for / 1⁄4 180 are denoted as TFS180 and the temporal fine structure-adaptive frequency (TFS-AF) thresholds for / 1⁄4 30 are denoted as TFS30
The thresholds for some participants on the TFS-AF task were close to the starting frequency of 200 Hz and showed no improvement across runs
Summary
The highest frequency for which the temporal fine structure (TFS) of a sinewave can be compared across ears varies between listeners with an upper limit of about 1400 Hz for young normal-hearing adults (YNHA). The highest frequency at which an interaural phase difference (IPD) in a sinewave can be discriminated has been used as a measure of binaural TFS sensitivity for adults with both normal and impaired hearing (Brughera et al, 2013; F€ullgrabe et al, 2017; F€ullgrabe and Moore, 2018). The peripheral auditory system responds to broadband sounds, such as speech or music, by filtering the sounds into narrowband signals with a wide range of center frequencies This filtering occurs in the cochlea, and each of the narrowband signals can be conceptualised as a rapidly oscillating carrier signal (the TFS) with a relatively slowly varying envelope (ENV; Moore, 2008, 2014).
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