Binaural temporal fine structure sensitivity, cognitive function, and spatial speech recognition of hearing-impaired listeners (L)

The relationships between spatial speech recognition (SSR; the ability to understand speech in complex spatial environments), binaural temporal fine structure (TFS) sensitivity, and three cognitive tasks were assessed for 17 hearing-impaired listeners. Correlations were observed between SSR, TFS sensitivity, and two of the three cognitive tasks, which became non-significant when age effects were controlled for, suggesting that reduced TFS sensitivity and certain cognitive deficits may share a common age-related cause. The third cognitive measure was also significantly correlated with SSR, but not with TFS sensitivity or age, suggesting an independent non-age-related cause. (C) 2012 Acoustical Society of America. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3689850]