Binaural Pitch Fusion: Effects of Amplitude Modulation.
Yonghee Oh, Lina A J Reiss
PMID 30027804WHAT IT FOUND
Slow amplitude modulation made tones in the two ears fuse over wider frequency ranges in both normal-hearing and hearing aid users.
When the modulation differed between the ears, the effect was smaller.
Key findings
01Adding the same amplitude modulation to both ears made sounds fuse over wider frequency ranges in both groups.
02In steady tones, hearing aid users showed broader binaural pitch fusion ranges than normal-hearing listeners.
03Modulation that differed between ears produced smaller fusion-range increases than modulation that was the same in both ears.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only seven normal-hearing adults and seven hearing aid users, so individual variation was large and the result should not be treated as a general clinical effect. The task used pure tones, not speech, so it does not show how hearing aid users understand conversation. The tones were delivered through headphones, not through the participants' hearing aids, so it does not test hearing aid use. The paper reports no clinical outcomes, so it cannot show that changing amplitude modulation will improve listening.
Declared interests
The only funding statement provided is that the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders funded the work.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this study shows how to improve hearing aid listening. It tested perception of laboratory tones in a small group of normal-hearing adults and hearing aid users, not communication outcomes.