Introduction: Modeling sensorineural hearing loss

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses a series of physiological studies of sensorineural hearing loss, beginning with a very general model for prediction of responses in the auditory nerve in the presence of hearing loss. It provides two general models of perception in the presence of sensorineural hearing loss, focusing on nonspeech and speech signals. The book describes a series of related efforts to model the reduced dynamic range. It deals with the effects of dynamic range on loudness growth and intensity discrimination. The book also discusses results obtained with multiple maskers and what the results might tell us about peripheral nonlinearity. It explores a number of closely related efforts to determine the extent to which speech perception deficits in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss can be accounted for on the basis of their elevated thresholds alone.