Word discrimination for listeners with flat sensorineural hearing losses.

This study examined discrimination scores among listeners (742 ears) with flat sensorineural hearing losses. The discrimination data were analyzed in terms of degree of hearing impairment and subject age. Contrary to previous findings, the results showed that the average subject exhibited a discriminative ability of 70% or better for hearing levels less than 60 dB. A 10 to 20% decline in intelligibility, however, was found for losses 60 dB and greater. Listeners' performance decreased somewhat as a function of age especially for subjects with the greatest hearing losses. Finally, a subject's word discrimination was similar whether hearing loss was based on a three- or a five-frequency average.