Forward masking in children and adults with normal hearing and hearing loss

The objective was to determine the extent to which childhood hearing loss can affect the development of temporal resolution. Participants were divided into those with and without hearing loss. Participants included 16 children per group (normal hearing, hearing loss) and 14 adults per group. Forward-masked thresholds for a 2 kHz masker and target (10 ms signal delay) were measured at similar points on the dynamic range for the participants with normal hearing and hearing loss. As expected, the amount of masking decreased with age. Due to their hearing loss, the participants with hearing loss were tested at lower masker sensation levels than the participants with normal hearing. For that reason, it was expected that less masking would occur for the participants with hearing loss, and this was observed in the data. It was hypothesized that age and hearing loss would interact, such that the younger children with hearing loss would show greater masking than younger children with normal hearing. Instead, both children with normal hearing and with hearing loss showed higher masking than their adult counterparts, suggesting that the amount of masking did not interact with age and hearing status. These findings suggest that children show less efficient temporal processing.