Speech perception and hearing loss

Over 150 years after the early research of Alexander Graham Bell, it remains unclear how the auditory system decodes speech, both in individuals who have "normal ears" and those who have "non-normal ears." Recent research has shown that normal ears can decode isolated consonants without error. However, when the inner ear is damaged, such as with sensorineural hearing loss where hair cells and synaptic connections are not properly functioning, speech can be heard but not understood. In these cases, two seemingly-normal articulated utterances of the same consonant can result in totally different responses. Such specific and consistent confusions uniquely depend on the auditory system's function and the utterance. This presentation will discuss the differences between how the auditory systems of normal ears and non-normal ears receive and decode speech.