Evaluating audio quality ratings and scene analysis performance of hearing-impaired listeners for multi-track music

This study assessed musical scene analysis (MSA) performance and subjective quality ratings of multi-track mixes as a function of spectral manipulations using the EQ-transform (% EQT). This transform exaggerates or reduces the spectral shape changes in a given track with respect to a relatively flat, smooth reference spectrum. Data from 30 younger normal hearing (yNH) and 23 older hearing-impaired (oHI) participants showed that MSA performance was robust to changes in % EQT. However, audio quality ratings elicited from yNH participants were more sensitive to % EQT than those of oHI participants. A significant positive correlation between MSA performance and quality ratings among oHI showed that oHI participants with better MSA performances gave higher-quality ratings, whereas there was no significant correlation for yNH listeners. Overall, these data indicate the complementary virtue of measures of MSA and audio quality ratings for assessing the suitability of music mixes for hearing-impaired listeners.