Skip to content
The American Academy of Audiology
  • Practice Resources
    • Practice Guidelines and Standards
    • Reimbursement
    • Coding
    • Compliance
    • Public Awareness
    • State Medicaid
    • Medicare FAQs
    • COVID-19 Resources
  • Education and Events
    • Event Calendar
    • AAA Annual Conference
    • Academy Research Conference (ARC)
    • Continuing Education
    • eAudiology Online Learning
    • Research Grants and Scholarships
  • News and Publications
    • Audiology Today
    • Newsroom
    • Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
    • Advertising
    • Audiology Solutions Network
    • Online Store
  • Careers
    • Career Center
    • Certification
    • Become an Audiologist
    • Doctoral Programs in Audiology
    • Recruiting
    • Resources for New Audiologists
  • Advocacy
    • Legislative and Regulatory Activities
      • State Affairs
      • Federal Affairs
    • Legislative Action Center
    • Government Relations News
  • About the Academy
    • Contact Us
    • Academy Membership
      • Benefits
      • Ethics
      • Member Directory
      • Membership Renewals
    • Leadership
    • Committees and Task Forces
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Honors and Awards
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Corporate Partners
    • Press and Media Information
  • Audiology Community
  • Consumers
    • What Is an Audiologist
    • Hearing and Balance Symptoms and Conditions
    • Managing Hearing Loss
    • Seniors and Hearing Loss
    • Children and Hearing Loss
FacebookTwitterLinkedinYoutubeInstagram
  • Audiology Community
  • Students
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Renew
The American Academy of Audiology
Member Login
  • Practice Resources
    • Practice Guidelines and Standards
    • Reimbursement
    • Coding
    • Compliance
    • Public Awareness
    • State Medicaid
    • Medicare FAQs
    • COVID-19 Resources
  • Education and Events
    • Event Calendar
    • AAA Annual Conference
    • Academy Research Conference (ARC)
    • Continuing Education
    • eAudiology Online Learning
    • Research Grants and Scholarships
  • News and Publications
    • Audiology Today
    • Newsroom
    • Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
    • Advertising
    • Audiology Solutions Network
    • Online Store
  • Careers
    • Career Center
    • Certification
    • Become an Audiologist
    • Doctoral Programs in Audiology
    • Recruiting
    • Resources for New Audiologists
  • Advocacy
    • Legislative and Regulatory Activities
      • State Affairs
      • Federal Affairs
    • Legislative Action Center
    • Government Relations News
  • About the Academy
    • Contact Us
    • Academy Membership
      • Benefits
      • Ethics
      • Member Directory
      • Membership Renewals
    • Leadership
    • Committees and Task Forces
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Honors and Awards
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Corporate Partners
    • Press and Media Information
  • Audiology Community
  • Consumers
    • What Is an Audiologist
    • Hearing and Balance Symptoms and Conditions
    • Managing Hearing Loss
    • Seniors and Hearing Loss
    • Children and Hearing Loss
December 15, 2021

The Cocktail Party Effect

  • In the News

As we head into the holiday season, many of us will attend remembrance celebrations of the year’s transpiration, and resolutions for the year to come. Civilizations around the world have been celebrating the new year for at least four millennia, but not always in December. Learn more about the history of New Year’s Eve (NYE).

Although this year’s gatherings may be a bit smaller than usual, common NYE traditions include attending parties, making resolutions, toasting with champagne, singing “Auld Lang Syne,” and enjoying food. The pop of the champagne cork, toasting to the new year, singing songs, catching up with friends, and making resolutions result in a less than accommodating listening environment known as the “cocktail-party” effect. The cocktail-party effect refers to the ability to focus one’s attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli (i.e., noise). But, how is the brain able to do this, and can everyone do this?

Behavioral research on the cocktail-party effect dates back to the 1950s and continues to be studied today by researchers in audiology, engineering, computer science, neuroscience, and psychology (Cherry, 1953).

Reiss and colleagues (2017; 2021) suggests that, while listeners with normal-hearing sensitively may benefit from the cocktail-party effect, listeners with hearing loss may be unable to filter out extraneous stimuli due to abnormal fusion of speech sounds.

In a recent study, Reiss and Molis (2021) used dichotic vowel stimuli varying in fundamental frequency to explore the presence of speech fusion (i.e., blending of stimuli between the two ears) in groups of listeners with normal hearing or hearing loss. Most participants across both groups reported hearing only one vowel (i.e., fused the vowels) when the dichotic stimuli did not differ in fundamental frequency. When vowel fundamental frequency increased between ears, listeners with normal-hearing sensitivity indicated the presence of two vowels, while listeners with hearing loss continued report only one vowel. The authors conclude that this spectral blending between ears may degrade speech recognition in noisy cocktail-parting settings with competing talkers.

These findings highlight our role in helping our patients manage these challenging listening situations by teaching and encouraging them to use effective communication strategies, noise management technologies, and remote-microphone systems to improve their speech recognition in noise.

Stay “tuned” for more in the new year!

Explore more on hearing and balance issues through our consumer-friendly page.

References

Cherry EC. (1953) Some experiments on the recognition of speech, with one and with two ears. J Acous Soc Am 25:975–979.

Reiss LAJ, Molis MR. (2021) An alternative explanation for difficulties with speech in background talkers: Abnormal fusion of vowels across fundamental frequency and ears. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 22(4):443-461. doi: 10.1007/s10162-021-00790-7. Epub 2021 Apr 20. Erratum in: J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2021 Jul 16;: PMID: 33877470; PMCID: PMC8329143

Reiss LA, Shayman CS, Walker EP, et al. (2017) Binaural pitch fusion: Comparison of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 141(3):1909. doi: 10.1121/1.4978009. PMID: 28372056; PMCID: PMC5848869.

Share this

Recent Posts

  • Are We Damaging the Hearing of Whales?
  • Sick Leave and Disability Pension: Are They Associated with Hearing Loss? 
  • Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids Final Rule Released

Related Posts

Are We Damaging the Hearing of Whales? (Earth theater/shutterstock.com)
In the News

Are We Damaging the Hearing of Whales?

Researchers at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment are exploring ways to measure hearing levels in baleen whales. They aim to examine potential issues stemming from noise generated by underwater mining, oil drilling, and ship traffic. Although some information is known about the high-frequency hearing of captive dolphins and orcas, little is known about larger baleen…

Read More
Sick Leave and Disability Pension: Are They Associated with Hearing Loss? (seanbear/shutterstock.com)
In the News

Sick Leave and Disability Pension: Are They Associated with Hearing Loss? 

Jørgensen and colleagues (2022) recently published a paper examining the association between hearing loss and both physician-certified sick leave (>16 days) and disability pension. These investigators used data collected as part of the Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT Hearing Study) conducted in Norway. They followed 21,754 participants between the ages of 20 and 49 who…

Read More
Nightingale’s Scientific Contribution: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words (Olga Tsyvinska/shutterstock.com)
In the News

Nightingale’s Scientific Contribution: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Florence Nightingale’s dedicated war-time nursing practices are well-known. However, her contributions to medicine and research stretch far beyond. In the mid-1800s, one of the largest causes of soldier mortality came from unsanitary, cramped living quarters, where communicable diseases could spread easily and where wounds festered. Frustrated with her pleas to officials to improve the living…

Read More
wave-mark

Join the Academy

Academy members receive many benefits for professional development, practice management, and community development.

Become a Member
aaoa-logo-white-blue-min

American Academy of Audiology
11480 Commerce Park Drive
Suite 220
Reston, VA 20191

Tel: 703-790-8466
Fax: 703-790-8631

  • Practice Resources
    • Practice Guidelines and Standards
    • Reimbursement
    • Coding
    • Compliance
    • Public Awareness
    • State Medicaid
    • Medicare FAQs
    • COVID-19 Resources
  • Education and Events
    • Event Calendar
    • AAA Annual Conference
    • Academy Research Conference (ARC)
    • Continuing Education
    • eAudiology Online Learning
    • Research Grants and Scholarships
  • News and Publications
    • Audiology Today
    • Newsroom
    • Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
    • Advertising
    • Audiology Solutions Network
    • Online Store
  • Careers
    • Career Center
    • Certification
    • Become an Audiologist
    • Doctoral Programs in Audiology
    • Recruiting
    • Resources for New Audiologists
  • Advocacy
    • Legislative and Regulatory Activities
      • State Affairs
      • Federal Affairs
    • Legislative Action Center
    • Government Relations News
  • About the Academy
    • Contact Us
    • Academy Membership
      • Benefits
      • Ethics
      • Member Directory
      • Membership Renewals
    • Leadership
    • Committees and Task Forces
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Honors and Awards
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Corporate Partners
    • Press and Media Information
  • Audiology Community
  • Consumers
    • What Is an Audiologist
    • Hearing and Balance Symptoms and Conditions
    • Managing Hearing Loss
    • Seniors and Hearing Loss
    • Children and Hearing Loss
  • Audiology Community
  • Students
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Antitrust Policy and Guidelines
  • Terms of Use Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Sitemap

© Copyright 2022 American Academy of Audiology

Website by Yoko Co

Scroll To Top