The speech banana is a banana-shaped region where the sounds (phonemes) of human languages appear on an audiogram. (An audiogram is a graphical representation of someone's ability to hear over a range of frequencies and loudness levels. Hearing on an audiogram is displayed as frequency in Hertz on the x-axis and loudness in decibels on the y-axis.)
Audiologists are primarily concerned with hearing loss that occurs within the speech banana because:
In children, it can slow the development of speech and comprehension, and that in turn can profoundly interfere with learning.
In adults, it can hinder communication, which can cause social isolation and may be a risk factor for dementia.[1] Hearing loss is most common in older adults (presbycusis).
People with normal hearing can also hear sounds outside of the speech banana, including both lower-pitched sounds (such bass musical notes and rumbling noises) and higher-pitched sounds (such as very high musical notes, the rustling of leaves, and the chirping of birds).
Klangpornkun, Nittayapa; Onsuwan, Chutamanee; Tantibundhit, Charturong; Pitathawatchai, Pittayapon (2014). "Predictions from 'speech banana' and audiograms: Assessment of hearing deficits in Thai hearing loss patients". Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. doi:10.1121/1.4879262.
