Frequency resolution was evaluated for two normal‐hearing and seven hearing‐impaired subjects with moderate, flat sensorineural hearing loss by measuring percent correct detection of a 2000‐Hz tone as the width of a notch in band‐reject noise increased. The level of the tone was fixed for each subject at a criterion performance level in broadband noise. Discrimination of synthetic speech syllables that differed in spectral content in the 2000‐Hz region was evaluated as a function of the notch width in the same band‐reject noise. Recognition of natural speech consonant/vowel syllables in quiet was also tested; results were analyzed for percent correct performance and relative information transmitted for voicing and place features. In the hearing‐impaired subjects, frequency resolution at 2000 Hz was significantly correlated with the discrimination of synthetic speech information in the 2000‐Hz region and was not related to the recognition of natural speech nonsense syllables unless (a) the speech stimuli contained the vowel /i/ rather than /a/, and (b) the score reflected information transmitted for place of articulation rather than percent correct.