SPIN test performance of elderly hearing-impaired listeners

Normative information is available on the expected performance of hearing-impaired individuals on the revised version of the Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) test. This normative sample includes individuals with sensorineural hearing loss drawn from an age range of 19 to 69 years, with 79 percent of the sample being less than 65 years of age. In the present study, SPIN scores were obtained from both ears of 98 elderly, hearing-impaired listeners (age range: 60 to 78 years). When the percent-correct scores on the High-Predictability (PH) items and on the Low-Predictability (PL) items are viewed as two separate measures, mean performance of the current "elderly-only" sample is similar to the performance of the original normative sample. However, for a certain percentage (18%) of the aged ears, the contextual cues provided in the PH sentences were not used as effectively as expected based on the normative guidelines.