Longitudinal study of changes in speech perception between 70 and 81 years of age

As part of a large gerontological study in Göteborg, Sweden, 376 randomly selected men and women born in 1901-1902 underwent pure-tone and speech audiometry at the age of 70 years in 1971-1972. The survivors of the 1901-1902 cohort were tested again at the ages of 75, 79 and 81 years. A second group consisting of 297 men and women born in 1906 was also tested with pure-tone and speech audiometry at the ages of 70 and 75 years. We found that the median speech discrimination scores for the 1901-1902 cohort decreased moderately with increasing age: between the ages of 70 and 81 years scores decrease 10% for men and 8% for women for the worse ear and 7 and 6% for the better ear in this group. The median speech reception threshold increased 15 dB over the 11-year period for both men and women, an increase in good agreement with the increase in the pure-tone threshold over this period. Those born in 1906 had a slightly lower discrimination score (4%) when tested at the age of 70 years compared to those born in 1901 tested at the same age. As many as half of the 81-year-old persons would have a theoretical benefit from hearing aid amplification.