Speech recognition in young and elderly normal-hearing listeners in a closed response test

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech Science
• Gerontology

Background:

• Age-related hearing changes can impact speech perception.
• Understanding speech in noise is crucial for daily communication.
• Previous research has yielded mixed results on age-related speech recognition decline.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare speech recognition performance in noise between elderly and young normal-hearing adults.
• To investigate potential age-related differences in auditory processing.
• To establish a baseline for speech recognition in aging populations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a four-alternative closed-response monosyllabic word speech test.
• Presented words within carrier sentences masked by modulated speech-spectrum noise.
• Matched elderly (55-70 years) and young (19-36 years) participants on education, occupation, and dialect.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant difference was observed in speech recognition scores between the elderly and young groups.
• Both groups demonstrated comparable performance on the speech recognition task under noisy conditions.
• The findings suggest preserved speech-in-noise abilities in healthy older adults.

Conclusions:

• Normal-hearing elderly individuals exhibit speech recognition capabilities comparable to their younger counterparts.
• Age alone, in the absence of hearing impairment, may not significantly degrade speech-in-noise perception.
• Further research should explore other factors influencing speech processing in aging.