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Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing
Published on: October 25, 2019
Age-related changes in consonant and sentence processing.
David L Woods1, Zoe Doss, Timothy J Herron
1Neurology Service (127E), Department of Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System, 150 Muir Rd, Martinez, CA 95553, USA. dlwoods@ucdavis.edu
Older adults with normal hearing show reduced ability to identify speech sounds in noise. However, their sentence understanding remains intact, suggesting preserved cognitive processing despite age-related auditory changes.
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Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Speech Perception
Background:
- Age-related hearing loss impacts speech understanding, even in individuals with normal audiometric thresholds.
- Potential causes include declines in phonological, semantic, or lexical processing abilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in speech perception in noise among older adults with normal hearing (ONH).
- To differentiate between phonological processing deficits and intact higher-level language comprehension in aging.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: California Syllable Test (CaST) to assess consonant identification in noise.
- Experiment 2: Sentence reception thresholds (SeRTs) using Quick Speech in Noise Test and Hearing in Noise Test.
Main Results:
- ONH subjects exhibited impaired consonant identification in noise compared to younger peers, especially for difficult consonants.
- CaST performance was influenced by age and audiometric thresholds.
- No significant age-related decline in SeRTs was found, indicating preserved sentence understanding.
Conclusions:
- Older adults with normal hearing retain sentence-level speech understanding despite age-related declines in phonological processing.
- Preserved abilities include identifying simpler speech sounds and intact top-down contextual processing.
- Findings provide benchmarks for audiological rehabilitation in older adults.

