Masking Period Patterns and Forward Masking for Speech-Shaped Noise: Age-Related Effects.
John H Grose1, Denise C Menezes, Heather L Porter
11Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; and 2Department of Fonoaudiologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife/PE, Brazil.
Ear and Hearing
|August 1, 2015
Summary
Older adults experience greater difficulty with nonsimultaneous masking, impacting speech understanding in noisy environments. This age-related hearing change affects temporal resolution, making it harder to process sounds effectively.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Gerontology
Background:
- Age-related hearing loss often impacts speech comprehension in complex auditory scenes.
- Temporal resolution, crucial for processing rapidly changing sounds, may decline with age.
- Nonsimultaneous masking, particularly forward and backward masking, is a potential factor in age-related auditory deficits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in temporal resolution in individuals with normal audiograms.
- To test the hypothesis that increased susceptibility to nonsimultaneous masking contributes to age-related speech-in-noise difficulties.
Main Methods:
- Participants: Younger, middle-aged, and older adults with normal audiograms.
- Phase 1: Measured masking period patterns to derive temporal window shapes.
- Phase 2: Assessed forward-masking functions and evaluated temporal window fits.
Main Results:
- Older listeners showed increased susceptibility to backward masking, suggesting a broader temporal window.
- A decline in recovery to baseline thresholds was observed in forward-masking functions with age.
- Increased variability in temporal window fits was noted in older adults.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the hypothesis that increased susceptibility to nonsimultaneous masking contributes to age-related speech-in-noise challenges.
- Susceptibility to forward masking appears associated with difficulties in understanding speech in modulated noise.
- Age-related changes in temporal processing, specifically increased masking susceptibility, impact auditory perception.
