Objective evidence of temporal processing deficits in older adults

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Speech Perception
• Gerontology

Background:

• Aging can impair temporal processing, affecting speech comprehension in noisy environments.
• Objective measures of auditory function are crucial for understanding age-related changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review objective evidence of degraded temporal processing in older listeners.
• To assess the utility of various electrophysiological measures in evaluating age-related auditory changes.

Main Methods:

• Review of studies using auditory brainstem response, auditory steady-state response, envelope-following response, cortical auditory-evoked potentials, and neural tracking of continuous speech.
• Comparison of subcortical and cortical responses between older and younger listeners.

Main Results:

• Older listeners exhibit delayed subcortical responses and enhanced cortical responses.
• Neural tracking of continuous speech shows over-representation in older adults.
• Hearing loss, even with normal thresholds, is a confounding factor.

Conclusions:

• Objective measures suggest age-related temporal processing deficits impacting speech understanding.
• Current studies have limitations including small sample sizes and lack of replication.
• New clinical measures are needed for comprehensive speech understanding assessment, but further research is required.