Speech Recognition in Noise Performance Measured Remotely Versus In-Laboratory From Older and Younger Listeners

This study examined the performance difference between remote and in-laboratory test modalities with a speech recognition in noise task in older and younger adults.

Four groups of participants (younger remote, younger in-laboratory, older remote, and older in-laboratory) were tested on a speech recognition in noise protocol with 72 sentences.

While the younger remote group performed more poorly than the younger in-laboratory group, older participants' performance was comparable between the two modality groups, particularly in the easy to moderately difficult conditions. These results persisted after controlling for demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, and education).

While these findings generally support the feasibility of remote data collection with older participants for research on speech perception, they also suggest that technological proficiency is an important factor that affects performance on remote testing in the aging population.