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Measuring age-related differences in phonetic gradiency with the visual analogue scale and eye tracking
Holly A Zaharchuk1, Hannah E Olson1, Hannah Mechtenberg2
1Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-1085, USA.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|March 16, 2026
Summary
Older adults show more categorical phonetic perception than younger adults, especially in visual analogue scale (VAS) tasks. This age-related difference in acoustic-phonetic sensitivity persists even when accounting for hearing ability.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Auditory Perception
- Cognitive Aging
Background:
- Listener sensitivity to acoustic-phonetic variation differs.
- Understanding age-related changes in phonetic perception is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore methods for measuring sensitivity to phonetic variation.
- To investigate age-related differences in phonetic perception across the adult lifespan.
- To examine the influence of language skill, hearing acuity, and speech-in-noise perception on phonetic categorization.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted using phonetic continua.
- Study 1 employed a visual analogue scale (VAS) task.
- Study 2 utilized a two-alternative forced choice task with eye tracking.
Main Results:
- Older adults (50+) exhibited more categorical perception than younger adults (18-25).
- Age-related differences were prominent in VAS tasks, even after controlling for hearing and speech-in-noise.
- Eye-tracking data also indicated more categorical perception in older adults.
Conclusions:
- Visual analogue scale (VAS) tasks are sensitive to age-related factors in phonetic perception.
- VAS tasks may also reflect differences in language skill.
- Phonetic perception becomes more categorical with age.
