Age and the decoding of coarticulatory cues

Thirty-two subjects between the ages of 60 and 80 years listened to tape-recorded voiceless stop + vowel syllables and subsyllabic segments systematically isolated from the syllables by electronic gating. This procedure allowed examination of the ability of older adults to perceive the acoustic effects of coarticulation. Comparison of the performances of subjects in the older age groups with previous data concerning four year olds, 11 year olds, and young adults (Oarnell and Amerman, 1978) revealed a close resemblance between the performance of four year olds and older adults in the proportion of correct syllable identifications, consistency of responses and substitution preferences. On all of these measures, the responses of these two age groups differed significantly from those of the 11 year olds and young adults. The results suggest a reduction in decoding precision for these coarticulatory cues as a function of the aging process.