Staggered Spondaic Word Test performance in a group of older adults: a preliminary report

The upper age limit for the norms on the Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) Test in older adults has not been defined. Current suggested age norms are 11 to 60 years with interpolation for performance of children 7 to 11 years. In the present study, the SSW Test was administered to a group of older adults (N = 156) with no history of central auditory problems and compared with the performance of a group of younger adults (N = 86) with bilateral cochlear hearing loss. Corrected SSW scores increased as a function of age consistent with the "central aging effect" reported in the literature for older populations. With hearing loss held constant, no change in corrected SSW scores was noted until 40 to 50 dB hearing level. This result was observed for all age groups. Finally, comparison of each older group's performance with the young cochlear group suggested that the current age norms might be extended to include 60- and 70-year-olds with hearing loss less than 40 dB hearing level. Because 80-year-olds showed the greatest differences, their SSW performance needs to be viewed with great caution.