Effects of age and sensorineural hearing loss on word recognition

Word recognition scores were compared between a younger age group (15 to 35 years) and an older age group (55 to 85 years) exhibiting similar mild sensorineural hearing losses. No differences were found between the two sets of subjects for recognition ability in quiet and only 5% in noise. Contrary to widespread belief, these results revealed no tendency for the older age group to display poorer recognition performance than the younger listeners. The importance of hearing sensitivity as well as age as a factor affecting work recognition is discussed, and comparative data from the literature are presented.