Synthetic sentence identification as a function of the age of the listener

Synthetic sentences with ipsilateral competing message (SSI-ICM) were presented to 40 normal-hearing listeners in four distinct age ranges at five message-to-competition ratios (MCR). Children, ages 10-12 years and adults ages 20-29, 40-49, and over 60 years were presented SSI-ICM at MCR's of 20, 0, -10, -20, and -30 dB. Discrimination scores decreased with increasing MCR for all groups. Discrimination scores demonstrated a curvilin-ear function with a maximum in the 20-29 age group. The age effect was most pronounced for the more difficult MCR's. The results are discussed relative to the clinical use of the SSI-ICM and the implications for clinical speech discrimination testing in general.