Selected cognitive factors and speech recognition performance among young and elderly listeners

Area of Science:

• Auditory perception and cognitive aging.
• Speech processing in challenging listening conditions.

Background:

• Age-related hearing loss and cognitive decline can impair speech recognition.
• Understanding the interplay of cognitive factors and auditory processing is crucial for effective communication in older adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how cognitive factors (recall task, speech rate, contextual cues) affect speech recognition in young and elderly listeners.
• To determine the influence of hearing loss and age on speech recognition performance.
• To elucidate the combined effects of auditory processing, memory, and contextual information on elderly listeners with hearing loss.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the R-SPIN test with low and high context sentences presented at normal and slowed speech rates in noise.
• Assessed speech recognition using final word recall and sentence recall response modes.
• Compared performance across four groups: young/elderly with normal hearing and young/elderly with hearing loss.

Main Results:

• Listeners with hearing loss consistently performed worse than those with normal hearing.
• Elderly listeners showed reduced performance on sentence recall (higher memory demand) but not word recall.
• Speech rate did not differentially affect young and elderly listeners; contextual cues benefited all listeners.

Conclusions:

• Hearing loss significantly degrades speech recognition across age groups.
• Increased memory demands negatively impact speech recognition in elderly individuals.
• Effective speech recognition in elderly listeners with hearing loss relies on auditory processing, memory capacity, and contextual information.