Auditory temporal processing in elderly listeners.

This paper examines the hypothesis that auditory temporal processing is impaired in elderly listeners. Several recent psychoacoustic studies are reviewed that describe various aspects of temporal processing that appear to be influenced by aging. The temporal phenomena range from measures of temporal resolution and duration discrimination to sequential processing of complex stimulus patterns. For many of the research findings, age-related deficits on temporal performance measures are unaffected by the presence of presbyacusic hearing loss. Additionally, the consequences of aging on auditory temporal processing appear to be correlated with the complexity of stimulation and the difficulty of the listening tasks.

[1]  P W Alberti,et al.  Auditory detection, discrimination and speech processing in ageing, noise-sensitive and hearing-impaired listeners. , 1990, Scandinavian audiology.

[2]  Richard M. Warren,et al.  Identification of temporal order within auditory sequences , 1972 .

[3]  R Plomp,et al.  Auditive and cognitive factors in speech perception by elderly listeners. , 1990, Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum.

[4]  James F. Willott,et al.  Aging and the Auditory System: Anatomy, Physiology, and Psychophysics , 1991 .

[5]  D. Massaro.  Preperceptual auditory images. , 1970, Journal of experimental psychology.

[6]  A. Wingfield,et al.  Speed of processing in normal aging: effects of speech rate, linguistic structure, and processing time. , 1985, Journal of gerontology.

[7]  L E Humes,et al.  Speech identification difficulties of hearing-impaired elderly persons: the contributions of auditory processing deficits. , 1991, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[8]  Speech understanding and aging. Working Group on Speech Understanding and Aging. Committee on Hearing, Bioacoustics, and Biomechanics, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council. , 1988, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[9]  R. L. McCroskey,et al.  Temporal Factors and the Aging Auditory System , 1982, Ear and hearing.

[10]  J. F. Corso,et al.  Sensory processes and age effects in normal adults. , 1971, Journal of gerontology.

[11]  D. Robin,et al.  Age-related changes in auditory temporal processing. , 1985, Psychology and aging.

[12]  D. Massaro.  Experimental psychology and information processing , 1975 .

[13]  P. Moberg,et al.  Mechanism of age-related differences in frequency discrimination with backward masking: speed of processing or stimulus persistence? , 1990, Psychology and aging.

[14]  Age-related changes in auditory temporal processing. , 1985, Psychology and aging.

[15]  B. Moore,et al.  Detection of temporal gaps in sinusoids by elderly subjects with and without hearing loss. , 1992, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[16]  S. Gordon-Salant,et al.  Temporal factors and speech recognition performance in young and elderly listeners. , 1993, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[17]  C. Newman,et al.  Prolonged auditory processing time in the elderly: evidence from a backward recognition-masking paradigm. , 1983, Audiology : official organ of the International Society of Audiology.

[18]  N. Viemeister,et al.  Temporal modulation transfer functions in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. , 1985, Audiology : official organ of the International Society of Audiology.

[19]  D S Beasley,et al.  Intelligibility of time-altered speech in relation to chronological aging. , 1977, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[20]  I J Hirsh,et al.  Identification of temporal order in three-tone sequences. , 1974, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[21]  B C Moore,et al.  Pitch discrimination and phase sensitivity in young and elderly subjects and its relationship to frequency selectivity. , 1992, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[22]  M. Korsan-Bengtsen.  Distorted speech audiometry. A methodological and clinical study. , 1973, Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum.

[23]  S. Gordon-Salant,et al.  Age effects on measures of auditory duration discrimination. , 1994, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[24]  R. Harris,et al.  Effects of room reverberation and noise on speech discrimination by the elderly. , 1985, Audiology : official organ of the International Society of Audiology.

[25]  S M Abel,et al.  Duration discrimination of noise and tone bursts. , 1972, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[26]  S. Gordon-Salant,et al.  Age effects on duration discrimination with simple and complex stimuli. , 1995, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[27]  J Cerella,et al.  Age effects may be global, not local: comment on Fisk and Rogers (1991) , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[28]  S E Trehub,et al.  Aging and auditory temporal sequencing: Ordering the elements of repeating tone patterns , 1989, Perception & psychophysics.

[29]  P. Fitzgibbons,et al.  Gap detection in normal and hearing-impaired listeners. , 1982, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[30]  K. Helfer,et al.  Hearing loss, aging, and speech perception in reverberation and noise. , 1990, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[31]  M. Lutman.  Degradations in frequency and temporal resolution with age and their impact on speech identification. , 1990, Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum.

[32]  L. Marshall.  Auditory processing in aging listeners. , 1981, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders.

[33]  R Plomp,et al.  Auditive and cognitive factors in speech perception by elderly listeners. I: Development of test battery. , 1989, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[34]  C. Newman,et al.  The effects of rate, sequencing, and memory on auditory processing in the elderly. , 1991, Journal of gerontology.

[35]  E. Metter,et al.  Gender differences in a longitudinal study of age-associated hearing loss. , 1995, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[36]  B A Schneider,et al.  Gap detection and the precedence effect in young and old adults. , 1994, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[37]  Raymond S. Nickerson,et al.  Discrimination of the order of the components of repeating tone sequences: Effects of frequency separation and extensive practice , 1974 .

[38]  R Plomp,et al.  Auditive and cognitive factors in speech perception by elderly listeners. III. Additional data and final discussion. , 1990, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[39]  S P Bacon,et al.  Modulation detection, modulation masking, and speech understanding in noise in the elderly. , 1992, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[40]  R. J. Irwin,et al.  Temporal acuity in normal and hearing-impaired listeners. , 1981, Audiology : official organ of the International Society of Audiology.

[41]  T. Sticht,et al.  The intelligibility of time compressed words as a function of age and hearing loss. , 1969, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[42]  T. Salthouse.  A Theory of Cognitive Aging , 1985 .

[43]  C S Watson,et al.  Central factors in the discrimination and identification of complex sounds. , 1985, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.