Aging and lexical neighborhood effects in competing speech perception

Abstract

Little is known about the extent to which lexical neighborhood effects are influenced by the presence of to-be-ignored messages. When the competing signal is understandable speech, words in the masker may activate their own lexical neighbors, causing increased competition for word identification. Older adults may have particular difficulty inhibiting lexical activation. This poster will present results of an examination of lexical neighborhood influences on competing speech perception. Sentences were developed in which we manipulated the neighborhood density and frequency of key words to create lexically easy (low density or high frequency of usage) and lexically difficult (high density or low frequency) stimuli lists. Pairs of sentences were created in which one sentence was lexically easy (in terms of density or frequency) and one was difficult. The target sentence was always spoken by the same talker and could be either lexically easy or difficult. Participants were younger (18–23 years), middle-aged (45–59 years), and older (>60 years) adults; they also completed a battery of cognitive tests. This poster will show results of analyses comparing lexical neighborhood effects among the participant groups, as well as how these effects are influenced by hearing loss and cognitive abilities. [Work supported by NIH DC012057.]