Abstract
The study investigated the speech adaptations by older adults (OA) with and without age-related hearing loss made to communicate effectively in challenging communicative conditions. Acoustic analyses were carried out on spontaneous speech produced during a problem-solving task (diapix) carried out by talker pairs in different listening conditions. There were 83 talkers of Southern British English. Fifty-seven talkers were OAs aged 65-84, 30 older adults with normal hearing (OANH), and 27 older adults with hearing loss (OAHL) [mean pure tone average (PTA) 0.250-4 kHz: 27.7 dB HL]. Twenty-six talkers were younger adults (YA) aged 18-26 with normal hearing. Participants were recorded while completing the diapix task with a conversational partner (YA of the same sex) when (a) both talkers heard normally (NORM), (b) the partner had a simulated hearing loss, and (c) both talkers heard babble noise. Irrespective of hearing status, there were age-related differences in some acoustic characteristics of YA and OA speech produced in NORM, most likely linked to physiological factors. In challenging conditions, while OANH talkers typically patterned with YA talkers, OAHL talkers made adaptations more consistent with an increase in vocal effort. The study suggests that even mild presbycusis in healthy OAs can affect the speech adaptations made to maintain effective communication.
Highlights
The effects of age and of hearing loss (HL) on the ability to understand speech are well documented, but less attention has been given as to whether these factors affect the production of speech when communication occurs in either good or challenging conditions
One key issue is whether older adults (OAs) are as able as younger adults (YAs) to make “clear speech adaptations” in challenging conditions in order to overcome communication difficulties, and whether these are affected by the hearing status of the OA
As hearing thresholds were a selection criterion, the effect of group was significant [F(2,79) 1⁄4 162.28; p < 0.001] for pure tone average (PTA) in the better ear (0.25–4 kHz); Least Significant Difference post hoc tests showed that all three groups differed from the others (OAHL > older adults with normal hearing (OANH) > YA)
Summary
The effects of age and of hearing loss (HL) (presbycusis) on the ability to understand speech are well documented, but less attention has been given as to whether these factors affect the production of speech when communication occurs in either good or challenging conditions. One key issue is whether older adults (OAs) are as able as younger adults (YAs) to make “clear speech adaptations” in challenging conditions in order to overcome communication difficulties, and whether these are affected by the hearing status of the OA. Are these adaptations as effective as those of YAs? There are many situations in which greater speech clarity is necessary This is the case when the message to be transmitted has low predictability and when there is noise in the environment, when one or both speakers have a HL, or when the two speakers interacting do not share a common native language.
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