Detection of spectral changes induced by a break in sound correlation in younger adults and older adults

Abstract

Detecting a transient break in correlation (BIC) between correlated sounds is much easier when presented over two loudspeakers than when presented over two headphones. However, older adults benefit less than younger adults from a change from headphone to loudspeaker presentation (Ear and Hearing, (30) 273-286, 2009), suggesting an age-related reduction in sensitivity to monaural and/or binaural spectral cues provided by comb filtering. In this study, the monaural spectral cues present in the sound field were isolated and extracted, and then presented over headphones to younger adults and older adults with clinically normal hearing. Compared to younger adults, older adults exhibited a reduced sensitivity to the monaural spectral cues, particularly when an inter-loudspeaker time interval was introduced.