Perception of Spectral Ripples and Speech Perception in Noise by Older Adults

Abstract

Present study aimed to obtain spectral ripple discrimination threshold in older listeners and to correlate it with their speech perception abilities. In experiment I, fifteen older adults and fifteen young adults with normal hearing sensitivity were tested for spectral ripple discrimination ability in quiet (SRDT) and speech recognition in noise (SNR50). In experiment II, twelve older adults with normal hearing sensitivity were tested for spectral ripple discrimination ability in noise (SNR-SRDT) and SNR50. SRDT and SNR50 of older adults were significantly poorer than young adults. There was a significant negative correlation between SRDT and SNR50 and significant positive correlation between SNR-SRDT and SNR50. Linear regression analysis revealed that SRDT accounted for 21 % of variance in SNR50. Quadratic regression analysis revealed that SNR-SRDT accounted for 63 % of the variance in SNR50. Despite having normal hearing sensitivity, older adults exhibited reduced spectral resolution and poor speech recognition in noise. Poor speech recognition in noise in older adults could be partly due to their spectral resolution abilities.