Abstract
Declines in spatial release from informational masking may contribute to the speech-processing difficulties that older adults often experience within complex listening environments. The present study sought to answer two fundamental questions: (1) Does spatial release from informational masking decline with age and, if so, (2) does age predict this decline independently of age-typical hearing loss? Younger (18-34 years) and older (60-80 years) adults with age-typical hearing completed a yes/no target-detection task with low-pass filtered noise-vocoded speech designed to reduce non-spatial segregation cues and control for hearing loss. Participants detected a target voice among two-talker masking babble while a virtual spatial separation paradigm [Freyman, Helfer, McCall, and Clifton, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106(6), 3578-3588 (1999)] was used to isolate informational masking release. The younger and older adults both exhibited spatial release from informational masking, but masking release was reduced among the older adults. Furthermore, age predicted this decline controlling for hearing loss, while there was no indication that hearing loss played a role. These findings provide evidence that declines specific to aging limit spatial release from informational masking under challenging listening conditions.
Highlights
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.location relative to masking speech that originates at a separate location
Detection rates analyzed with a 2 age group  7 signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (þ15, þ5, 0, À5, À10, À15 dB, and SNRNULL) mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) did not indicate any difference between the responses of the younger and older groups, nor did independent-sample t-tests conducted at each SNR (p ! 0.24)
The present study sheds light on age-related declines in spatial release from informational masking that may contribute to speech-processing difficulties under challenging listening conditions
Summary
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.location relative to masking speech that originates at a separate location. The benefit to speech processing that is realized when target and masker are spatially separated compared to spatially co-located—a phenomenon known as spatial release from masking (for reviews, see Bronkhorst, 2000, 2015)—reflects an important aspect of successful speech processing in everyday life. It follows that any declines in spatial release from masking that may be experienced in older age could result in greater difficulty understanding speech within complex multi-talker environments.
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