Elderly Hearing-impaired Listeners Research Articles

Influences of listener gender and working memory capacity on speech recognition in noise for hearing aid users

ABSTRACT This study aimed to: (1) examine the influence of working memory capacity on the ability of experienced hearing aid users to recognize speech in noise using new noise reduction settings, and (2) investigate whether male and female hearing aid users differ in their hearing sensitivity and ability to recognize aided speech in noisy environments. 195 experienced hearing aid users (113 males and 82 females, age range: 33–80 years) from the n200 project were investigated. The Hagerman test (capturing speech recognition in noise) was administered using an experimental hearing aid with two digital signal processing settings: (1) linear amplification without noise reduction (NoP), and (2) linear amplification with noise reduction (NR). Gender differences were analysed using a series of independent samples from t-tests on Hagerman sentence scores, and the pure-tone average thresholds across the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz (PTA4) for the left ear and right ear were measured. Working memory capacity (WMC) was measured using a reading span test. A WMC grouping (high and low) was included as a between-group subject factor in the within-group factors ANOVA, NR settings (Nop, NR), noise type (steady state noise, four -talker babble), and level of performance (50%, 80%). Male listeners had better pure-tone thresholds than female listeners at frequencies 500 and 1000 Hz, whereas female listeners had better pure-tone thresholds at 4000 Hz. Female listeners showed significantly better speech recognition ability than male listeners on the Hagerman test with NR , but not with NoP . This gender difference was more pronounced at the 80% performance level than at the 50% level. WMC had a significant effect on speech recognition ability, and there was a two-way interaction between WMC grouping and level of performance. The examination of simple main effects revealed superior performance of listeners with higher WMC at 80% using new NR settings. WMC, rather than background noise, was the main factor influencing performance at 80%, while at 50%, background noise was the main factor. WMC was associated with speech recognition performance even after accounting for hearing sensitivity (PTA4). This is the first study to demonstrate that experienced male and female hearing aid users differ significantly in their hearing ability and sensitivity and ability to recognize aided speech in noise. Thus, the average female listener has a greater speech recognition ability than the average male listener when linear amplification with NR is applied, but not when NoP is activated. An average female listener hears a given sound with greater sensitivity compared with an average male listener at higher frequencies. WMC is an important factor in speech recognition in more challenging listening conditions (i.e., lower signal–noise ratio) for experienced hearing aid users using new NR settings. More investigation is needed for a better understanding of how gender affects the ability of listeners less experienced with hearing aids (such as younger and elderly hearing-impaired listeners) to recognize speech amplified with different signal processing, as gender differences may vary based on numerous factors, including the speaker’s gender and age.

Auditory and Non-Auditory Contributions for Unaided Speech Recognition in Noise as a Function of Hearing Aid Use

Differences in understanding speech in noise among hearing-impaired individuals cannot be explained entirely by hearing thresholds alone, suggesting the contribution of other factors beyond standard auditory ones as derived from the audiogram. This paper reports two analyses addressing individual differences in the explanation of unaided speech-in-noise performance among n = 438 elderly hearing-impaired listeners (mean = 71.1 ± 5.8 years). The main analysis was designed to identify clinically relevant auditory and non-auditory measures for speech-in-noise prediction using auditory (audiogram, categorical loudness scaling) and cognitive tests (verbal-intelligence test, screening test of dementia), as well as questionnaires assessing various self-reported measures (health status, socio-economic status, and subjective hearing problems). Using stepwise linear regression analysis, 62% of the variance in unaided speech-in-noise performance was explained, with measures Pure-tone average (PTA), Age, and Verbal intelligence emerging as the three most important predictors. In the complementary analysis, those individuals with the same hearing loss profile were separated into hearing aid users (HAU) and non-users (NU), and were then compared regarding potential differences in the test measures and in explaining unaided speech-in-noise recognition. The groupwise comparisons revealed significant differences in auditory measures and self-reported subjective hearing problems, while no differences in the cognitive domain were found. Furthermore, groupwise regression analyses revealed that Verbal intelligence had a predictive value in both groups, whereas Age and PTA only emerged significant in the group of hearing aid NU.

Characterizing the binaural contribution to speech-in-noise reception in elderly hearing-impaired listeners

To scrutinize the binaural contribution to speech-in-noise reception, four groups of elderly participants with or without audiometric asymmetry <2 kHz and with or without near-normal binaural intelligibility level difference (BILD) completed tests of monaural and binaural phase sensitivity as well as cognitive function. Groups did not differ in age, overall degree of hearing loss, or cognitive function. Analyses revealed an influence of BILD status but not audiometric asymmetry on monaural phase sensitivity, strong correlations between monaural and binaural detection thresholds, and monaural and binaural but not cognitive BILD contributions. Furthermore, the N0Sπ threshold at 500 Hz predicted BILD performance effectively.

Neural tracking of attended versus ignored speech is differentially affected by hearing loss.

The present study investigates the effect of hearing loss in older listeners on the neural tracking of competing speech. Interestingly, we observed that whereas internal degradation (hearing loss) relates to the neural tracking of ignored speech, external sound degradation (ratio between attended and ignored speech; signal-to-noise ratio) relates to tracking of attended speech. This provides the first evidence for hearing loss affecting the ability to neurally track speech.

Preliminary Study for Development of Auditory Training Tool Using Story and Question

Purpose: This study aims to develop auditory training materials using stories for adults and the elderly hearing-impaired listeners. Each story was composed of two sentences and one questionnaire. The new 200 stories are developed which are categorized into four main topics, Korean culture, cuisine, traditional game, and tourist attraction. Twelve normal hearing adults were administrated to verify difficulty of the stories, and 175 out of 200 stories were selected. Methods: To test validity and difficulty of each story and question, a total of 36 subjects with normal hearing listeners participated. Among 175 stories, 79 stories had type I questions, and the 96 stories had type II questions. Each story and the related question were presented at an individual most comfortable level at 6 dB signal-to-noise ratio condition through a loud speaker. Results: The results showed that 160 stories scored 100% of correct response rate, ten stories scored 90-99%, three stories scored 80-89%, and two stories scored 0%. Also, there were no differences between stories with the different type of questions. Conclusion: These results showed that a total of 170 stories are appropriate for the auditory training tool. Future research is needed to demonstrate whether developed training tool is useful to improve communication skills for hearing-impaired listeners.

Gaps-in-Noise Measurement of the Elderly as a Function of Stimulus Level

Purpose: The gaps-in-noise (GIN) test was developed as a clinical evaluation of temporal resolution. In the GIN test, a sensation level of 50 dB SL was recommended as a standard clinical presentation level to ensure stimulus audibility. It has been reported that the stimulus level less than 30 dB SL should not be used as presentation level to verify a proper level for administration of GIN test. Given that the previous finding was based on the data of young normal-hearing adults, the present study aimed to compare the GIN results as a function of stimulus level in listener groups differing in age and hearing sensitivity. Methods: Participants were 10 young normal-hearing (YNH), 12 elderly normal-hearing, and 12 elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) listeners. GIN was administered at 20, 30, 40, and 50 dB SL. The performance was determined from both the approximate threshold and the percentage of correct gap. Results: As results, both approximate threshold and percent correct in GIN results were measured. Results showed that, overall, both the threshold as well as the percent correct in GIN improved with increasing stimulus level. Across groups, EHI showed the poorest results from GIN test, with the best performance in YNH. EHI listeners with greater hearing loss at higher frequencies (2-8 kHz) were poorer at detecting gaps in noise. Across a range of stimulus level (20-50 dB SL), the GIN performance between 40 and 50 dB SL did not differ in all listener groups. Conclusion: A sensation level of 35-50 dB may be applicable to the elderly with normal hearing or slight-to-mild degree of hearing loss, without significant change in GIN performance.

Temporal Fine-Structure Coding and Lateralized Speech Perception in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners.

This study investigated the relationship between speech perception performance in spatially complex, lateralized listening scenarios and temporal fine-structure (TFS) coding at low frequencies. Young normal-hearing (NH) and two groups of elderly hearing-impaired (HI) listeners with mild or moderate hearing loss above 1.5 kHz participated in the study. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were estimated in the presence of either speech-shaped noise, two-, four-, or eight-talker babble played reversed, or a nonreversed two-talker masker. Target audibility was ensured by applying individualized linear gains to the stimuli, which were presented over headphones. The target and masker streams were lateralized to the same or to opposite sides of the head by introducing 0.7-ms interaural time differences between the ears. TFS coding was assessed by measuring frequency discrimination thresholds and interaural phase difference thresholds at 250 Hz. NH listeners had clearly better SRTs than the HI listeners. However, when maskers were spatially separated from the target, the amount of SRT benefit due to binaural unmasking differed only slightly between the groups. Neither the frequency discrimination threshold nor the interaural phase difference threshold tasks showed a correlation with the SRTs or with the amount of masking release due to binaural unmasking, respectively. The results suggest that, although HI listeners with normal hearing thresholds below 1.5 kHz experienced difficulties with speech understanding in spatially complex environments, these limitations were unrelated to TFS coding abilities and were only weakly associated with a reduction in binaural-unmasking benefit for spatially separated competing sources.

Speech perception enhancement in elderly hearing aid users using an auditory training program for mobile devices.

The goal of the present study was to develop an auditory training program using a mobile device and to test its efficacy by applying it to older adults suffering from moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss. Among the 20 elderly hearing-impaired listeners who participated, 10 were randomly assigned to a training group (TG) and 10 were assigned to a non-training group (NTG) as a control. As a baseline, all participants were measured by vowel, consonant and sentence tests. In the experiment, the TG had been trained for 4 weeks using a mobile program, which had four levels and consisted of 10 Korean nonsense syllables, with each level completed in 1 week. In contrast, traditional auditory training had been provided for the NTG during the same period. To evaluate whether a training effect was achieved, the two groups also carried out the same tests as the baseline after completing the experiment. The results showed that performance on the consonant and sentence tests in the TG was significantly increased compared with that of the NTG. Also, improved scores of speech perception were retained at 2 weeks after the training was completed. However, vowel scores were not changed after the 4-week training in both the TG and the NTG. This result pattern suggests that a moderate amount of auditory training using the mobile device with cost-effective and minimal supervision is useful when it is used to improve the speech understanding of older adults with hearing loss. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 61-68.

Keeping track of who said what: Performance on a modified auditory n-back task with young and older adults.

A modified auditory n-back task was used to examine the ability of young and older listeners to remember the content of spoken messages presented from different locations. The messages were sentences from the Coordinative Response Measure (CRM) corpus, and the task was to judge whether a target word on the current trial was the same as in the most recent presentation from the same location (left, center, or right). The number of trials between comparison items (the number back) was varied while keeping the number of items to be held in memory (the number of locations) constant. Three levels of stimulus uncertainty were evaluated. Low- and high-uncertainty conditions were created by holding the talker (voice) and nontarget words constant, or varying them unpredictably across trials. In a medium-uncertainty condition, each location was associated with a specific talker, thus increasing predictability and ecological validity. Older listeners performed slightly worse than younger listeners, but there was no significant difference in response times (RT) for the two groups. An effect of the number back (n) was seen for both PC and RT; PC decreased steadily with n, while RT was fairly constant after a significant increase from n = 1 to n = 2. Apart from the lower PC for the older group, there was no effect involving age for either PC or RT. There was an effect of target word location (faster RTs with a late-occurring target) and an effect of uncertainty (faster RTs with a constant talker-location mapping, relative to the high-uncertainty condition). A similar pattern of performance was observed with a group of elderly hearing-impaired listeners (with and without shaping to ensure audibility), but RTs were substantially slower and the effect of uncertainty was absent. Apart from the observed overall slowing of RTs, these results provide little evidence for an effect of age-related changes in cognitive abilities on this task.

A Danish open-set speech corpus for competing-speech studies

Studies investigating speech-on-speech masking effects commonly use closed-set speech materials such as the coordinate response measure [Bolia et al. (2000). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 107, 1065-1066]. However, these studies typically result in very low (i.e., negative) speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) when the competing speech signals are spatially separated. To achieve higher SRTs that correspond more closely to natural communication situations, an open-set, low-context, multi-talker speech corpus was developed. Three sets of 268 unique Danish sentences were created, and each set was recorded with one of three professional female talkers. The intelligibility of each sentence in the presence of speech-shaped noise was measured. For each talker, 200 approximately equally intelligible sentences were then selected and systematically distributed into 10 test lists. Test list homogeneity was assessed in a setup with a frontal target sentence and two concurrent masker sentences at ±50° azimuth. For a group of 16 normal-hearing listeners and a group of 15 elderly (linearly aided) hearing-impaired listeners, overall SRTs of, respectively, +1.3 dB and +6.3 dB target-to-masker ratio were obtained. The new corpus was found to be very sensitive to inter-individual differences and produced consistent results across test lists. The corpus is publicly available.

Acoustic correlates of vowel intelligibility in clear and conversational speech for young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners

Previous reports on the relationship between clear speech acoustic changes and the clear speech intelligibility benefit for vowels have used an “extreme groups” design, comparing talkers who produced a large clear speech benefit to talkers who produced little or no clear speech benefit. In Ferguson and Kewley-Port (2007), 12 talkers from the Ferguson Clear Speech Database (Ferguson, 2004) were assigned to groups based on the vowel identification performance of young normal-hearing listeners, while Ferguson (2010) chose 20 talkers based on the performance of elderly hearing-impaired listeners. The present investigation is employing mixed-effects models to examine relationships among acoustic and perceptual data obtained for vowels produced by all 41 talkers of the Ferguson database. Acoustic data for the 1640 vowel tokens (41 talkers X 10 vowels X 2 tokens X two speaking styles) include vowel duration, vowel space, and several different measures of dynamic formant movement. Perceptual data consist of vowel intelligibility in noise as reflected by the performance of young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners. Analyses will explore the relative importance of the various clear speech acoustic changes to the clear speech vowel intelligibility effect as well as the degree to which this relationship varies between the two listener groups.

Can basic auditory and cognitive measures predict hearing-impaired listeners’ localization and spatial speech recognition abilities?

This study aimed to clarify the basic auditory and cognitive processes that affect listeners' performance on two spatial listening tasks: sound localization and speech recognition in spatially complex, multi-talker situations. Twenty-three elderly listeners with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing impairments were tested on the two spatial listening tasks, a measure of monaural spectral ripple discrimination, a measure of binaural temporal fine structure (TFS) sensitivity, and two (visual) cognitive measures indexing working memory and attention. All auditory test stimuli were spectrally shaped to restore (partial) audibility for each listener on each listening task. Eight younger normal-hearing listeners served as a control group. Data analyses revealed that the chosen auditory and cognitive measures could predict neither sound localization accuracy nor speech recognition when the target and maskers were separated along the front-back dimension. When the competing talkers were separated along the left-right dimension, however, speech recognition performance was significantly correlated with the attentional measure. Furthermore, supplementary analyses indicated additional effects of binaural TFS sensitivity and average low-frequency hearing thresholds. Altogether, these results are in support of the notion that both bottom-up and top-down deficits are responsible for the impaired functioning of elderly hearing-impaired listeners in cocktail party-like situations.

Effects of Word Recognition Score as a Function of Auditory Training Terms for Elderly Hearing Impaired with Hearing Aid

Although a use of hearing aids improves speech audibility, it is known that elderly hearing-impaired listeners often exhibit difficulty understanding speech in background noise. The purpose of this study was to examine a short-term (8-week) auditory training in word-recognition performance of 24 old hearing aid users. Twelve aged listeners (M=76.2 yrs) participated as auditory training group (ATG), and other twelve old listeners (M=74.0 yrs) served as non-training group (NTG). The ATG received forty-minute auditory training twice a week across the entire 8 weeks of training. During the training, the target monosyllabic words (Korean monosyllabic words) were presented in both open-set and closed-set aided conditions. All the words were presented at the most comfortable level of each participant with four different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs of -5, 0, +5, +10 dB). To check the training benefit, word-recognition performance of ATG was tested after 1-, 4-, 8-week trainings. Results showed that word recognition performance of NTG did not improve as expected. Word recognition score of ATG was, however, significantly increased after 8-week training. Even though 4-week training results revealed a tendency of increment in word-recognition performance, a positive change after 4-week training was not significant. The amount of improvement after 8-week auditory training was the greatest at +10 dB SNR and the least at -5 dB SNR. The results indicate that the short-term (8-week) auditory training would be beneficial for old listeners to recognize speech in the background noise yet the training effect would depend on the SNRs. Therefore, at least 8 weeks of training in various listening conditions should be considered for elderly hearing aid users who want training benefit in daily listening and communication. KEY WORDS：Auditory training·Elderly hearing impaired·Hearing aid·Signal-to-noise (SNR)·Word recognition score.

Acoustic correlates of clear speech vowel intelligibility for elderly hearing-impaired listeners.

Earlier work on vowels in clear and conversational speech produced by a single talker suggested that the acoustic cues that underlie the superior intelligibility of clear speech for older adults with hearing loss may differ from the cues that young normal-hearing listeners find beneficial. In the present study, clear and conversational vowel stimuli produced by all 41 talkers from the Ferguson Clear Speech Database were presented in a background of 12-talker babble to 40 older adults with mild-to-moderately severe sloping sensorineural hearing loss. Acoustic analyses (vowel duration, steady-state formant frequencies, and measures of dynamic formant movement) were also performed for all stimuli. Vowel intelligibility scores for each talker in each speaking style as well as the magnitude of the clear speech vowel intelligibility effect for each talker will be compared to those obtained from young listeners with normal hearing in a previous study. Regression and other statistical analyses of intelligibility and acoustic data will also be performed to determine the acoustic correlates associated with improved clear speech vowel intelligibility for each listener group. [Work supported by NIHDCD-008886.]

Intelligibility of interrupted sentences at subsegmental levels in young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners

Although listeners can partially understand sentences interrupted by silence or noise, and their performance depends on the characteristics of the glimpses, few studies have examined effects of the types of segmental and subsegmental information on sentence intelligibility. Given the finding of twice better intelligibility from vowel-only glimpses than from consonants [Kewley-Port et al. (2007). "Contribution of consonant versus vowel information to sentence intelligibility for young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 122, 2365-2375], this study examined young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) listeners' intelligibility of interrupted sentences that preserved four different types of subsegmental cues (steady-states at centers or transitions at margins; vowel onset or offset transitions). Forty-two interrupted sentences from TIMIT were presented twice at 95 dB SPL, first with 50% and second with 70% of sentence duration. Compared to high sentence intelligibility for uninterrupted sentences, interrupted sentences had significant decreases in performance for all listeners, with a larger decrease for EHI listeners. Scores for both groups were significantly better for 70% duration than for 50% but were not significantly different for the type of subsegmental information. Performance by EHI listeners was associated with their high-frequency hearing thresholds rather than with age. Together with previous results using segmental interruption, preservation of vowels in interrupted sentences provides greater benefit to sentence intelligibility compared to consonants or subsegmental cues.

Classification and Cue Weighting of Multidimensional Stimuli with Speech-like Cues for Young Normal Hearing and Elderly Hearing-impaired Listeners

The purpose of this study was to investigate how young normal-hearing (YNH) and elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) listeners make use of redundant speech-like cues when classifying nonspeech sounds having multiple stimulus dimensions. A total of four experiments were conducted with 10 to 12 listeners per group in each experiment. There were 27 stimuli, making use of all possible combinations of three stimulus values along each of three cue dimensions. Stimuli were comprised of two brief sequential noise bursts separated by a temporal gap. Stimulus dimensions were: (1) the center frequency of the noise bursts; (2) the duration of the temporal gap separating the noise bursts; and (3) the direction of a frequency transition in the second noise burst. Experiment 1 verified that the stimulus values selected resulted in adjacent steps along each stimulus being easily discriminable [(P(c) > or = 90%]). In experiment 2, similarity judgments were obtained for all possible pairs of the 27 stimuli. Multidimensional scaling confirmed that the three acoustic dimensions existed as separate dimensions perceptually. In experiment 3, listeners were then trained to classify three exemplar stimuli. After the training, they were required to classify all 27 stimuli and these results led to the derivation of attentional weights for each stimulus dimension. Both groups focused their attention on the frequency-transition dimension during the classification task. Finally, experiment 4 demonstrated that the attentional weights derived in experiment 3 were reliable and that both EHI and YNH participants could be trained to shift their attention to a cue dimension (temporal-gap) not preferred in experiment 3, although older adults required much more training to achieve this shift in attention. For the speech-like, multidimensional acoustic stimuli used here, YNH and EHI listeners attended to the same dimensions of the stimuli when classifying them. In general, the EHI listeners required more time to acquire the ability to categorize the stimuli, and to change their focus to alternate stimulus dimensions.

Enjoyment of Music by Elderly Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Anecdotal evidence suggests that hearing loss interferes with the enjoyment of music, although it is not known how widespread this problem currently is. To estimate the prevalence of music-listening difficulties among a group of elderly hearing aid wearers. Interview. Telephone interviews were conducted with patients who wore hearing aids. Questions regarding several aspects of music listening were included. Sixty-eight hearing-impaired people served as subjects. They had all been seen in the audiology clinic for hearing aid evaluation during the previous year. Subjects were asked questions concerning their use of hearing aids, the importance of listening to music in their lives, their habits and practices concerning music, and difficulties they experienced in listening to music. Almost 30% of the respondents reported that their hearing losses affected their enjoyment of music. About half of the respondents indicated that music was either too loud or too soft, although only about one-third reported difficulties with level contrasts within musical pieces. In contrast to a similar survey carried out 20 years ago, there were many fewer complaints about listening to music. This result may be due in large part to improvements in hearing aids, especially with regard to nonlinear compression. Although new hearing aid technologies have somewhat reduced problems of music enjoyment experienced by hearing-impaired people, audiologists should be aware that some 25-30% of patients may have difficulties with listening to music and may require extra attention to minimize those problems.

Contribution of consonant versus vowel information to sentence intelligibility for young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners

The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of information provided by vowels versus consonants to sentence intelligibility in young normal-hearing (YNH) and typical elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) listeners. Sentences were presented in three conditions, unaltered or with either the vowels or the consonants replaced with speech shaped noise. Sentences from male and female talkers in the TIMIT database were selected. Baseline performance was established at a 70 dB SPL level using YNH listeners. Subsequently EHI and YNH participants listened at 95 dB SPL. Participants listened to each sentence twice and were asked to repeat the entire sentence after each presentation. Words were scored correct if identified exactly. Average performance for unaltered sentences was greater than 94%. Overall, EHI listeners performed more poorly than YNH listeners. However, vowel-only sentences were always significantly more intelligible than consonant-only sentences, usually by a ratio of 2:1 across groups. In contrast to written English or words spoken in isolation, these results demonstrated that for spoken sentences, vowels carry more information about sentence intelligibility than consonants for both young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners.

The detection of differences in the cues to distance by elderly hearing-impaired listeners

This experiment measured the capability of hearing-impaired individuals to discriminate differences in the cues to the distance of spoken sentences. The stimuli were generated synthetically, using a room-image procedure to calculate the direct sound and first 74 reflections for a source placed in a 7 x 9 m room, and then presenting each of those sounds individually through a circular array of 24 loudspeakers. Seventy-seven listeners participated, aged 22-83 years and with hearing levels from -5 to 59 dB HL. In conditions where a substantial change in overall level due to the inverse-square law was available as a cue, the elderly hearing-impaired listeners did not perform any different from control groups. In other conditions where that cue was unavailable (so leaving the direct-to-reverberant relationship as a cue), either because the reverberant field dominated the direct sound or because the overall level had been artificially equalized, hearing-impaired listeners performed worse than controls. There were significant correlations with listeners' self-reported distance capabilities as measured by the "Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing" questionnaire [S. Gatehouse and W. Noble, Int. J. Audiol. 43, 85-99 (2004)]. The results demonstrate that hearing-impaired listeners show deficits in the ability to use some of the cues which signal auditory distance.

The use of subsegmental information in sentence comprehension with or without formant transitions by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

Using a noise replacement paradigm, Lee and Kewley-Port [J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 119, (2006)] examined sentence comprehension by young normal-hearing (YNH) and elderly hearing-impaired (EHI) listeners when sentences were processed to present only subsegmental information (i.e., either steady-state or formant transitions) in sentences processed in four different ways. Results showed that correct word responses by EHI listeners were more affected by the type of information in the four conditions compared to YNH listeners. To compare the use of subsegmental information between listener groups who were carefully matched for audibility and age, new analyses of correctly identified phonemes and different word-error patterns were made for both correct and incorrect word responses. Correlation analyses examined the relations among correct and incorrect word responses, phoneme scoring, hearing thresholds, and age. Despite a larger number of incorrect answers by EHI listeners, word-error patterns, as well as an ability to extract phonemes using subsegmental information, were similar between YNH and EHI listeners. Analyses for EHI listeners showed correct word responses were strongly correlated with correct phoneme identification and with hearing thresholds, but not with age. [Work supported by NIHDCD-02229.]