The effects of aging and hearing impairment on listening in noise

Abstract

Listening in a noisy environment (e.g., speech in noise) relies on the fundamental ability to extract coherence from the variable sensory input. This allows the detection active sound sources and their segregation of them from the rest of the scene (figure-ground segregation). Peripheral and central causes of age-related decline of listening in noise were assessed by a tone-cloud-based figure detection task. In two conditions differing in the amount of noise, figure detection performance was equalized between young, normal-hearing, and hearing-impaired elderly listeners by adapting the stimulation separately to the abilities of each person. Based on behavioral measures and event-related brain potentials (ERP), in the absence of cognitive deficits, aging alone does not appear to significantly deteriorate the ability to detect sound sources in noise, although ERPs show delayed perceptual processes and some expected deterioration in attention and/or executive functions. However, even mild hearing impairment substantially reduces the ability to segregate individual sound sources within a complex auditory scene, and susceptibility to masking noise increases together with the severity of the hearing deficit. Significance StatementThis work provides new information about the contributions of central and peripheral causes to the typical age-related decline of listening in a noisy environment. Behavioral and neurophysiological data collected in a well-controlled model of listening in noise suggest that aging alone does not significantly reduce the ability to detect sound sources in a complex auditory scene. However, even mild hearing impairment significantly reduces this ability. The stimulus paradigm used appears to be quite sensitive to hearing loss, making it potentially useful for the early detection of hearing problems.