Hearing Acuity, Cognitive Aging, and Memory for Speech

描述(申请人提供)：尽管许多成年人在成年后仍保持良好的听力，但大量的老年人表现出与年龄相关的听力下降，严重干扰了对语言的理解和记忆。对于老年人的生活质量来说，几乎没有什么问题比回忆听到的信息更重要了，无论是来自医疗保健提供者的指示，如何填写表格的口头指示，还是家人和朋友的最新消息。自然语言速度很快，从深思熟虑的谈话的每分钟90字到远远超过每分钟200字的速度。除了如此高的输入率，还有一个事实，即演讲经常伴随着背景干扰。众所周知，这两个因素对老年人的破坏性特别大。 这项应用集中在一种跨学科的方法上，结合了认知心理学和听力学的专业知识，以了解年龄相关的认知因素如何与语言记忆中的年龄相关性听力损失(老年性耳聋)相互作用。为了区分认知老化和听力敏锐度的影响，将测试四组成年人：年龄相关性听力损失的老年人，言语范围内听力良好的老年人，言语范围内听力损失与老年人相似的年轻人，以及听力良好的年轻人组。这项研究将集中在(1)快速言语和听觉分心对口语信息记忆的影响，(2)口语信息的特征如何与年龄和听力损失相互作用，以及(3)听力较差的老年人可以在多大程度上灵活地使用语境，以区别于反映一种持久的、可能并不总是合适的知觉“风格”。在理论层面上，其中一个目标将是验证这样一个假设，即在较低水平的语音感知上花费的额外努力可以提取通常可用于“下游”过程的资源，例如用于稍后回忆的记忆编码。在应用层面上，所获得的数据将对制定对老年人的特殊需要敏感的听力测试指南很有价值。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although many adults maintain good hearing into older adulthood, large numbers of older adults manifest age-related hearing declines that significantly interfere with comprehension and memory for speech. Few issues are as important to the quality of life of older adults as the ability to recall heard information, whether it is instructions from medical care providers, verbal instructions on how to complete forms, or the latest news of family and friends. Natural speech is rapid, ranging from 90 words per minute (wpm) for thoughtful conversation, to rates far in excess of 200 wpm. Added to this high input rate is the fact that speech is very often accompanied by background distraction. Both factors are known to be especially disruptive to older adults. This application centers on an interdisciplinary approach combining expertise from cognitive psychology and audiology to the understanding of how age-related cognitive factors interact with agerelated hearing loss (presbycusis) in memory for speech. In order to separate the effects of cognitive aging and hearing acuity, four groups of adults will be tested: older adults with age-related hearing loss, older adults with good hearing in the speech range, young adults with hearing loss in the speech range similar to that of the older adults, and a young adult group with good hearing. The research will focus on (1) the effects of rapid speech and auditory distraction on memory for spoken messages, (2) how the features of the spoken messages interact with age and hearing loss, and (3) the extent to which the use of context can be flexibly employed by older adults with poor hearing as distinct from reflecting an enduring perceptual "style" that may not always be appropriate. On the theoretical level one of the goals will be to test the hypothesis that the extra effort expended on lower level perception of speech can draw resources that would ordinarily be available for "down-stream" processes such as memory encoding for later recall. On the applied level, the data obtained will be valuable for developing guidelines for tests of hearing that are sensitive to the special needs of older adults.