Steacie Supplement: Cognitive factors that facilitate understanding of speech in noise by normally hearing listeners

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Following and understanding one particular talker, despite interference from other sources, is a feat we all accomplish every day. For most normally hearing young listeners, this task appears effortless. However many complex processing operations must be required in order to analyze a complex auditory signal, consisting of many different sources of sound (and their echoes), so that one source in particular (ie a voice) can be identified, tracked, and understood. Although the quality of the sound is undoubtedly important, people also rely extensively on knowledge and experience in order to perceive and comprehend speech in noisy listening environments. The ability to follow and understand one particular talker despite interference from other sources declines with age, and this can be debilitating. In order to develop knowledge and interventions that will minimize the impact of age-related decrements in speech-in-noise understanding on the daily life and social functioning of older people, we require a more detailed account of the cognitive factors that influence speech perception and the functional and neural mechanisms that support their effects, in both young and older listeners. The work proposed here will use behavioural and functional brain imaging methods in normally hearing young and older listeners to study how knowledge-based information works with hearing to provide accurate speech understanding, and how the interaction between perceptual and cognitive processes changes with age. Trainees funded by this award will work in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment, and will learn skills that are highly valued in academic and research settings and in the workforce.