LISTENER PERCEPTIONS OF OLDER VERSUS YOUNGER ADULT SPEECH - IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONALS AND FAMILIES

This investigation compared college students watching slides of either an older or a younger adult reading a prerecorded reminiscence passag e. Although both the younger and the older speaker read the identical passage in the same amount of time, students listening to the older ad ult significantly underestimated the number of words used, rated their interest levels significantly lower, and correctly answered fewer que stions about the content of the passage. Implications of the findings for professionals who work with older adults and their families are di scussed.