FAST NOISY SPEECH - AGE-DIFFERENCES IN PROCESSING RAPID SPEECH WITH BACKGROUND-NOISE

In order to investigate the effects of age on the ability to process s peech under conditions of background noise, younger and older adults l istened to and reported time-compressed spoken sentences presented wit h varying levels of background babble. Although the two age groups did not differ significantly in terms of either pure tone averages or in the ability to accurately report the sentences when they were presente d in quiet, the older participants showed less tolerance for backgroun d noise than younger adults. This age difference in performance was fu rther magnified by increased speech rates, suggesting that both age-re lated slowing of processing and reduced inhibition of distracting soun ds may produce age deficits in speech processing.