One voice too many: Adult age differences in language processing with different types of distracting sounds

An experiment is reported that investigated factors that might contribute t o age differences in the ability to process spoken language under condition s of competition from various types of background noise. Age differences in recall of spoken sentences were shown to depend on the type of background noise as well as its intensity. Increased intensity levels of just one comp eting speaker produced differentially greater impairment in older adults th an in young adults. Analyses showed that listening performance was predicte d not only by individual differences in hearing ability but also by speed o f processing, which underscores the combined role of age-related auditory a nd cognitive changes in processing spoken language.