Communication in noise for aging adults: interactions of auditory, cognitive and social factors

摘要

It is well known that many older adults report having disproportionate difficulties understanding speech in noise compared to younger adults (CHABA 1988). These reports are made even by those who have little difficulty understanding in quiet and who have audiograms considered to be normal for their age and gender (ISO 7029-2000) and within normal clinical limits up to 4 kHz. Over the last two decades, much has been learned about specific age-related differences in auditory and cognitive factors that may account for their difficulties in noise (Gordon-Salant et al. 2010). The main thesis of the present paper is that, in addition to considering the now well-researched age-related differences in auditory and cognitive processing that play a role in communication in noise by aging adults, it is also important to consider socio-emotional factors that can influence listening and how older adults may differ from younger adults in coping with listening difficulties in noise. An appreciation of the connections between the trio of psychological domains shown in Figure 1 promises to offer new insights into the causes and consequences of the communication problems that older adults have in noise even if they have little audiometric loss.