RESUMEN
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between working memory (WM) capacity and speech recognition in noise in both a group of young adults and a group of older adults. Method Thirty-three older adults with a mean age of 71.0 (range: 60.4-82.7) years and 27 young adults with a mean age of 21.7 (range: 19.1-25.0) years participated in the study. All participants had age-appropriate hearing and no history of central nervous system dysfunction. WM capacity was measured using the van den Noort version of the Reading Span Test, and recognition of sentences in the presence of a stationary speech-shaped noise was measured as the speech reception threshold for 50% correct identification by using the Leuven Intelligibility Sentence Test. Results The older adults had significantly worse WM capacity scores, t(58) = 8.266, p < .001, and significantly more difficulty understanding sentences in noise than the younger adults, t(58) = -6.068, p < .001. In the group of older adults, a correlation was found (r = -.488, n = 33, p = .004) between the results of the WM capacity test (Reading Span Test) and the results of the speech-recognition-in-noise test (Leuven Intelligibility Sentence Test), meaning that the higher the WM performance was, the better was the speech recognition in noise. This correlation cannot be found in young normal-hearing listeners. Conclusions This study shows deleterious effects of age on both WM capacity and speech recognition in noise. Interestingly, only in the group of older adults was a significant relation found between WM capacity and speech recognition in noise. The current results caution against the assumption that WM necessarily supports speech-in-noise identification independently of the age and hearing status of the listener.
Asunto(s)
Audición/fisiología , Memoria a Corto Plazo , Ruido , Percepción del Habla , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: Purpose of the present study is to evaluate the effects of aging on temporal resolution and speech understanding in noise. METHODS: Twenty-seven young and 33 older normal hearing adults participated in this study. Temporal resolution was investigated using the Gaps in Noise (GIN) test. Understanding sentences in noise was investigated using a Dutch sentences (LIST) test. RESULTS: Results demonstrated that older adults have significantly worse temporal resolution scores and significantly greater difficulty understanding sentences in noise than younger adults. In the group of older adults, the ability to understand sentences in noise correlated with hearing and age. A stepwise regression analysis showed that age was the best predictor for the speech in noise results. However, temporal resolution correlated with hearing, not with age. Results from the GIN test did not correlate with the results from the LIST test. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that with advancing age, both temporal resolution and speech understanding in noise significantly diminish. Temporal resolution correlates with hearing, not age, while speech understanding correlates more with age than hearing. These results could have implications for the outcome of auditory prostheses in older adults, as both diminished temporal resolution and speech understanding have to be taken into account.
Asunto(s)
Envejecimiento/fisiología , Percepción Auditiva/fisiología , Pérdida Auditiva/fisiopatología , Ruido , Percepción del Habla/fisiología , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The DHI is a widely used questionnaire for the evaluation of the self-reported disability in patients with dizziness and balance problems. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the DHI scores and demographic, symptomatic and diagnostic parameters. METHODS: Retrospective study in 568 patients with balance problems. RESULTS: We observed a total of 61.3% of patients with moderate (DHI total score between 30 and 59) to severe (DHI total score between 60 and 100) disability.Patients with long-standing complaints (lasting longer than 3 months) experience their self-reported disability to a greater extent than patients with new onset pathology (illness duration of one month and less). Moreover, patients suffering from continuous complaints have a larger DHI score than patients with shorter symptom duration. The first effect (new onset vs. long-standing pathology) is primarily caused by emotional factors, the latter effect (symptom duration) is attributable to functional and physical factors, not to emotional aspects. Patients with daily and weekly complaints have larger DHI scores than patients who reported only one episode. Female patients reported larger DHI scores than males. We found no effect of age, diagnostic group (no diagnosis, episodic, acute or chronic vestibular syndrome) or reported symptoms on the DHI scores. CONCLUSIONS: The information retrieved from the DHI questionnaire is complementary to the information obtained from clinical investigation and diagnostic tests and therefore is an essential tool in a vestibular clinic.