Speech Understanding in Modulated Noise and Speech Maskers as a Function of Cognitive Status in Older Adults

Conclusions Adults with a diagnosis of MCI or mild dementia performed more poorly on a speech perception task than their age- and hearing status-matched control counterparts in the presence of both maskers, with larger group mean differences when the target speech was presented in a two-talker masker. This suggests increased difficulty understanding speech in the presence of distracting backgrounds for people with MCI/dementia. Future studies should consider how to target this potentially vulnerable population as they may be experiencing increased difficulty communicating in challenging environments.PMID:34314238 | DOI:10.1044/2021_AJA-20-00177
Source: American Journal of Audiology - Category: Audiology Authors: Source Type: research