Semin Hear 2006; 27(4): 243-263
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-954851
Copyright © 2006 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Behavioral Studies of Auditory Aging

James Jerger1
  • 1School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas
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Publication History

Publication Date:
22 November 2006 (online)

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ABSTRACT

The common complaints of elderly persons, that speech understanding is often difficult when there is background competition, have been studied for half a century. Putative explanatory factors include loss in audibility, cognitive decline, deficits in frequency resolution and rapid temporal processing, and related problems unique to auditory processing. Experimental approaches fall into two broad categories: (1) studies focusing on group comparisons, and (2) studies focusing on the performance of individuals. Group studies fall into five broad classifications: (1) comparison of an elderly group with one or more young adult groups, (2) cross-sectional studies of different cohorts across a range of ages, (3) longitudinal studies of the same cohort across a range of ages, (4) factor analytic studies, and (5) prediction from a theoretical framework. Studies focusing on the performance of individual elderly persons are motivated by the substantial variability observed among elderly persons and the sense that they should not be treated as a homogeneous group. This article provides one or more examples of experimental outcomes in each type of study and attempts a synthesis of their findings.

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James Jerger

2612 E. Prairie Creek Dr.

Richardson, TX 75080

Email: jjerger@utdallas.edu