Effect of within- and between-talker variability on word identification in noise by younger and older adults

Authors

  • Huiwen Goy Dept. of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd North, Ont. L5L 1C6, Canada
  • Kathy Pichora-Fuller Dept. of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd North, Ont. L5L 1C6, Canada
  • Pascal Van Lieshout Dept. of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd North, Ont. L5L 1C6, Canada
  • Gurjit Singh Dept. of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd North, Ont. L5L 1C6, Canada
  • Bruce Schneider Dept. of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd North, Ont. L5L 1C6, Canada

Keywords:

Audiometers, Earphones, Noise abatement, Sound reproduction, Threshold elements, Audiometric thresholds, Context-sentences, Multi-talker babble, Word identification

Abstract

The effect of within-and between-talker variability on word identification in noise by younger and older adults was demonstrated. The participants included 16 younger and 16 older adults that spoke English and had pure-tone audiometric thresholds of &le25 dB HL at frequencies from .25 to 3 kHz in the test ear. The stimuli used were the eight sentence lists of the SPIN-R test and each list contained 25 low-context and 20 high context-sentences. Each participant was tested on the eight lists with list order counterbalanced and sentences were presented monaurally under TDH-50P earphones at 50 dB SL. Each sentence was presented with corresponding files of multi-talker babble at 0 dB S:N and each participant was instructed to report the last word of every sentence. The results show that the younger adults correctly identified more words in noise than older adults and the word identification was best for talking conditions with louder noise environments.

Downloads

Published

2007-09-01

How to Cite

1.
Goy H, Pichora-Fuller K, Van Lieshout P, Singh G, Schneider B. Effect of within- and between-talker variability on word identification in noise by younger and older adults. Canadian Acoustics [Internet]. 2007 Sep. 1 [cited 2021 Jul. 29];35(3):108-9. Available from: https://jcaa.caa-aca.ca/index.php/jcaa/article/view/1924

Issue

Vol. 35 No. 3 (2007)

Section

Proceedings of the Acoustics Week in Canada

License

Copyright on articles is held by the author(s). The corresponding author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, a worldwide exclusive licence (or non-exclusive license for government employees) to the Publishers and its licensees in perpetuity, in all forms, formats and media (whether known now or created in the future)
i)    to publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the Contribution;
ii)    to translate the Contribution into other languages, create adaptations, reprints, include within collections and create summaries, extracts and/or, abstracts of the Contribution;
iii)    to exploit all subsidiary rights in the Contribution,
iv)    to provide the inclusion of electronic links from the Contribution to third party material where-ever it may be located;
v)    to licence any third party to do any or all of the above.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 > >>