Age differences in discrimination of simulated single-formant frequency transitions.
We studied auditory discrimination of simulated single-formant frequency transitions that resembled portions of certain speech consonants. Significant age differences in transition discrimination occurred; both children and older adults required larger acoustic differences between transitions for discrimination than did teenagers/young adults. Longer transitions were more easily discriminated than shorter transitions by all listeners, and there were no differences between discriminations of rising and falling transitions. Teens/young adults and older adults, but not children, required larger frequency differences to discriminate frequency transitions followed by a steady-state sound than for transitions alone. There were also age differences in discrimination of steady-state sounds. These developmental-perceptual differences may help explain why children and older adults who have good pure-tone sensitivity may experience difficulty in understanding speech.
Elliott
L L
LL
Hammer
M A
MA
Scholl
M E
ME
Wasowicz
J M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013067:Speech Perception