Dichotic word recognition in noise and the right-ear advantage.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to compare dichotic right-ear advantages (REAs) of young adults to older adult data (C. M. Roup, T. L. Wiley, & R. H. Wilson, 2006) after matching for overall levels of recognition performance. Specifically, speech-spectrum noise was introduced in order to reduce dichotic recognition performance of young adults to a level consistent with that of older adults with hearing loss.


METHODS
Dichotic word-recognition performance was evaluated in the free-recall response paradigm across 2 conditions: (a) quiet and (b) noise (+11 dB signal-to-noise ratio). Participants included a group of right-handed young adults (n = 32) with normal hearing.


RESULTS
The introduction of noise resulted in significantly poorer dichotic word-recognition performance than in the quiet condition for the young adults. REAs, however, did not differ between the 2 conditions. Relative to the Roup et al. (2006) older adult data, performance of the young adults in the noise condition resulted in (a) similar levels of overall recognition performance and (b) significantly smaller REAs.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that the magnitude of the REA is not dependent upon the difficulty of the dichotic task. Rather, the large REAs exhibited by older adults are more likely related to age-related deficits in auditory processing.
Roup
Christina M
CM
The Ohio State University, Department of Speech and Hearing Science, 110 Pressey Hall, 1070 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. roup.2@osu.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D011304:Presbycusis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000091402:Prohibitins; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult