title: Effects of age and task difficulty on ERP responses to novel sounds presented during a speech-perception-in-noise test.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Event-related potentials (ERPs) to task-irrelevant novel sounds have been shown to increase in amplitude with increasing task difficulty and might therefore reflect listening effort. Here we investigated whether this effect is similar in two groups of younger and older listeners with normal hearing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Novel sounds were presented during a speech-perception-in noise test and task difficulty was adjusted decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative to the individual 50% correct speech recognition SNR (easy +10 dB, medium +2dB, hard 0 dB).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Amplitudes of the Novelty P3 and a late positive potential (LPP) were significantly larger in younger compared to older participants. Novelty P3 amplitude increased with increasing task difficulty in both age groups, but the effect was more robust in younger listeners. By contrast, LPP amplitude increases were observed only in older listeners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Novelty P3 and LPP were found to be differently affected by task difficulty in the two age groups indicating sustained and more effortful processing under challenging listening conditions in older listeners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirmed the potential use of novel sounds during an auditory task as an indirect measure of listening effort in younger and older listeners, but the different focus on Novelty P3 and LPP should be taken into account.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: sibylle.bertoli@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bertoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Basel, Petersgraben 4, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: daniel.bodmer@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bodmer
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013016:Sound; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Event-related potentials; Late positive potential; Listening effort; Novelty P3; Speech-perception-in-noise test