title: Effects of Noise Level and Cognitive Function on Speech Perception in Normal Elderly and Elderly with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Along with auditory function, cognitive function contributes to speech perception in the presence of background noise. Older adults with cognitive impairment might, therefore, have more difficulty perceiving speech-in-noise than their peers who have normal cognitive function. We compared the effects of noise level and cognitive function on speech perception in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), cognitively normal older adults, and cognitively normal younger adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 14 patients with aMCI and 14 age-, education-, and hearing threshold-matched cognitively intact older adults as experimental groups, and 14 younger adults as a control group. We assessed speech perception with monosyllabic word and sentence recognition tests at four noise levels: quiet condition and signal-to-noise ratio +5 dB, 0 dB, and -5 dB. We also evaluated the aMCI group with a neuropsychological assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Controlling for hearing thresholds, we found that the aMCI group scored significantly lower than both the older adults and the younger adults only when the noise level was high (signal-to-noise ratio -5 dB). At signal-to-noise ratio -5 dB, both older groups had significantly lower scores than the younger adults on the sentence recognition test. The aMCI group's sentence recognition performance was related to their executive function scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that patients with aMCI have more problems communicating in noisy situations in daily life than do their cognitively healthy peers and that older listeners with more difficulties understanding speech in noise should be considered for testing of neuropsychological function as well as hearing.
authors.affiliation: *Graduate Program in Speech and Language Pathology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea ∥Department and Research Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea †Department of Neurology ‡Institute of Convergence Bio-Health §Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Soo Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung Won
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Lee-Suk
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: HyangHee
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*