Effects of age and hearing sensitivity on the use of prosodic information in spoken word recognition

Author(s): Lindfield, K. C., Goodglass, H.

Journal/Book: J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2000; 43: 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852-3279, USA. Amer Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc. 915-925.

Abstract: It is well known that spoken words can often be recognized From lust their onsets and that older adults require a greater word onset duration For recognition than young adults. In this study, young and older adults heard either just word onsets, word onsets followed by white noise indicating the full duration of the target word, or word onsets Followed by a low-pass-Filtered signal that indicated the number of syllables and syllabic stress (word prosody) in the absence of segmental information. Older adults required longer stimulus durations for word recognition under all conditions, with age differences in hearing sensitivity contributing significantly to this age difference. Within this difference, however, word recognition was facilitated by knowledge of word prosody to the same degree for young and older adults. These findings suggest, first, that listeners can detect and utilize word stress in making perceptual judgments and, second, that this ability remains spared in normal aging.

Note: Article Wingfield A, Brandeis Univ, Volen Natl Ctr Complex Syst MS 013, Waltham,MA 02254 USA

Keyword(s): aging; word recognition; onset gating; word prosody; SPEECH RECOGNITION; ELDERLY LISTENERS; OLD ADULTS; PERFORMANCE; YOUNG; PERCEPTION; TIME; COMPETITION; RECALL; COHORT

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