PURPOSE: To compare the performances of young and elderly women on the Random Gap Detection Test (RGDT). METHODS: Seventy two women were evaluated, distributed in two groups: Control Group (CG), composed by 48 young women (mean age = 23.8 years) with normal peripheral hearing, and Experimental Group (EG), composed by 24 elderly women (mean age = 66.8 years) with normal peripheral hearing or mild sensorineural hearing loss. Both groups were submitted to the RGDT for pure-tones, in the frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz. RESULTS: All subjects from CG identified gaps up to 40 ms in all tested frequencies, with average gap of 12.2 ms among them. In the EG, it was observed that 20 out of the 24 subjects did not identify intervals up to 40 ms in one or more frequencies. Data analysis showed statistically significant differences between the performances of the groups (p<0001). CONCLUSIONS: Age increase was shown as an aggravating factor for performance on the RGDT. This test proved to be a valuable tool for the evaluation of aging effects on auditory temporal resolution ability.
Aged; Aging; Hearing; Hearing disorders; Auditory perception; Auditory perceptual disorders; Hearing tests; Auditory diseases, central
