Study of Speech Recognition in Noise and Working Memory in Adults and Elderly with Normal Hearing

Akashi, Daniela Aiko; Martinelli, Maria Cecília

doi:10.1055/s-0044-1779432

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Original Research • Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 28 (3) • 2024 • https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0044-1779432 copy

Study of Speech Recognition in Noise and Working Memory in Adults and Elderly with Normal Hearing

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Introduction

In clinical practice, patients with the same degree and configuration of hearing loss, or even with normal audiometric thresholds, present substantially different performances in terms of speech perception. This probably happens because other factors, in addition to auditory sensitivity, interfere with speech perception. Thus, studies are needed to investigate the performance of listeners in unfavorable listening conditions to identify the processes that interfere in the speech perception of these subjects.

Objective

To verify the influence of age, temporal processing, and working memory on speech recognition in noise.

Methods

Thirty-eight adult and elderly individuals with normal hearing thresholds participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups: The adult group (G1), composed of 10 individuals aged 21 to 33 years, and the elderly group (G2), with 28 participants aged 60 to 81 years. They underwent audiological assessment with the Portuguese Sentence List Test, Gaps-in-Noise test, Digit Span Memory test, Running Span Task, Corsi Block-Tapping test, and Visual Pattern test.

Results

The Running Span Task score proved to be a statistically significant predictor of the listening-in-noise variable. This result showed that the difference in performance between groups G1 and G2 in relation to listening in noise is due not only to aging, but also to changes in working memory.

Conclusion

The study showed that working memory is a predictor of listening performance in noise in individuals with normal hearing, and that this task can provide important information for investigation in individuals who have difficulty hearing in unfavorable environments.

Keywords
working memory; speech recognition; aging; auditory processing

PAC	Group	Test statistics	Shapiro-Wilk p-value
Education	G1	0.843	0.048 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
Education	G2	0.982	0.893
ABEP	G1	0.912	0.295
ABEP	G2	0.948	0.177
GIN	G1	0.834	0.037 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
GIN	G2	0.927	0.052
Corsi	G1	0.895	0.191
Corsi	G2	0.898	0.010 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
TPV	G1	0.916	0.322
TPV	G2	0.816	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
Running	G1	0.971	0.899
Running	G2	0.951	0.216
Digits	G1	0.841	0.045 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
Digits	G2	0.930	0.063
Reverse Digits	G1	0.820	0.026 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
Reverse Digits	G2	0.882	0.005 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
Sentence Recognition - Average	G1	0.848	0.056
Sentence Recognition - Average	G2	0.819	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
Sentence Recognition – S/R	G1	0.867	0.091
Sentence Recognition – S/R	G2	0.901	0.012 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).

PAC	Group	n	Average	SD	Median	Min.	Max.	p	T.E.
Education	G1	10	16.60 [15.20. 18.20]	2.63	17.00 [14.00. 18.00]	14.00	22.00	0.003 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.472^r
Education	G2	28	12.00 [10.32. 13.71]	4.49	12.00 [11.00. 12.00]	3.00	22.00		0.472^r
ABEP	G1	10	35.70 [29.80. 42.60]	9.31	34.50 [28.50. 41.00]	26.00	53.00	0.094^a	0.639^d
ABEP	G2	28	29.75 [26.39. 32.96]	9.41	29.00 [28.50. 29.50]	15.00	48.00	0.094^a	0.639^d
GIN	G1	10	6.60 [5.70. 7.60]	1.78	6.00 [5.00. 8.00]	5.00	10.00	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.567^r
GIN	G2	28	12.82 [11.04. 14.75]	5.59	12.00 [11.00. 12.00]	4.00	25.00		0.567^r
Corsi	G1	10	6.20 [5.80. 6.60]	1.03	6.00 [5.50. 7.00]	5.00	8.00	0.011 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.402^r
Corsi	G2	28	5.07 [4.68. 5.46]	1.15	5.00 [5.00. 5.00]	3.00	8.00		0.402^r
TPV	G1	10	7.70 [6.80. 8.60]	1.57	8.00 [8.00. 8.00]	5.00	10.00	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.687^r
TPV	G2	28	4.61 [4.25. 5.00]	1.17	4.00 [4.00. 5.00]	3.00	8.00		0.687^r
Running	G1	10	2.56 [2.17. 2.99]	0.73	2.55 [2.13. 3.05]	1.40	3.60	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds. ^a	1.450^d
Running	G2	28	1.50 [1.21. 1.77]	0.69	1.65 [1.18. 1.85]	0.30	2.90		1.450^d
Digits	G1	10	7.80 [6.90. 8.60]	1.23	8.00 [8.00. 8.00]	5.00	9.00	0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.530^r
Digits	G2	28	5.68 [5.07. 6.32]	1.54	5.50 [5.00. 6.00]	3.00	9.00		0.530^r
Reverse Digits	G1	10	6.90 [6.40. 7.40]	0.88	7.00 [7.00. 7.00]	5.00	8.00	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.701^r
Reverse Digits	G2	28	4.54 [4.25. 4.86]	1.00	5.00 [5.00. 5.00]	3.00	6.00		0.701^r
Sentence Recognition - Average	G1	10	46.16 [45.12. 47.10]	1.94	46.95 [44.60. 47.75]	43.20	48.05	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.544^r
Sentence Recognition - Average	G2	28	51.90 [49.98. 54.03]	6.49	51.60 [50.30. 52.20]	40.60	72.50		0.544^r
Sentence Recognition – S/R	G1	10	1.32 [0.30. 2.25]	1.82	1.95 [0.40. 2.75]	-1.80	3.05	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05); S.E.: effect size; Note: For the gap detection threshold of the GIN test, thresholds above 20 milliseconds were coded as 25 milliseconds.	0.544^r
Sentence Recognition – S/R	G2	28	5.48 [4.26. 6.64]	3.72	6.20 [5.10. 7.20]	-4.40	11.20		0.544^r

Step		b	β	p
1	Constant	40.41 [37.05. 43.66]	–	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Group	5.75 [3.06. 8.59]	0.42	0.010 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
2	Constant	33.93 [20.24. 43.86]	–	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Group	7.15 [3.45. 12.02]	0.52	0.004 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Education	0.31 [-0.08. 0.82]	0.22	0.191
3	Constant	36.01 [22.02. 46.43]	–	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Group	7.04 [3.52. 11.31]	0.51	0.005 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Education	0.42 [-0.13. 1.05]	0.31	0.113
	Score ABEP	-0.11 [-0.38. 0.11]	-0.17	0.341
4	Constant	35.19 [21.52. 47.29]	–	< 0.001 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Group	6.58 [2.87. 10.44]	0.48	0.014 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Education	0.46 [-0.26. 1.24]	0.34	0.101
	Score ABEP	-0.11 [-0.37. 0.09]	-0.17	0.345
	Gap detection threshold – GIN	0.10 [-0.49. 0.86]	0.09	0.620
5	Constant	36.61 [5.90. 62.05]	–	0.017 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Group	5.21 [-2.40. 14.22]	0.38	0.219
	Education	0.56 [-0.36. 1.63]	0.41	0.058
	Score ABEP	-0.12 [-0.38. 0.10]	-0.18	0.368
	Gap detection threshold – GIN	-0.04 [-0.58. 0.67]	-0.04	0.857
	Corsi	1.35 [-0.34. 3.33]	0.27	0.111
	TPV	-0.99 [-3.36. 0.84]	-0.30	0.262
	Running	-3.52 [-7.56. 0.89]	-0.48	0.024 ^* * Statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Digits	0.09 [-1.56. 1.50]	0.03	0.926
	Reverse Digits	1.01 [-1.88. 4.13]	0.23	0.443

Step		b	β	p
1	Constant	-2.84 [−5.62. −0.15]	–	0.206
	Group	4.16 [2.37. 5.89]	0.49	0.002 ^* * statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
2	Constant	-4.50 [-11.88. 2.43]	–	0.227
	Group	4.52 [2.49. 6.70]	0.53	0.003 ^* * statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Education	0.08 [-0.19. 0.36]	0.09	0.572
3	Constant	-5.18 [-13.65. 2.56]	–	0.195
	Group	4.56 [2.45. 6.82]	0.54	0.003 ^* * statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Education	0.04 [-0.26. 0.31]	0.05	0.802
	Score ABEP	0.04 [-0.09. 0.19]	0.09	0.605
4	Constant	-4.98 [-13.35. 4.57]	–	0.234
	Group	4.67 [2.12. 7.13]	0.55	0.005 ^* * statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Education	0.03 [-0.35. 0.36]	0.04	0.856
	Score ABEP	0.04 [-0.09. 0.16]	0.09	0.609
	Gap detection threshold – GIN	-0.03 [-0.44. 0.36]	-0.04	0.837
5	Constant	-5.48 [-26.97. 9.62]	–	0.542
	Group	3.99 [-1.89. 10.60]	0.47	0.128
	Education	0.06 [-0.27. 0.37]	0.07	0.747
	Score ABEP	0.00 [-0.17. 0.20]	0.00	0.989
	Gap detection threshold – GIN	-0.07 [-0.49. 0.35]	-0.11	0.592
	Corsi	0.83 [-0.32. 1.92]	0.27	0.112
	TPV	-0.44 [-1.66. 1.15]	-0.22	0.417
	Running	-2.16 [-4.55. 1.15]	-0.48	0.024 ^* * statistically significant value at the 5% level (p ≤ 0.05).
	Digits	0.51 [-0.41. 1.51]	0.23	0.401
	Reverse Digits	0.32 [-1.54. 2.15]	0.12	0.693

Fundação Otorrinolaringologia Rua Artur de Azevedo 46, Zip code 05404-000,, São Paulo/SP, Brazil, Phone: +55 11 3062 4097, E-mail: iaorl@iaorl.org - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: iaorl@iaorl.org

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Address for correspondence Daniela Aiko Akashi, Audiologist, Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Avenida Diederichsen, 864 - Vila Guarani, São Paulo, SP, 04310-000, Brazil (e-mail: akashidaniela@gmail.com).