Journal article
Spatial selective auditory attention is preserved in older age but is degraded by peripheral hearing loss
Scientific reports, Vol.14(1), 26243
10/31/2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-77102-5
PMCID: PMC11527878
PMID: 39482327
Abstract
Interest in how ageing affects attention is long-standing, although interactions between sensory and attentional processing in older age are not fully understood. Here, we examined interactions between peripheral hearing and selective attention in a spatialised cocktail party listening paradigm, in which three talkers spoke different sentences simultaneously and participants were asked to report the sentence spoken by a talker at a particular location. By comparing a sample of older (
N
= 61; age = 55–80 years) and younger (
N
= 58; age = 18–35 years) adults, we show that, as a group, older adults benefit as much as younger adults from preparatory spatial attention. Although, for older adults, this benefit significantly reduces with greater age-related hearing loss. These results demonstrate that older adults with excellent hearing retain the ability to direct spatial selective attention, but this ability deteriorates, in a graded manner, with age-related hearing loss. Thus, reductions in spatial selective attention likely contribute to difficulties communicating in social settings for older adults with age-related hearing loss. Overall, these findings demonstrate a relationship between mild perceptual decline and attention in older age.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Spatial selective auditory attention is preserved in older age but is degraded by peripheral hearing loss
- Creators
- Andrea Caso - University College LondonTimothy D. Griffiths - Newcastle UniversityEmma Holmes - University College London
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Scientific reports, Vol.14(1), 26243
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-024-77102-5
- PMID
- 39482327
- PMCID
- PMC11527878
- NLM abbreviation
- Sci Rep
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- eISSN
- 2045-2322
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group UK
- Grant note
- PA25_Holmes / Royal National Institute for Deaf People (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100020172) 203147/Z/16/Z / Wellcome Trust (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010269)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/31/2024
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984740852902771
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