Effects of Cognitive Load on Pure-Tone Audiometry Thresholds in Younger and Older Adults.
Antje Heinrich, Melanie A Ferguson, Sven L Mattys
PMID 31702598WHAT IT FOUND
Cognitive load raised pure-tone hearing thresholds in the lab, more in older adults (2.5 dB) than younger adults (1.0 dB).
But the threshold change under load did not predict speech-in-noise scores.
Key findings
01In this lab test, cognitive load raised pure-tone hearing thresholds by 2.5 dB in older adults and 1.0 dB in younger adults.
02Younger adults showed a threshold cost only with the rhyme load (1.7 dB), not the image load (0.2 dB); older adults showed costs with both (image 2.5 dB, rhyme 2.3 dB).
03The threshold cost under load did not predict speech-in-noise performance; hearing thresholds without load did.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Age and hearing level were confounded: the older group had worse hearing than the younger group, and the paper says it is impossible to separate age from hearing threshold statistically. The pure-tone test was done on the right ear only. The average threshold increase under load was small: 1.7 dB. The cognitive-load effect did not predict speech-in-noise performance, so the laboratory load cost may not capture everyday listening difficulty. The participants did not wear hearing aids, and the older group included uncorrected hearing loss.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 1.7 dB average threshold increase under cognitive load as evidence that a patient's hearing is worse when they are busy, or as a reason to change clinical audiometry. The load cost did not predict speech-in-noise scores, and age and hearing level were confounded.