Metacognition for Listening in Noise: The Role of Age and Hearing Loss.
Chiara Valzolgher, Elena Giovanelli, Elena Gessa and 9 others
PMID 41796131WHAT IT FOUND
Age alone did not impair listening awareness or confidence in this study.
However, older adults with mild hearing loss reported lower self-efficacy and used adaptive strategies less often than those with normal hearing. The hearing loss itself, not age, drove these differences.
Key findings
01Older adults with mild hearing loss reported lower self-efficacy and a more external locus of control regarding their hearing compared to older adults with normal hearing.
02Older adults with hearing loss reported using adaptive strategies for managing hearing difficulties less frequently than those with normal hearing.
03Age alone did not significantly affect metacognitive monitoring, self-efficacy, or locus of control in adults with normal hearing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only included older adults with mild hearing loss who did not use hearing aids, so findings may not apply to those with more severe loss or hearing aid users. The hearing-in-noise task was designed to control for cognitive load, which may have reduced its ecological validity compared to real-world noisy environments. Key findings regarding self-efficacy and strategy use rely on self-report questionnaires, which can be influenced by social desirability or inaccurate self-perception. The sample size was relatively small, and the study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if hearing loss causes these changes in belief or if they develop alongside it.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that older adults have impaired metacognitive monitoring. The study found that age alone did not affect the ability to judge one's own listening performance. The deficits were in self-efficacy and strategy use, which were linked to hearing loss status, not age.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →