Recognition of spectrally shaped speech in speech-modulated noise: Effects of age, spectral shape, speech level, and vocoding

This study examined the recognition of spectrally shaped syllables and sentences in speech-modulated noise by younger and older adults. The effect of spectral shaping and speech level on temporal amplitude modulation cues was explored through speech vocoding. Subclinical differences in hearing thresholds in older adults were controlled using threshold matching noise. Older, compared to younger, adults had poorer recognition but similar improvements as the bandwidth of the shaping function increased. Spectral shaping may enhance the sensation level of glimpsed speech, which improves speech recognition in noise, even with mild elevations in hearing thresholds.