The Effects of Linguistic Context on Word Recognition in Noise by Elderly Listeners Using Spanish Sentence Lists (SSL).

This study evaluated the effects of the linguistic context on the recognition of words in noise in older listeners using the Spanish Sentence Lists. These sentences were developed based on the approach of the SPIN test for the English language, which contains high and low predictability (HP and LP) sentences. In addition, the relative contribution of peripheral hearing sensitivity, measured by pure-tone hearing thresholds (PTA), to the performance on both types of sentences was assessed in a regression analysis. The results showed that older listeners obtained benefits on word recognition from the linguistic context. PTA contributed significantly to explaining the variance in performance on both HP and LP sentences.