Recognition of time-compressed speech does not predict recognition of natural fast-rate speech by older listeners.

This study investigated whether recognition of time-compressed speech predicts recognition of natural fast-rate speech, and whether this relationship is influenced by listener age. High and low context sentences were presented to younger and older normal-hearing adults at a normal speech rate, naturally fast speech rate, and fast rate implemented by time compressing the normal-rate sentences. Recognition of time-compressed sentences over-estimated recognition of natural fast sentences for both groups, especially for older listeners. The findings suggest that older listeners are at a much greater disadvantage when listening to natural fast speech than would be predicted by recognition performance for time-compressed speech.