Low background noise increases cognitive load in older adults listening to competing speech.

This letter describes a dual-task paradigm sensitive to noise masking at favorable signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Two competing sentences differing in voice and context cues were presented against noise at SNRs of +2 and +6 dB. Listeners were asked to repeat back words from both competing sentences while prioritizing one of them. Recognition of the high-priority sentences was high and did not depend on the SNR. In contrast, recognition of the low-priority sentences was low and showed a significant SNR effect that was related to the listener's working memory capacity. This suggests that even subtle noise masking causes cognitive load in competing-talker situations.