Fast noisy speech: age differences in processing rapid speech with background noise.

In order to investigate the effects of age on the ability to process speech under conditions of background noise, younger and older adults listened to and reported time-compressed spoken sentences presented with varying levels of background babble. Although the two age groups did not differ significantly in terms of either pure tone averages or in the ability to accurately report the sentences when they were presented in quiet, the older participants showed less tolerance for background noise than younger adults. This age difference in performance was further magnified by increased speech rates, suggesting that both age-related slowing of processing and reduced inhibition of distracting sounds may produce age deficits in speech processing.