Poster Abstracts

Sample Abstract

This study describes the measurement of two cognitive functions, working-memory capacity and sequence learning, in two groups of listeners: young adults with normal hearing (YNH) and elderly adults with impaired hearing (EHI).  The measurement of these two cognitive abilities with a unique, nonverbal technique capable of auditory, visual, and auditory-visual stimulation is described.  The use of simple, easily understood items in the test sequences enabled the measurement of these cognitive abilities in older listeners with no apparent impact of age-related hearing loss on the cognitive measures.  Significant (p < .05) age-related cognitive deficits were observed for all three modes of stimulation and in both working-memory capacity and sequence-learning ability.  The age-related deficits appeared to be greatest, however, for the sequence-learning task.  Within an age group or task, consistent differences in performance across modalities were not observed.  Further, although it was hypothesized that there might be an association between an individual's performance on these cognitive tasks and their performance on various measures of speech-recognition, such an association generally was not observed.  (Work supported, in part, by NIH grant R01-XYZ123.)