The attention filter for tones in noise has the same shape and effective bandwidth in the elderly as it has in young listeners

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2002-07, Vol.112 (1), p.238-246
• Main Authors: Ison, James R, Virag, Tracy M, Allen, Paul D, Hammond, Geoffrey R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Attention; Auditory Threshold - physiology; Humans; Middle Aged; Noise
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.1483321

Listeners asked to detect tones masked by noise hear frequent signals but miss infrequent probes, suggesting that they attend to spectral regions where they expect the signals to occur. The narrow detection pattern centered on the frequent target approximates that obtained in notched noise, indicating that attention is focused on the auditory filter. We measured attention bands in young and elderly listeners (n=5, 4; 20-25 and 62-82 years of age) for targets (800 or 1200 Hz) and infrequent probe signals (target +/-25-100 Hz) masked in wideband noise. We anticipated that their width would increase with age, as has been reported for auditory filters. A yes-no single-interval procedure provided detection probabilities and detection response speeds. Both measures showed near-linear declines with decreasing signal level, and graded decay functions as probe frequency deviated from the target frequency. Probes deviating from the target by 25 to 50 Hz were equivalent to a 2-dB reduction in signal level for both measures. The equivalent rectangular bandwidth (ERB) for detection approximated 11% of the signal frequency for each age group. Confidence intervals (95%) showed that the elderly ERB could be at most only about 20% larger than that of younger listeners.