The Multidimensionality of Presbycusis: Hearing Losses on the Content and Relational Dimensions of Speech |
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| Authors: | William A. Villaume Rieko Darling Mary Helen Brown Don Richardson Sandra Clark-Lewis |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Auburn University , USA;2. Division of Audiology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Communication Sciences , Baylor College of Medicine;3. Division of Communication , Sam Houston State University , USA |
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| Abstract: | Presbycusis, the age associated decline in hearing and listening, has been traditionally conceptualized as the progressive inability to distinguish phonemes and hence to apprehend the content of spoken communication. Based on the distinction between the content and relational dimensions of communication, this study posed the possibility that presbycusis also involves a loss of listening ability along the relational dimension of communication. Using five measures of speech discrimination and listening, the study confirmed that aging is significantly associated with losses on the content and relational dimensions of listening. Furthermore, there are different rates of aging for these two dimensions. Whereas the loss on the content dimension is linearly related to age, the loss on the relational dimension is curvilinearly related to age with little decline in ability until a relatively drastic loss occurs in the early to mid-70s. These results indicate that the communicative impact of presbycusis is considerably greater for the old elderly than for the young elderly. Thus, this study constitutes initial evidence for a multidimensional conception of presbycusis. |
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