Many older adults experience declines in auditory and cognitive abilities that negatively affect language comprehension, including spoken word recognition. In the case of auditory function, poor neural responses to sound at the earliest stages of auditory processing may adversely affect phoneme identification, and ultimately, lexical access. Declines in cognitive functions, such as inhibitory control or working memory, may also impede word recognition. Furthermore, complex interactions between auditory and cognitive declines make it difficult to distinguish these possible causes of age differences in speech perception. We review age-related changes in spoken word recognition, with respect to current models of this process. Then, we invoke frameworks of sensory–cognitive compensation and argue that online, sensitive measures of sensory processing and of comprehension are important in distinguishing between effects of sensory and cognitive decline. We conclude that investigations of spoken word recognition in older listeners must carefully assess listener differences at early levels of auditory processing, in conjunction with cognitive abilities.

中文翻译：

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感觉和认知对口语识别中与年龄相关的变化的贡献

许多老年人的听觉和认知能力下降，这会对语言理解能力（包括口语单词识别）产生负面影响。在听觉功能的情况下，在听觉处理的最早阶段对声音的不良神经反应可能会对音素识别产生不利影响，并最终影响词汇访问。诸如抑制性控制或工作记忆之类的认知功能下降也可能阻碍单词识别。此外，听觉和认知能力下降之间的复杂相互作用使得很难区分语音感知中年龄差异的这些可能原因。我们将针对当前过程的模型，回顾与年龄相关的口语单词识别变化。然后，我们调用感官认知补偿框架，并指出在线上，感觉处理和理解的敏感措施对于区分感觉下降和认知下降的影响很重要。我们得出的结论是，对年长听众的口语识别能力进行的调查必须结合认知能力，在听觉处理的早期阶段仔细评估听众的差异。