Clinically normal hearing still shows age-linked decline that affects speech perception

Evidence

All participants had individual audiometric hearing thresholds of ≤ 20 dB HL at octave frequencies between 0.125 and 4 kHz, as well as at 3 kHz, in the test ear. Despite clinically “normal” audibility, the pure-tone average (PTA) for the tested frequency range declined as a function of age (r = 0.65, p ≤ 0.001, one-tailed). Since changes in sensitivity even in the normal audiometric range can affect SiN identification (Dubno and Ahlstrom 1997 ), PTA is treated as a possible confounding variable in analyses involving the entire age group. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 1138

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in hidden age effects beneath clinically normal thresholds — relevant to any chapter on aging, hidden hearing loss, or audiological screening limits.