Older adults show smaller binaural masking level differences despite normal audiograms

Evidence

Because the BMLD represents a difference between two thresholds, it has the advantage that differences in processing efficiency across age groups at least partly cancel. Several researchers have compared BMLDs for young and older subjects with (near-) normal hearing (Pichora-Fuller and Schneider 1991 , 1992 ; Grose et al. 1994 ; Strouse et al. 1998 ). All showed that BMLDs (usually for a 500-Hz signal frequency) were smaller for older than for young subjects, typically by 2–4 dB. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 807

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 807