Temporal jitter mimics the effects of aging on word identification and word recall in noise

Abstract

The simulation of the neural jitter disrupting the ability to phase-lock to lower frequencies in the aging auditory system was done. The applied jitter was determined to affect young adults performance so that it resembles that of older adults in two different tasks. Such findings helped in explaining age related decline in the ability to perceive speech, particularly in the presence of background noise, when no hearing loss is evidenced by standard clinical pure-tone audiometry. Degraded perceptual processing affects processes, such as memory, which are cognitive. Cognitive processes are employed to rescue signals degraded at the perceptual level.