The Role of Auditory Working Memory in Self-Perceived Hearing Difficulties Among Older Adults.

Purpose: The association between working memory and the self-perception of hearing difficulties in older adults is not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the relation between auditory working memory and self-reported hearing difficulties in older adults with varying degrees of pure-tone hearing loss.

Method: Twenty-four older adults with varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss participated. Self-reported hearing difficulties were assessed using the Adult Auditory Performance Scale (AAPS). Auditory working memory was measured using the Word Auditory Recognition and Recall Measure (WARRM).

Results: Results revealed significant negative correlations between the WARRM recall score and the AAPS global, easy listening, noise, and complex listening scores. Pure-tone hearing was significantly correlated with self-reported hearing difficulty in easy listening environments (e.g., quiet and ideal listening) but was not for noise or complex listening. Regression analyses revealed that pure-tone hearing accounted for a significant amount of variability associated with the AAPS easy listening, whereas WARRM recall scores accounted for a significant amount of variability associated with AAPS noise and complex listening scores.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that cognitive factors, such as auditory working memory, contribute to the self-perception of hearing difficulty among older adults. Routine clinical measurement of self-reported hearing difficulties and auditory working memory may provide a more global assessment of the hearing challenges faced by older adults with pure-tone hearing loss.