Age-related declines in spatial hearing and temporal processing despite normal to mild hearing loss

Older adults often show deficits on suprathreshold listening tasks despite normal or near-normal hearing, suggesting contributions beyond audibility. We examined age-related performance on two sound-field spatial-hearing tasks and two headphone-based auditory-processing tasks in 48 adults aged 21-78 years with normal hearing or no more than mild loss through 4000 Hz....

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Standard audiograms may miss meaningful hearing difficulties in older adults; clinicians should consider suprathreshold tests (measures of hearing ability beyond basic volume detection) for spatial and temporal processing when older patients report listening difficulties despite near-normal thresholds.

These findings challenge the assumption that normal audiometric thresholds indicate adequate functional hearing in older adults, reinforcing the case for broader diagnostic assessment in aging populations.

1. 01Older adults with normal to mild hearing loss show significant declines in spatial hearing and temporal processing.
2. 02These deficits exist independently of audibility, pointing to age-related neural or central auditory changes.
3. 03Standard pure-tone audiometry alone is insufficient to capture functional hearing difficulties in this group.
4. 04Findings support expanded suprathreshold testing in older patients who report communication difficulties.
5. 05Results have implications for counseling older adults who struggle in complex listening environments.

PMID

42998570

DOI

10.1016/j.heares.2026.109858.

Journal

Hearing Research

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Older adults with normal to mild hearing loss

Intervention

Assessment of spatial hearing and temporal processing abilities

Comparator

Younger adults or age-matched controls with normal hearing (implied)