Difficulty perceiving speech in noise is the primary complaint of patients seeking hearing healthcare, even absent overt losses in audiometric thresholds. Yet current clinical practice largely focuses on sensory function while ignoring the potentially outsized effects of executive function on everyday suprathreshold listening....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Findings support considering cognitive screening alongside audiometric testing for patients with real-world hearing complaints but normal thresholds, though clinical protocols should await peer-reviewed replication.
Understanding the distinct cognitive contributions to speech-in-noise perception could improve how audiologists assess and counsel patients whose hearing difficulties are not captured by the standard audiogram.
- 01Working memory and inhibitory control each play separate, measurable roles in speech-in-noise perception.
- 02Standard audiometric thresholds often fail to explain real-world hearing complaints — a known clinical gap.
- 03This is a preprint and has not yet been peer reviewed.
- 04Findings could support the use of cognitive tests alongside audiological assessments.
- 05Results address why two people with the same audiogram can have very different daily hearing experiences.
Working memory and inhibitory control have distinct roles in speech-in-noise perception.
studypartially supportedAudiometric thresholds alone do not fully explain real-world hearing complaints.
studysupported- PMID
- 42780066
- DOI
- 10.64898/2026.09.17.752459.
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Adults with hearing complaints but normal or near-normal audiometric thresholds
- Intervention
- Assessment of working memory and inhibitory control in relation to speech-in-noise performance
Primary outcomes
Speech-in-noise perception scores; Working memory performance; Inhibitory control performance