The sounds we experience in our everyday communication can vary greatly depending on the environment. Paradoxically, increasing the sound level may lead to worse speech perception, especially in noise. This decline is known as "rollover." It is unclear how rollover is experienced differentially across aging groups, as well as for those with and without hearing loss....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Audiologists should avoid assuming that higher presentation levels always benefit older hearing-impaired listeners; fitting and counselling protocols should account for the paradoxical degradation in speech perception and increased listening effort at high levels.
This finding challenges standard clinical assumptions about amplification and could prompt revisions to hearing aid fitting targets and listening effort counselling for older adults.
- 01Higher presentation sound levels paradoxically worsened speech perception in older hearing-impaired adults.
- 02Listening effort also increased at high presentation levels, adding cognitive load.
- 03Published in Hearing Research, a peer-reviewed audiology journal.
- 04Results have direct implications for hearing aid fitting targets and loudness management.
- 05Findings underscore that suprathreshold processing deficits in aging ears go beyond simple audibility.
Increasing presentation sound levels worsens speech perception in older hearing-impaired adult listeners.
studysupportedHigher presentation sound levels increase listening effort in older hearing-impaired adult listeners.
studysupported- PMID
- 42759236
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.heares.2026.109810.
- Journal
- Hearing Research
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Older adults with hearing impairment
- Intervention
- High presentation sound levels during speech perception tasks
- Comparator
- Lower presentation sound levels
Primary outcomes
Speech perception accuracy at varying presentation levels; Listening effort at varying presentation levels