Abstract IMPACT OF AUDITORY TRAINING ON SPEECH PERCEPTION AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES IN OLDER ADULTS WITH HEARING LOSS By

The current study explored the impact of short term auditory training (LACE-Degraded) and auditory-cognitive training (LACE 4.0) on speech perceptual and cognitive measures in older adults with mild-moderate sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Thirty five participants, ages 60 to 80 years, with symmetrical mild-moderate SNHL completed a preliminary test battery of speech perceptual, cognitive, and self-report measures. The 35 study participants were randomly placed into one of three training groups (LACE 4.0, LACE-Degraded, or Short-Story Listening Training). Participants completed one week of training followed by post-testing. Multivariate Analysis of Variance was used to determine if significant improvements in speech perceptual, cognitive processing, and/or self-reported communication abilities occurred following the different training conditions. In addition, Pearson Product Moment correlation analyses were used to determine associations between experimental measures. No significant differences were found for initial measures of speech perceptual, cognitive processing, or self-report communication abilities; age or hearing loss between the three groups. The main finding was improvement for the LACE 4.0 group with increased performance on some speech perceptual and self-report measures. No strong correlations were found betwee