Speech Recognition in Noise Performance in Younger and Older Spanish-English Bilinguals\u27 L1 And L2

Background: Previous research has shown that Spanish/English speaking bilinguals have difficulty understanding English speech in background noise compared to their monolingual counterparts. However, the effects of age on bilinguals’ speech understanding performance remains unclear. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether older Spanish/English bilingual speakers are at an increased disadvantage understanding speech in the presence of background noise compared to older English monolinguals. Methods: 15 younger Spanish-English (S/E) bilinguals, 15 older S/E bilinguals, 15 younger English monolinguals and 15 older English monolinguals participated in the study. Speech recognition performance was measured using the Spanish and English versions of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) presented in quiet and in background noise. Results: There were no significant (p \u3e.05) differences between groups on the HINT in quiet. The English monolinguals performed significantly better (p =.001) on the English HINT in noise than the two bilingual groups. Both younger and older bilingual groups performed significantly better (p \u3c.001) on the Spanish than English HINT in noise. Interestingly, younger bilinguals performed significantly (p \u3c.001) better in their L1 on the English HINT in noise compared to all other participant groups. Conclusions: Older S/E bilinguals are at an increased disadvantage understanding English in background noise compared to all other participant groups