The Influence of Selective Attention on Auditory Localization in Younger and Older Adults

Auditory localization, the ability to locate sounds, declines with age due to changes in peripheral and central auditory processing. As selective attention is typically preserved in older adults, drawing their attention towards the stimulus before it occurs may improve auditory localization. This study evaluated this hypothesis by precueing younger and older participants towards a likely location of the upcoming target (a broadband noise) with a visual attentional cue. The attentional cues either provided a) correct information about the upcoming target location (valid) b) incorrect information about the upcoming target location (invalid), or c) no information about the upcoming target location (neutral). Participants estimated the targetâ s location on a schematic drawing of the testing environment. Akin to younger adults, older adults made less errors and biases, and faster responses with valid cues. This suggests that older adults can employ selective attention to improve auditory localization, similar to younger adults.M.A