Research summary
Hearing loss affects about 40% of adults over the age of 60 years and is a major risk factor for dementia. Standard hearing tests are often unable to recognize when an individual has difficulties understanding speech in noisy environments. As Canada Research Chair in Auditory Aging, Dr. Björn Herrmann is working to address these limitations.
He and his research team are developing a sensitive and robust way to assess people’s difficulties with comprehending everyday speech. To achieve this, they are using cognitive models that examine how the brain segments speech and forms memories of spoken language in everyday environments. They are testing younger adults, older adults with or without hearing loss, and older adults who use hearing aids to determine how hearing loss affects their ability to identify and recall of meaningful units of speech masked by noise. This research could result in new tests that will enable earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment of hearing loss.