How age affects memory task performance in clinically normal hearing persons

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study is to investigate memory task performance in different age groups, irrespective of hearing status. Data are collected on a short-term memory task (WAIS-III Digit Span forward) and two working memory tasks (WAIS-III Digit Span backward and the Reading Span Test). The tasks are administered to young (20–30 years, n = 56), middle-aged (50–60 years, n = 47), and older participants (70–80 years, n = 16) with normal hearing thresholds. All participants have passed a cognitive screening task (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)). Young participants perform significantly better than middle-aged participants, while middle-aged and older participants perform similarly on the three memory tasks. Our data show that older clinically normal hearing persons perform equally well on the memory tasks as middle-aged persons. However, even under optimal conditions of preserved sensory processing, changes in memory performance occur. Based on our data, these changes set in before middle age.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• peripheral hearing status
• normal hearing
• cognition
• memory tasks

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the participants who made time for us and to our students Robin Gransier, Lore Heylen, Jolien Orye, Ellen Van Bijlen, and Ellen Vermaete for their help in collecting the data.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This project is financed by the Research Council of KU Leuven [Grant number: OT/12/98].