Kim Bong Jik, Oh Seung-Ha
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Korean J Audiol. 2013 Sep;17(2):54-8. doi: 10.7874/kja.2013.17.2.54. Epub 2013 Sep 24.
Aging is one of the most evident biological processes, but its mechanisms are still poorly understood. Studies of cognitive aging suggest that age is associated with cognitive decline; however, there may be individual differences such that not all older adults will experience cognitive decline. That is, cognitive decline is not intrinsic to aging, but there is some heterogeneity. Many researchers have shown that speech recognition declines with increasing age. Some of the age-related decline in speech perception can be accounted for by peripheral sensory problems but cognitive aging can also be a contributing factor. The potential sources of reduced recognition for rapid speech in the aged are reduction in processing time and reduction of the acoustic information in the signal. However, other studies also indicated that speech perception does not decline with age. Cognitive abilities are inherently involved in speech processing. Two cognitive factors that decline with age may influence speech perception performance. The first factor is working memory capacity and the second factor concerns the rate of information processing, defined generally as the speed at which an individual can extract content and construct meaning from a rapid signal. Cognitive function shows the adaptive processes with age which are consistent with the view that the brain itself has potentially a life-long capacity for neural plasticity. Assessing the speech perception difficulty in older adults, cognitive function could be considered in the evaluation and management of speech perception problem.
衰老是最明显的生物过程之一，但其机制仍知之甚少。对认知衰老的研究表明，年龄与认知能力下降有关；然而，可能存在个体差异，并非所有老年人都会出现认知能力下降。也就是说，认知能力下降并非衰老所固有，而是存在一定的异质性。许多研究表明，语音识别能力会随着年龄的增长而下降。语音感知方面与年龄相关的一些下降可以归因于外周感觉问题，但认知衰老也可能是一个促成因素。老年人快速语音识别能力下降的潜在原因是处理时间减少和信号中声学信息的减少。然而，其他研究也表明语音感知能力不会随着年龄的增长而下降。认知能力本身就参与语音处理。随着年龄增长而下降的两个认知因素可能会影响语音感知表现。第一个因素是工作记忆容量，第二个因素涉及信息处理速度，一般定义为个体从快速信号中提取内容并构建意义的速度。认知功能显示出随年龄的适应性过程，这与大脑本身可能具有终身神经可塑性的观点一致。在评估老年人的语音感知困难时，在语音感知问题的评估和管理中可以考虑认知功能。
