Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions
Characterizing relationships between musical rhythm discrimination, prosody (speech rhythm), and speech-in-noise perception in older adults
Poster Session D, Saturday, September 13, 5:00 - 6:30 pm, Field House
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Elizabeth Lawrence1,4, Ansley Kunnath1, Will Hiser1, Jeffrey Eum3, Julian Rosenberg3, Ben Faulkner3, Victoria Sevich5, Terrin Tamati1, Cyrille Magne4, Srishti Nayak1,2,3; 1Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, 3Vanderbilt University, 4Middle Tennessee State University, 5The Ohio State University
INTRODUCTION: Speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition, critical for functional independence, is commonly impaired in older adults, often coinciding with age-related hearing loss (ARHL). Despite growing behavioral (Coffey et al., 2017), epidemiological (Johnson et al., 2023) and genetic (Nayak et al., 2025) evidence linking musicality to hearing and speech outcomes, there is limited empirical data on how individual differences in music perception abilities relate to hearing in older adults. Furthermore, while musical and speech rhythm perception are implicated in auditory processing, their relative contributions to SIN recognition in older adults are underexplored. This study thus seeks to investigate whether individual differences in musical rhythm and speech rhythm perceptual sensitivity explain variability in SIN recognition among older adults, and evaluates their respective predictive roles. METHODS: Participants are adults ≥ 65 years with self-reported normal hearing (N=28 completed to date) who are taking part in the Musicality, Hearing, and Genetics (MyHearinG) study at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Key assessments include speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition (Tamati et al., 2014), musical rhythm discrimination (Swedish Musical Discrimination Test; Ullén et al., 2014), speech rhythm/prosody perception (TOPsy; Nayak et al., 2022), peripheral hearing tests, and questionnaires (demographics, musicality). For this presentation, we will focus on preliminary data on musical rhythm perception, speech rhythm (prosody) perception, and speech recognition in noise abilities, accounting for demographic covariates and music training. ANALYSIS PLAN AND HYPOTHESES: First, to investigate whether musical rhythm sensitivity, speech rhythm sensitivity, and hearing in noise abilities are correlated in older adults, we will conduct bivariate correlations between these variables. Next, to examine whether individual differences in musical rhythm perception skills explain variability in hearing in noise abilities over and above covariates, we will conduct linear regression analyses with rhythmic discrimination ability as the predictor and SIN recognition ability as the outcome. To further investigate whether speech rhythm sensitivity mediates the relationship between musical rhythm perception and hearing abilities, we will conduct mediation analyses expanding the model to include speech rhythm sensitivity as the mediator. All statistical models will include covariates to control for their potential effects: age, sex, and music training (years of formal instruction). We hypothesize that musical rhythm perception is a significant predictor of SIN recognition, with speech rhythm sensitivity mediating this relationship. SIGNIFICANCE: Findings will help address knowledge gaps related to improving speech recognition and comprehension in challenging listening environments; problems that can lead to social isolation, loneliness, and lower quality of life in older adults. Investigating differences between music and speech rhythm perception as they pertain to hearing abilities can inform future research on the nuanced roles of rhythmic processing and central auditory abilities in aging populations, potentially identifying promotive factors for better hearing outcomes. Future directions also include examining the relative contribution of cognitive individual differences (e.g. in verbal and non-verbal cognition or executive function skills), and whether patterns in older adults’ hearing and speech outcomes differ at different levels of music engagement.
Topic Areas: Prosody, Speech Perception