Associations of frailty, self-reported balance problems, hearing abilities, and posturography in a sample of older adults.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for self-reported balance problems, and to analyse associations between hearing and balance.

Design: A battery of tests was administered to assess hearing and balance performance, as well as additional health-related factors indicative of frailty and fall risk. In a retrospective analysis, logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for self-reported balance problems and linear regression was used to identify associations between hearing ability and functional balance.

The Concurrent OLSA Test: A Method for Speech Recognition in Multi-talker Situations at Fixed SNR.

A multi-talker paradigm is introduced that uses different attentional processes to adjust speech-recognition scores with the goal of conducting measurements at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). The basic idea is to simulate a group conversation with three talkers. Talkers alternately speak sentences of the German matrix test OLSA.

Self-reported hearing handicap in adults aged 55 to 81 years is modulated by hearing abilities, frailty, mental health, and willingness to use hearing aids.

Objective: The aim of this study was to predict outcomes of the HHI questionnaire (Hearing Handicap Inventory) using individual variables beyond pure-tone hearing thresholds.

Design: An extensive health-related test battery was applied including a general anamnesis, questionnaires, audiological measures, examination of visual acuity, balance, and cognition, as well as tactile- and motor skills. Based on the self-assessment of health variables and different sensory and cognitive performance measures, a frailty index was calculated to describe the health status of the participants.

Measuring Speech Recognition With a Matrix Test Using Synthetic Speech.

Speech audiometry is an essential part of audiological diagnostics and clinical measurements. Development times of speech recognition tests are rather long, depending on the size of speech corpus and optimization necessity. The aim of this study was to examine whether this development effort could be reduced by using synthetic speech in speech audiometry, especially in a matrix test for speech recognition.

Exploring the Link Between Cognitive Abilities and Speech Recognition in the Elderly Under Different Listening Conditions.

Elderly listeners are known to differ considerably in their ability to understand speech in noise. Several studies have addressed the underlying factors that contribute to these differences. These factors include audibility, and age-related changes in supra-threshold auditory processing abilities, and it has been suggested that differences in cognitive abilities may also be important.