The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of noise type, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), age, and hearing status on cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to speech sounds. This helps to explain the hearing-in-noise difficulties often seen in the aging and hearing impaired population. Continuous, modulated, and babble noise types were presented at varying SNRs to 30 individuals divided into three groups according to age and hearing status. Significant main effects of noise type, SNR, and group were found. Interaction effects revealed that the SNR effect varies as a function of noise type and is most systematic for continuous noise. Effects of age and hearing loss were limited to CAEP latency and were differentially modulated by energetic and informational-like masking. It is clear that the spectrotemporal characteristics of signals and noises play an important role in determining the morphology of neural responses. Participant factors such as age and hearing status, also play an important role in determining the brain’s response to complex auditory stimuli and contribute to the ability to listen in noise.

The substantive theory suggests that mothers of D/HH children can effectively manage parenting stress and increase well-being by capitalizing on relevant stress-reducing resources to achieve maternal coherence.

Background and purpose: Gender disparities in auditory brainstem response (ABR) results have been reported but the exact reasons remain controversial. Difference in head size between genders has been suggested but the literature is lacking, particularly at threshold levels. In this short communication, we compared ABR results between males and females with comparable head sizes at supra-threshold and threshold levels. Materials and methods: In this comparative study, of 58 healthy young adults, 30 of them (17 females and 13 males) with comparable head sizes underwent the standard ABR testing. Wave V latencies and ABR thresholds were determined and analyzed accordingly.Results: At the supra-threshold level, significantly shorter wave V latencies were found in females than in males (p = 0.029). This difference was substantive (d = 0.86) and persisted even when the head size was included in the analysis (p = 0.032). In contrast, no significant differences in ABR thresholds were found between genders (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Significant gender differences in ABR results among young adults were only found at the supra-threshold level, which were not related to the head size. Based on the study outcomes, gender-specific normative data for ABR are still beneficial for clinical applications, particularly when recording ABR at high stimulation levels.

Pure tone average (low) is significantly but minimally related to measure of general cognitive status. Similar relationship is not observed between high-frequency hearing and cognition. Further research using a more comprehensive cognitive test battery is needed to confirm the lack of association between high-frequency hearing and cognition.