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Thirty-six males between the ages of 50 and 86 were given pure-tone and speech tests and three tests of simple reaction time to evaluate the relation of auditory sensitivity and reaction time performance to discrimination ability. Impairment in puretone sensitivity, primarily for high frequencies, speech reception threshold, and discrimination score, as well as an increase in reaction time was found with increasing age. Multiple regression analyses indicated that 72% of the variability in discrimination score could be accounted for on the basis of the pure-tone thresholds at 250 and 1000 Hz and tactile and auditory reaction times. The findings are interpreted as suggesting that auditory sensitivity problems evidenced by the aged may be accounted for on the basis of peripheral mechanical, sensory, and neural factors, while the discrimination problem is a composite of both peripheral and central factors.

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