Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2014; 18 - a2174
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1388981

Influence of Age and Sex in Recognition of Speech in Silence

Bruno Francisco de Fraga 1, Cristina Loureiro Chaves Soldera 1, Deisi Cristina Gollo Marques Vidor 1, Isabela Hoffmeister Menegotto 1, Simone Soares Echeveste 1
  • 1Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre

Introduction: Speech recognition is fundamental to the human communication. It also plays the role of enabling the subject to the interaction in social relations.

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of advancing age and sex on speech recognition in quiet, comparing the performance between dissyllabic and monosyllabic words.

Methods: The study sample was derived from an audiometry service which contained the exam results from 25,590 subjects. With the inclusion criteria applied, the resulting sample was of 1,642 test results, which were divided into eight groups according to age and two groups regarding sex, in order to perform the necessary analysis.

Results: It was found a worsening in speech recognition in quiet with advancing age. In the comparison between the sexes, the analysis of the speech recognition index for monosyllabic words revealed statistically superior average performance for women in the left ear. Moreover, in both the testing of monosyllabic and dissyllabic words, women had results that showed better performance in the left ear compared to right ear, which is a significant result from the statistical standpoint compared to men.

Conclusion: Age and sex showed up as factors that influence performance in speech recognition. The more advanced the age, the worse is the performance of the individual in the test. Women presented results that have revealed better performance than men.

Keywords: aging, hearing loss, sensorineural, audiometry, speech.