The comparison of dichotic hearing in elderly and young subjects by Dichotic Digit Test

Most of the elderly have trouble in speech understanding especially in the presence of competitive sounds compared with the young and this is partly as a result of (central) auditory processing disorder, particularly dichotic hearing problems. The aim of the current study was investigating and comparing the dichotic hearing processing in old and young age groups by two-pair dichotic digit test. This cross-sectional study was implemented by Persian version of two-pair dichotic digit test on 28 young subjects (18-28 years old) and 27 old subjects (60-80 years old) from both genders. All participants had normal peripheral hearing and right-handedness. Next, right and left ear results were compared in focused and divided attention conditions. Dichotic digit test scores in 3 attentional conditions in two age groups showed significant difference (p-value<0.001). There was dichotic hearing dysfunction in old age group in all the three attentional conditions, especially in left ear attention. Ear asymmetry was larger for the elderly.