INTRODUÇÃO: A perda auditiva relacionada à idade provoca diversas alterações, como dificuldade na percepção dos sons e na compreensão da fala, principalmente em ambientes desfavoráveis. O envelhecimento também pode ocasionar alteração no sistema nervoso central, acarretando redução na capacidade intelectual e/ou cognitiva e deterioração de outras funções sensoriais. Além disso, evidências científicas apontam uma associação entre a perda auditiva e a alteração da cognição, sendo de extrema importância que os profissionais estejam atentos a esta relação para que ocorra sucesso na reabilitação auditiva. OBJETIVO: Verificar a influência de habilidades cognitivas verbais no teste de percepção de fala no ruído em idosos com perda auditiva sensorioneural e relacionar a classificação socioeconômica, a escolaridade, o grau de perda auditiva e o nível intelectual-cognitivo na percepção de fala no ruído competitivo MÉTODO: Estudo do tipo observacional e transversal. Participaram 36 idosos com idade entre 60 e 89 anos com diagnóstico de perda auditiva sensorioneural bilateral, divididos em (GI) 24 idosos sem alteração cognitiva e (GII) 12 idosos com alteração cognitiva. Foram submetidos a avaliação otorrinolaringológica, a avaliação psicológica por meio do Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Adults (WAISIII), a entrevista audiológica inicial, a audiometria tonal liminar, a logoaudiometria, a imitanciometria, a avaliação da percepção de fala no ruído com o Hearing in Noise Test (HINT-Brasil) e a avaliação da integração binaural por meio do teste dicótico de dígitos. A análise estatística foi realizada por meio dos seguintes testes: Teste U de Mann-Whitney para comparação entre os grupos, Correlação de Spearman e Kruskal-Wallis para verificação da influência das variáveis idade, grau da perda auditiva, nível de escolaridade, configuração audiométrica e relação entre os resultados do HINT-Brasil e o WAIS-III. RESULTADOS: Houve diferença entre os grupos no desempenho do HINTBrasil apenas na condição ruído à esquerda, mostrando vantagem da orelha direita na percepção de fala no ruído. A idade, o grau da perda auditiva e o nível de escolaridade influenciaram na percepção de fala no ruído. Houve influência da idade, do nível de escolaridade e da classificação socioeconômica no WAIS-III. Não foi observada correlação entre o teste dicótico dígitos, o teste de percepção de fala no ruído e o desempenho da função cognitiva, ou entre o teste de percepção de fala no ruído e as habilidades cognitivas verbais. CONCLUSÃO: Não houve influência das habilidades cognitivas verbais na habilidade de percepção de fala no ruído nos idosos com perda auditiva sensorioneural de grau leve e moderado de acordo com análise estatística. A idade, o grau da perda auditiva e o nível de escolaridade influenciaram na percepção de fala no ruído, e nas habilidades cognitivas verbais houve interferência da idade, do nível de escolaridade e da classificação socioeconômica. / INTRODUCTION: Age-related hearing loss causes several changes such as difficulty in perceiving sounds and understanding speech, especially in unfavorable environments. Aging can also cause changes to the central nervous system, reducing intellectual and/or cognitive capacity and impairing other sensory functions. In addition, scientific evidence points to an association between hearing loss and altered cognition, and it is extremely important that professionals are attentive to that so they can offer successful auditory rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE: Verify the influence of verbal cognitive abilities on the speech-in-noise perception test in the elderly with sensorineural hearing loss and to relate socioeconomic classification, schooling, degree of hearing loss and intellectual-cognitive level in speech perception in competitive noise. METHODS: This is an observational and cross-sectional study. The participants are 36 elderly subjects aged 60-90 years old diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and were divided in (GI) 24 elderly subjects with no cognitive alterations and (GII) 12 elderly subjects with cognitive alteration. They were submitted to otorhinolaryngological evaluation, psychological evaluation through the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Adults (WAISIII), initial audiological interview, pure tone audiometry, logoaudiometry, immitanciometry, evaluation of speech perception in noise with the Brazilian Hearing in Noise Test (HINT-Brazil), and evaluation of binaural integration through the dichotic digits test. The statistical analysis was carried out through the following tests: Mann-Whitney U test for comparing between groups, Spearman and Kruskal- Wallis correlation for checking the influence of the variables age, degree of hearing loss, educational level, audiometric configuration and relation between the results of HINT-Brazil and WAIS-III. RESULTS: There was a difference between groups in the speech perception test with the condition left noise, showing an advantage in the right ear regarding speech-in-noise perception. Age, degree of hearing loss, and level of schooling influenced the speech-in-noise perception. Age, level of schooling, and socio-economic classification influenced the WAIS-III. No correlation was found between the dichotic digits test, the speech-in-noise perception test, and the performance of cognitive function, or between the speech-innoise perception test and the verbal cognitive abilities. CONCLUSION: There was no influence of verbal cognitive abilities on the ability of speech perception in noise in the elderly with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss according to statistical analysis. Age, degree of hearing loss and level of schooling influenced the speechin- noise perception, and in verbal cognitive abilities there was interference of age, level of-schooling and socioeconomic classification.

This study explores whether hours listening to music of young adults with self-reported normal hearing is associated with auditory working memory and if hours listening to music and auditory working memory can predict speech-in-noise perception. Thirty native Swedish speaking university students with self-reported normal hearing in the ages ranging from 21 to 29 years old (M= 23.2) participated in filling out a self-reporting questionnaire concerning their listening habits, a listening span test and a speech-in-noise test. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was performed. The results did not suggest a significant correlation between hours listening to music and auditory working memory nor did it indicate that hours listening to music and auditory working memory could significantly predict speech-in-noise perception. These insignificant findings might be due to several reasons including methodological issues such as the sample size, communication difficulties due to poor internet connection and/or the use of self-reported answers. These results and the arguments presented in the discussion indicate that further research is needed to better answer the research questions of the current study.

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Ce travail s’est intéressé au traitement sous cortical de la parole dégradée par le bruit, notamment par la caractérisation première de l’importance de certains traits acoustiques dans la perception de la parole normale. Pour cela, nous avons d’abord participé à la mise au point de la technique électrophysiologique de potentiels évoqués auditifs obtenus en réponse à des sons de parole, technique proche de celle des potentiels évoqués auditifs précoces, mais qui a des exigences propres en matière de traitement du signal et de techniques de recueil, qui nécessitent une adaptation importante de part la nature différente des stimuli français par rapport aux stimuli anglais utilisés par l’équipe de référence américaine. Les différents axes de notre recherche ont, par ailleurs, permis de mettre en évidence l’importance de l’encodage sous cortical de certaines caractéristiques acoustiques telles que l’enveloppe temporelle, le voisement, mettant par là même en évidence un possible effet corticofuge sur l’encodage de celui-ci. Ces différentes expériences nous ont amenés à nous poser la question des conditions idéales de recueil des PEASP, et notamment l’effet de l’intensité sur le recueil de ceux-ci, mettant en évidence une relation non-linéaire entre l’intensité de stimulation, et les caractéristiques des PEAPSP. Si une intensité de 20 dB SL semble nécessaire au recueil d’un PEAPSP, les réponses montrent une variabilité qui reste très grande à l’échelon individuel, ce qui rend l’utilisation de l’outil PEAPSP à visée diagnostique, que ce soit dans les troubles du langage chez l’enfant, ou dans les troubles de l’audition dans le bruit, difficile. / The major purpose of my thesis was the investigation of brainstem structures implications into speech in noise processing, particularly by identifying the impact of acoustic cues on normal speech perception. Firstly, we were involved in the engineering of the speech auditory brainstem responses (SABR) recording system. SABR are similar to brainstem auditory evoked responses to clicks, but require different acquisition and signal processing set-ups, due to the difference between the French and the American stimuli used by the American reference team. The different studies presented here, permitted to emphasize the role of brainstem structures into the subcortical processing of acoustical cues, such as the temporal enveloppe, or the voicing, with a possible evidence of a corticofugal effect on SABR. These experimentations lead us to a more fundamental question on the best conditions required for PEASP collection, in particular, the best stimulation intensity needed. The results of the experiment on intensity effect showed a non linear relation between the stimulation intensity and PEASP characteristics. Even if an intensity of only 20 dB SL seems enough for SABR recording, individual results are still highly variable so that diagnostic application of SABR on, for example, children with language learning problems or subject suffering from speech in noise perception impairment remains difficult.