The Effects of Hearing Loss and Aging on Driving Ability
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Date
2023-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The operation of a motor vehicle is a demanding process requiring quick reaction times and an
ability to effectively pay attention to multiple variables, which are changing over time. It is
important that all drivers on the road are able to carry out this process safely, as to not put others
in danger. Cognitive resources are responsible for facilitating this process and decrements in
these resources, due to aging or hearing loss, have been found to make the operation of a motor
vehicle more difficult and dangerous. Previous work assessing the effect of hearing loss on
driving has been complicated by the fact that most of the participants have been older, making it
unclear whether performance impacts are due to hearing loss, aging, or a combination of the two.
The present study addressed whether the increased difficulty for driving operation is due to
hearing loss, aging, or a combination of both variables. A total of forty participants were asked to
drive a simulated course in a 6-degree-of-freedom motion base driving simulator while
simultaneously performing situational awareness and speech-in-noise tasks. The forty
participants included 10 young adults (18-35 years old) with normal hearing, 10 young adults
with hearing impairment, 10 older adults (55-75 years old) normal hearing, and 10 older adults
with hearing impairment. The speech-in-noise task required the participants to repeat the last
word of 50 high-predictability and 50 low-predictability sentences, presented in controlled
background noise. The situational awareness task required the participants to accurately identify
horizontally striped cubes (1m x1m x1m black/white cube), while ignoring cubes of the same
size and color with vertical stripes, randomly located in the scenario. Unexpected challenges,
such as other vehicles cutting off the driver or objects falling onto the road, were incorporated
throughout the drive. Mechanics of driving such as lane-keeping, speed, and reaction time were
also assessed among all groups. Testing is currently in progress, and preliminary results show
few significant differences across groups on the speech in noise task, the situational awareness
visual task, or the driving measures. Possible explanations for the failure to find large
differences due to age or hearing impairment are discussed
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Keywords
Hearing Loss, Driving, Aging, Cognitive workload