There is a point of pure delight on a Christmas morning. Presents are being shared and opened. Carols may be playing. Children are still excited. The noise is joyous. (it may deteriorate later!)
Think of the Poor Grandparents.
Obviously, we want to talk to people. Sometimes we can do this in a quiet corner. Other times we are in the middle of the crowded room. The noise level rises automatically. The Lombard effect means we speak louder and articulate more clearly. This is a subconscious effect that means we compete to try and get our words heard. As different groups try to communicate the noise level automatically rises(See Newsletter #16 The White Crowned Sparrow).
All of this makes Christmas morning into the most challenging environment for communication. We all have a wonderful ability known as the “cocktail party” effect. We can talk in a crowded noisy room to a single person. Our brain can screen out everyone else.
Young people have trouble dealing with the complexity of a party of people talking. For an older person the problems become even more acute. In general, our ability to process such complex auditory situations matures during our childhood. It peaks sometime in early adulthood. After that a series of factors conspire to make it more and more difficult to make sense of the situation.
In a previous newsletter I described the three key processes. We need to be able to recognize the voice of the person to whom we wish to talk. We need to isolate that voice in space. We need to know exactly from where they are speaking. Finally, our brain has to separate that voice from all that background noise.
For many, age means a loss of the high frequency sounds. We have trouble hearing the birds sing. More importantly certain consonants are high frequency and can be lost. This makes it difficult to make sense of speech, to recognize who is speaking. Out spatial hearing can fail. We cannot work out where sounds are coming from. It has been suggested that this is because our sound thresholds rise. Spatial hearing depends on detecting very small differences between when sound arrives at each ear. A problem in one ear can increase the amount of mental effort needed to create a “sound picture”. Cognitively we seem to have more trouble marshalling the capacity to pull one voice out of many.
Helping Out
1. Face an older person when talking to them. There is no need to speak slowly or loudly (they are not stupid). Seeing you and your lips will often help.
2. Don’t expect long distance conversations. It is more difficult to screen out background noises and voices across a dinner table.
3. Choose your moments. Better not to start a conversation at peak noise.
4. Give an older person time. It takes a while for their “cocktail party” ability to warm up.
5. Spot when they “sign out”. If the audio picture is too complex people will stop trying. They often do not mention it. Instead, they will send a different signal. They will pick up a newspaper or turn on an audiobook. Look for the signs and bring them back in.