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Abstract

Listening situations with multiple talkers or background noise are common in everyday communication and
are particularly demanding for older adults. Here we review current research on auditory perception in aging
individuals in order to gain insights into the challenges of listening under noisy conditions.
Informationally rich temporal structure in auditory signals
–
over a range of time scales from milliseconds to
seconds
–
renders temporal processing central to perception in the auditory domain. We discuss the role of
temporal structure in auditory processing, in particular from a perspective relevant for hearing in background
noise, and focusing on sensory memory, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception.
Interestingly, these auditory processes, usually studied in an independent manner, show considerable overlap of
processing time scales, even though each has its own
‘
privileged
’
temporal regimes. By integrating perspectives
on temporal structure processing in these three areas of investigation, we aim to highlight similarities typically
not recognized.