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Noise Affects Performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Kate Dupuis ,
Veronica Marchuk  and
M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller
Kate Dupuis*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Veronica Marchuk
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
M. Kathleen Pichora-Fuller
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Rotman Research Institute, Toronto
*
†La correspondance et les demandes de tire-à-part doivent être adressées à: / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Kate Dupuis, Ph.D., C.Psych. Department of Audiology Baycrest Health Sciences 3560 Bathurst Toronto, ON M6A 2E1 (kdupuis@baycrest.org)
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Abstract

We investigated the effect of background noise on performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Two groups of older adults (one with clinically normal hearing, one with hearing loss) and a younger adult group with clinically normal hearing were administered two versions of the MoCA under headphones in low and high levels of background noise. Intensity levels used to present the test were customized based on the hearing abilities of participants with hearing loss to yield a uniform level of difficulty across listeners in the high-level noise condition. Both older groups had poorer MoCA scores in noise than the younger group. Importantly, all participants had poorer MoCA scores in the high-noise (M = 22.7/30) compared to the low-noise condition (M = 25.7/30, p < .001). Results suggest that background noise in the test environment should be considered when cognitive tests are conducted and results interpreted, especially when testing older adults.

Résumé

L’objectif était d’investiguer l’impact de la présence d’un bruit de fond sur la performance au Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Deux versions du MoCA ont été administrées, utilisant écouteurs, avec des niveaux bas et élevés de bruit de fond à deux groupes de personnes âgées (un groupe présentant une audition cliniquement normale, le second présentant une perte d’audition) ainsi qu’à un groupe de jeunes adultes. Les niveaux d’intensité utilisés pour présenter la parole et le bruit étaient personnalisés en fonction des habiletés des participants présentant une perte de l’ouïe, et ce en vue de créer un niveau de difficulté uniforme à travers les participants dans la condition de bruit plus élevé. Les deux groupes de personnes âgées ont obtenu des scores plus faibles au MoCA en comparaison aux jeunes adultes. Il est également important de souligner que tous les participants ont obtenu des scores plus faibles au MoCA lorsque le test était administré dans un contexte de bruit élevé (M = 22,7/30), en comparaison à un contexte de bruit faible (M = 25,7/30, p < .001). Ces résultats suggèrent que le bruit de fond présent dans un contexte d’évaluation devrait être pris en considération au moment de l’administration de tests cognitifs ainsi que dans l’interprétation des résultats, en particulier lors de l’essai des adultes plus âgés.

Keywords

agingcognitive screeningenvironmental noisehearing lossvieillissementdépistage cognitifbruit environmentalperte d’audition
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 298 - 307
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Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2016 

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