How Listening to and Remembering Accented and Non-Accented Speech Influences Walking Mechanics

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to identify age-related differences in the ability to understand and remember Spanish-accented and non-accented speech while participants were sitting and while they were walking, and to examine how listening to Spanish-accented and non-accented speech influences walking mechanics. DESIGN: Groups of younger, middle-aged, and older adult participants (n = 20/group) listened to and repeated back non-accented and Spanish-accented sentences while they sat and while they walked. They were also asked to recall the last word of each sentence at the end of blocks of five sentences. Walking mechanics (gait speed, step width, and mediolateral head acceleration-a measure of body sway) were assessed using a 14-camera motion capture system. RESULTS: Participants recognized the non-accented sentences with greater accuracy than the accented sentences, with no significant effects of age group or sitting versus walking on speech recognition performance. Older participants' ability to remember accented speech was better when sitting than while walking. Middle-aged and older (but not younger) participants walked more slowly when listening to accented speech, as compared with when walking while not listening. Mediolateral head acceleration was greater for older adults when they were listening to accented speech while walking versus when they were just walking. CONCLUSIONS: Middle-aged and older adults were able to understand accented speech while walking with accuracy similar to younger listeners, but their walking mechanics changed in ways that were not noted in younger participants. This cohort of middle-aged and older individuals slowed their walking in response to the greater listening demands imposed by Spanish-accented speech. These results suggest that reaching a high level of speech recognition performance was more effortful for middle-aged and older adults than for younger adults and that, in situations where middle-aged and older people are walking while engaged in a challenging listening task, walking mechanics are changed.