Recent studies have shown that age is the cause of changes in sound perception. It turns out that the older a person becomes, the more in the matter of understanding what he has heard, he is also guided by the visual picture of what is happening.
In order to prove this theory, researchers at the University of Nottingham conducted an experiment in which children of different ages, as well as their parents, took part. The invitees were divided into 4 groups. In three of them there were exclusively children (3-6, 7-9, 10-12 years old), and in the last one there were adults from 20 to 35 years old. They all played a game whose main task was to determine the sound.
Ultimately, it turned out that children 3-9 years old, completing the task, were guided exclusively by their hearing. The older guys have already reinforced what they heard with a visual component. In adults, this was even more pronounced.
This effect, which forces a person to rely not only on hearing, but also on sight in order to process sound information, is called the McGurk effect. And the researchers concluded that he makes itself felt from the age of 10. Later it develops even more strongly. In the future, this can negatively affect auditory function, due to deterioration of vision. After all, people continue to rely on him more and more.
Dmitry Kornienko
