Objective: The study aimed to investigate the influence of subcortical auditory processing and cognitive measures on cocktail party listening in younger and older adults with normal hearing sensitivity.Design: Tests administered included quick speech perception in noise test to assess cocktail party listening, speech auditory brainstem response to assess subcortical auditory processing and digit span, digit sequencing and spatial selective attention test to assess cognitive processing.Study sample: A total of 92 participants with normal hearing sensitivity participated in the study. They were divided into two groups: 52 young adults (20–40 years) and 40 older adults (60–80 years).Results: The older adults performed significantly poorer than, the younger adults on the quick speech perception in noise test and various cognitive measures. Further, cognitive measures correlated with speech perception in noise in younger and older adults. The results of this study also showed that there was a significant deterioration in brainstem encoding of speech with ageing. Further, it was also noted that the fundamental frequency of the speech auditory brainstem response correlated with speech perception in noise.Conclusions: It can be concluded from this study that subcortical auditory processing and cognitive measures play a role in cocktail party listening.