Background:This work studied, in individuals with normal hearing, the perception of time-compressed speech, compression ratio, and speech perception in noise using phonemically balanced (PB) word lists in Kannada. The effect of age was also studied.Material and Methods: Participants were 29 young and middle-aged adults (native Kannada speakers) aged 15 to 50 years. The Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) test was administered at signal to noise ratios (SNRs) of +5 dB, 0 dB, –5 dB, and in quiet. The Time-Compressed Speech Test (TCST) was administered on all participants at compression ratios of 0%, 40%, 50%, and 60%.Results:Young adults performed better than middle-aged adults in both the TCST and SPIN tests. As difficulty levels rose, performance decreased in both tests.Conclusions:Even in individuals with normal hearing, ageing has a deleterious effect on the performance of the central auditory processing system, which is necessary for speech perception under adverse listening conditions.