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Associations of Hearing Sensitivity, Higher-Order Auditory Processing, and Cognition Over Time in Middle-Aged Adults.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Age-related hearing loss (impairment in hearing sensitivity and/or higher-order auditory processing) and cognitive decline are common co-occurring impairments in elderly adults. Their relation in the process of aging remains insufficiently understood. We aim to assess the temporal relations of decline in hearing sensitivity, higher-order auditory processing, and cognition in middle-aged adults. METHODS:This study included 1,274 Beaver Dam Offspring Study participants who participated in three examinations (baseline, 5-year, and 10-year follow-up). We assessed hearing sensitivity through pure-tone audiometry (PTA, averaged thresholds of 0.5, 1, 2, 4 kHz of the better ear), higher-order auditory processing as word recognition in competing message (WRCM) using the Northwestern University 6 word list in the better ear, and cognition through trail-making test performance (TMT). Linear mixed-effects models and linear regression models were used to determine associations over time and to what extent these measures influence each other over time. RESULTS:The longitudinal decline between all functions was associated with the strongest relationships between PTA and WRCM. The effect of baseline PTA on WRCM 10 years later (standardized ß = -.30) was almost twice as big as the effect of baseline WRCM on PTA 10 years later (standardized ß = -.18). The effect of baseline WRCM on TMT 10 years later and vice versa were small (standardized ß = -.05). No directional relationship between PTA and TMT was identified (standardized ß ? .02). CONCLUSIONS:While hearing sensitivity might affect higher-order auditory processing, associations between hearing and cognition appear bidirectional and weak in midlife. We need to be cautious before inferring causal effects of hearing on cognition.

SUBMITTER: Merten N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7328209 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Associations of Hearing Sensitivity, Higher-Order Auditory Processing, and Cognition Over Time in Middle-Aged Adults.

Merten Natascha N Fischer Mary E ME Tweed Ted S TS Breteler Monique M B MMB Cruickshanks Karen J KJ

The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences 20200201 3

<h4>Background</h4>Age-related hearing loss (impairment in hearing sensitivity and/or higher-order auditory processing) and cognitive decline are common co-occurring impairments in elderly adults. Their relation in the process of aging remains insufficiently understood. We aim to assess the temporal relations of decline in hearing sensitivity, higher-order auditory processing, and cognition in middle-aged adults.<h4>Methods</h4>This study included 1,274 Beaver Dam Offspring Study participants wh ...[more]

PMID: 31418812

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Project description:Hearing loss with increasing age adversely affects the ability to understand speech, an effect that results partly from reduced audibility. The aims of this study were to establish whether aging reduces speech intelligibility for listeners with normal audiograms, and, if so, to assess the relative contributions of auditory temporal and cognitive processing. Twenty-one older normal-hearing (ONH; 60-79 years) participants with bilateral audiometric thresholds ? 20 dB HL at 0.125-6 kHz were matched to nine young (YNH; 18-27 years) participants in terms of mean audiograms, years of education, and performance IQ. Measures included: (1) identification of consonants in quiet and in noise that was unmodulated or modulated at 5 or 80 Hz; (2) identification of sentences in quiet and in co-located or spatially separated two-talker babble; (3) detection of modulation of the temporal envelope (TE) at frequencies 5-180 Hz; (4) monaural and binaural sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS); (5) various cognitive tests. Speech identification was worse for ONH than YNH participants in all types of background. This deficit was not reflected in self-ratings of hearing ability. Modulation masking release (the improvement in speech identification obtained by amplitude modulating a noise background) and spatial masking release (the benefit obtained from spatially separating masker and target speech) were not affected by age. Sensitivity to TE and TFS was lower for ONH than YNH participants, and was correlated positively with speech-in-noise (SiN) identification. Many cognitive abilities were lower for ONH than YNH participants, and generally were correlated positively with SiN identification scores. The best predictors of the intelligibility of SiN were composite measures of cognition and TFS sensitivity. These results suggest that declines in speech perception in older persons are partly caused by cognitive and perceptual changes separate from age-related changes in audiometric sensitivity.

Dataset Information

Associations of Hearing Sensitivity, Higher-Order Auditory Processing, and Cognition Over Time in Middle-Aged Adults.

Publications

Associations of Hearing Sensitivity, Higher-Order Auditory Processing, and Cognition Over Time in Middle-Aged Adults.

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