Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 15, 2025
Evaluation of Hemisphere Lateralization with Bilateral Local Field Potential Recording in Secondary Motor Cortex of Mice
Published on: July 31, 2019
The Association Between Early Age-Related Hearing Loss and Brain β-Amyloid
Justin S Golub1, Rahul K Sharma1, Brady Q Rippon2
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Objectives/Hypothesis:
To analyze the association between early audiometric age-related hearing loss and brain β-amyloid, the pathologic hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Study Design:
Cross-sectional analysis of a prospective cohort study.
Methods:
A cross-sectional analysis was performed on 98 participants in a cohort study of hearing and brain biomarkers of AD. The primary outcome was whole brain β-amyloid standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) on positron emission tomography (PET). The exposure was hearing, as measured by either pure-tone average or word recognition score in the better ear. Covariates included age, gender, education, cardiovascular disease, and hearing aid use. Linear regression was performed to analyze the association between β-amyloid and hearing, adjusting for potentially confounding covariates.
Results:
The mean age ± standard deviation was 64.6 ± 3.5 years. In multivariable regression, adjusting for demographics, education, cardiovascular disease, and hearing aid use, whole brain β-amyloid SUVR increased by 0.029 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.003-0.056) for every 10 dB increase in pure-tone average (P = .030). Similarly, whole brain β-amyloid SUVR increased by 0.061 (95% CI: 0.009-0.112) for every 10% increase in word recognition score (P = .012).
Conclusions:
Worsening hearing was associated with higher β-amyloid burden, a pathologic hallmark of AD, measured in vivo with PET scans.
Level Of Evidence:
3 Laryngoscope, 131:633-638, 2021.
