Auditory Processing but Not Peripheral Hearing Differs Between Older Adults With and Without Mild Cognitive...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Audiology
• Gerontology

Background:

• Hearing and auditory processing (AP) impairments are potential risk factors for dementia.
• It remains unclear if individuals with clinically diagnosed mild cognitive impairment (MCI) exhibit these auditory impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare auditory processing (AP) between individuals with and without a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
• To investigate specific AP domains including temporal processing, binaural processing, and degraded speech understanding.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 274 older adults participating in the Keys to Staying Sharp randomized clinical trial.
• Administration of a comprehensive battery of AP measures assessing three key domains.
• Inclusion of covariates such as age, sex, and race in multivariate analyses of covariance.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were found in binaural processing between individuals with and without MCI (p ≤ .006).
• No significant differences were observed in temporal processing or degraded speech understanding (p ≥ .093).
• Peripheral pure-tone hearing averages did not significantly differ between groups after adjusting for covariates (p ≥ .292).

Conclusions:

• Auditory processing in the binaural domain is impaired in individuals with MCI.
• Impaired binaural processing may indicate attentional difficulties and potential dementia risk.
• Findings have clinical implications for early detection and intervention strategies for cognitive impairment.