Sound-offset encoding is related to speech-in-noise perception at sentence level in older adults

Area of Science:

• Auditory Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Gerontology

Background:

• Auditory temporal processing, including sound-onset and sound-offset encoding, is vital for speech perception, especially in noisy environments.
• Understanding age-related changes in auditory processing is crucial for addressing challenges faced by older adults in real-world listening situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the brain activity (EEG) related to active sound-offset encoding in older adults.
• To examine the relationship between active sound-offset encoding and real-world speech-in-noise abilities.

Main Methods:

• 34 older adults (60-81 years) completed hearing tests and speech-in-noise assessments.
• Electroencephalography (EEG) recorded brain responses during active and passive listening tasks.
• Analysis focused on the amplitude differences of onset and offset responses.

Main Results:

• Robust single-subject onset and offset responses were observed.
• Active listening tasks showed larger sound-offset responses compared to passive listening, suggesting attentional modulation.
• Active sound-offset response amplitudes correlated significantly with sentence-level, but not word-level, speech-in-noise performance.

Conclusions:

• Sound-offset encoding is influenced by attention and may play a role in speech segregation.
• Active EEG measures of sound-offset encoding show potential as a clinical tool for assessing auditory cognition in older adults.
• These findings highlight the importance of offset processing for understanding sentence-level speech-in-noise perception in aging.