Dynamic brain functional connectivity in age-related hearing loss during auditory selective spatial attention

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a common health problem that impairs auditory perception. However, the dynamic patterns of brain functional connectivity in ARHL during auditory spatial selective attention have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, 32 older adults were recruited to investigate the dynamic brain functional connectivity in ARHL. First, an experimental paradigm for auditory spatial selective attention was designed, and neural electrical signals were recorded using electroencephalography. Then, a multilayer time-varying brain network was constructed based on multiple time windows, equally dividing each epoch signal to capture dynamic functional connectivity across time scales. Finally, the core layer brain network was identified by the multilayer time-varying brain network properties to investigate the changing patterns of network topology. Behavioral analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the severity of hearing loss and auditory spatial selective attention performance. Multilayer time-varying brain network analysis revealed that worsening hearing loss was found to lead to increased inter-layer connectivity strength, decreased multilayer modularity and a higher participation coefficient. This suggests that the brain compensates by weakening the independence of local functional modules and enhancing cross-interaction. Core layer analysis further highlighted the critical role of the right parietal lobe in auditory spatial selective attention. It also suggested that connectivity between the right prefrontal and frontal lobes may play a compensatory role in ARHL. In conclusion, these findings provide important neuroscientific insights into the dynamic brain functional connectivity of ARHL, and potential biomarkers and time windows for the development of precision auditory rehabilitation strategies.