Peripheral Hearing and Cognition

Abstract

Research has increasingly suggested a consistent relationship between peripheral hearing and selected measures of cognition in older adults. However, other studies yield conflicting findings. Objectives The primary purpose of the present study was to further elucidate the relationship between peripheral hearing and three domains of cognition and one measure of global cognitive status. It was hypothesized that peripheral hearing loss would be significantly associated with poorer performance across measures of cognition, even after adjusting for documented risk factors. No study to date has examined the relationship between peripheral hearing and such an extensive array of cognitive measures. Design 894 older adult participants from the Staying Keen in Later Life study cohort were eligible, agreed to participate, and completed the baseline evaluation. Inclusion criteria were minimal to include a sample of older adults with a wide range of sensory and cognitive abilities. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the extent to which peripheral hearing predicted performance on a global measure of cognitive status, as well as multiple cognitive measures in the domains of speed of processing (Digit Symbol Substitution and Copy, Trail-Making Test Part A, Letter and Pattern Comparison, and Useful Field of View), executive function (Trail-Making Test Part B and Stroop Color-Word Interference Task), and memory (Digit Span, Spatial Span, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test). Results Peripheral hearing, measured as the three-frequency PTA in the better ear, accounted for a significant, but minimal, amount of the variance in measures of speed of processing, executive function, and memory, as well as global cognitive status. Alternative measures of hearing (i.e., three-frequency PTAs in the right and left ears and a bilateral, six-frequency PTA [three frequencies per ear]) yielded similar findings across measures of cognition and did not alter the study outcomes in any meaningful way. Conclusions Consistent with literature suggesting a significant relationship between peripheral hearing and cognition, and in agreement with our hypothesis, peripheral hearing was significantly related to ten out of eleven measures of cognition that assessed processing speed, executive function, or memory, as well as global cognitive status. Although evidence, including the present results, suggests a relationship between peripheral hearing and cognition, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Examination of these mechanisms is a critical need in order to direct appropriate treatment.

Cortical Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Function in Early-Stage, Mild-Moderate Hearing Loss: Evidence of Neurocognitive Benefit From Hearing Aid Use

“…The untreated ARHL group exhibited significantly poorer cognitive performance across the domains of global cognitive function, executive function, processing speed, visual working memory, and auditory working memory compared to the NH group at baseline. Poorer global cognitive outcomes in ARHL have been reported in previous cross-sectional studies (Lindenberger and Baltes, 1994;Baltes and Lindenberger, 1997;Gussekloo et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2011Lin et al, , 2013Deal et al, 2015;Dupuis et al, 2015;Harrison Bush et al, 2015) and cohort studies (Gallacher et al, 2012;Lin et al, 2013;Deal et al, 2015;Hong et al, 2016). Impairments on measures of executive functioning have been previously reported in ARHL cohorts (Gates et al, 1996(Gates et al, , 2010Lin et al, 2013).…”

“…Impairments on measures of executive functioning have been previously reported in ARHL cohorts (Gates et al, 1996(Gates et al, , 2010Lin et al, 2013). ARHL is also associated with slower processing speeds (Clark, 1960;Anstey et al, 2001;Valentijn et al, 2005;Lindenberger and Ghisletta, 2009;Lin, 2011;Lin et al, 2011Lin et al, , 2013Gallacher et al, 2012;Deal et al, 2015Deal et al, , 2017Bucks et al, 2016) and deficits in working memory (Anstey and Smith, 1999;Hofer et al, 2003;MacDonald et al, 2004;Harrison Bush et al, 2015;Bucks et al, 2016) relative to NH adults. In our study auditory speech perception and cognitive performance was significantly associated with visual cross-modal re-organization, such that earlier latencies (considered a marker of visual crossmodal recruitment of auditory cortex for visual processing) was associated with poorer auditory speech perception and cognitive performance.…”

The Longitudinal Impact of Hearing Impairment on Cognition Differs According to Cognitive Domain

“…Several theories of the possible mechanisms of the hearing-cognition relationship have been proposed as follows: (1) the sensory deprivation hypothesis, which argues that perceptual decline causes more permanent cognitive decline; (2) the information degradation hypothesis; (3) the cognitive-load-on-perception hypothesis, which suggests that impaired encoding by the cochlea may require extra cognitive processing effort, limiting the effort available for encoding the content of speech into memory (this increasing cognitive load due to HI has been termed effortful listening ; Deal et al (2015)); and (4) the common-cause hypothesis, in which a third factor causes decline in both hearing and cognition (Committee on Hearing, 1988; Harrison Bush et al, 2015; Wayne and Johnsrude, 2015). …”

Sensation and Psychiatry: Linking Age-Related Hearing Loss to Late-Life Depression and Cognitive Decline

“…In the Health Aging and Body Composition Study (N=1,984 subjects with available audiometric and cognitive data), participants having baseline hearing impairment (pure tone average >25dB) demonstrated significantly greater rates of cognitive decline on the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination and Digit Symbol Substitution Test over 6 years’ follow-up (3). Other studies investigating performance within specific cognitive domains (e.g., processing speed, executive functioning, episodic memory) as opposed to global measures of cognition have reported modest associations with hearing loss across all domains (18). …”