The Genetic contribution to solving the cocktail-party problem

Mathias, Samuel R.; Knowles, Emma; Mollon, Josephine; Rodrigue, Amanda; Woolsey, Mary K.; Hernandez, Alyssa M.; Garrett, Amy; Fox, Peter T.; Olvera, Rene L.; Peralta, Juan M.; Kumar, Satish; Göring, Harald H.H.; Duggirala, Ravi; Curran, Joanne E.; Blangero, John; Glahn, David C.

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104997

Cited by 1 publication

(13 citation statements)

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“…The phenotypic correlation between SRTs and HTs was positive, indicating that larger (worse) SRTs were associated with larger (worse) HTs, and significantly different from 0 at the FDR-corrected level [ρ P = 0.311;

= 35.8; p = 2.14 × 10 −9 ; p FDR = 1.06 × 10 −8 ]. This is consistent with our previous study ( 24 ).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

“…Table 1 shows narrow-sense heritability estimates for all traits. SRT and HT heritability estimates ( h 2 = 0.553 and h 2 =0.337, respectively) were extremely similar to those we reported previously in a slightly smaller sample of the same listeners ( 24 ). Cognitive measures had a range of heritabilities, with orientation being the weakest ( h 2 = 0.239) and WTAR being the strongest ( h 2 = 0.770).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…For several reasons outlined in our previous article ( 24 ), we opted to develop a novel cocktail-party listening task using synthetic speech and time-reversed maskers. Briefly, the task was time-efficient, as listeners made multiple responses to a single brief sentence per trial [cf.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As described in our previous article ( 24 ), the hearing test measured HTs for 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, and 12.5-KHz pure tones in both ears. Each trial in the hearing test comprised a 2-s interval which equiprobably contained or did not contain a monaural 1-s pure tone whose amplitude was modulated at 100% depth using a 2-Hz full-wave rectified sinusoid.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previously, we explored whether genetic factors influenced cocktail-party listening ( 24 ). We measured speech-reception thresholds (SRTs) in a cocktail-party listening task where listeners reported target sentences mixed with time-reversed masker sentences from different talkers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cocktail-party listening and cognitive abilities show strong pleiotropy

Mathias

Knowles²,

Mollon³

et al. 2023

Front. Neurol.

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IntroductionThe cocktail-party problem refers to the difficulty listeners face when trying to attend to relevant sounds that are mixed with irrelevant ones. Previous studies have shown that solving these problems relies on perceptual as well as cognitive processes. Previously, we showed that speech-reception thresholds (SRTs) on a cocktail-party listening task were influenced by genetic factors. Here, we estimated the degree to which these genetic factors overlapped with those influencing cognitive abilities.MethodsWe measured SRTs and hearing thresholds (HTs) in 493 listeners, who ranged in age from 18 to 91 years old. The same individuals completed a cognitive test battery comprising 18 measures of various cognitive domains. Individuals belonged to large extended pedigrees, which allowed us to use variance component models to estimate the narrow-sense heritability of each trait, followed by phenotypic and genetic correlations between pairs of traits.ResultsAll traits were heritable. The phenotypic and genetic correlations between SRTs and HTs were modest, and only the phenotypic correlation was significant. By contrast, all genetic SRT–cognition correlations were strong and significantly different from 0. For some of these genetic correlations, the hypothesis of complete pleiotropy could not be rejected.DiscussionOverall, the results suggest that there was substantial genetic overlap between SRTs and a wide range of cognitive abilities, including abilities without a major auditory or verbal component. The findings highlight the important, yet sometimes overlooked, contribution of higher-order processes to solving the cocktail-party problem, raising an important caveat for future studies aiming to identify specific genetic factors that influence cocktail-party listening.

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= 35.8; p = 2.14 × 10 −9 ; p FDR = 1.06 × 10 −8 ]. This is consistent with our previous study ( 24 ).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%