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Auditory Cortex Signs of Age-Related Hearing Loss

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Abstract

Age-related hearing loss, or presbyacusis, is a major public health problem that causes communication difficulties and is associated with diminished quality of life. Limited satisfaction with hearing aids, particularly in noisy listening conditions, suggests that central nervous system declines occur with presbyacusis and may limit the efficacy of interventions focused solely on improving audibility. This study of 49 older adults (M = 69.58, SD = 8.22 years; 29 female) was designed to examine the extent to which low and/or high frequency hearing loss was related to auditory cortex morphology. Low and high frequency hearing constructs were obtained from a factor analysis of audiograms from these older adults and 1,704 audiograms from an independent sample of older adults. Significant region of interest and voxel-wise gray matter volume associations were observed for the high frequency hearing construct. These effects occurred most robustly in a primary auditory cortex region (Te1.0) where there was also elevated cerebrospinal fluid with high frequency hearing loss, suggesting that auditory cortex atrophies with high frequency hearing loss. These results indicate that Te1.0 is particularly affected by high frequency hearing loss and may be a target for evaluating the efficacy of interventions for hearing loss.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (P50 DC 00422), the Deafness Research Foundation Centurion Clinical Research Award, South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research (SCTR) Institute, with an academic home at the Medical University of South Carolina, National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources (UL1 RR029882), and the MUSC Center for Biomedical Imaging. This investigation was conducted in a facility constructed with support from Research Facilities Improvement Program (C06 RR14516) from the National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health. We thank the study participants and members of the MUSC Hearing Research Program, including Lois Matthews.

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  1. Hearing Research Program, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Rutledge Avenue, MSC 550, Charleston, SC, 29425-5500, USA

    Mark A. Eckert, Stephanie L. Cute, Kenneth I. Vaden Jr, Stefanie E. Kuchinsky & Judy R. Dubno

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  1. Mark A. Eckert
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  2. Stephanie L. Cute
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  3. Kenneth I. Vaden Jr
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  4. Stefanie E. Kuchinsky
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Correspondence to Mark A. Eckert.

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Eckert, M.A., Cute, S.L., Vaden, K.I. et al. Auditory Cortex Signs of Age-Related Hearing Loss. JARO 13, 703–713 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-012-0332-5

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