Markers of Auditory-Cognitive Aging: Evidence from Normal Hearing Listeners and Cochlear Implant Recipients

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andrej Kral
• Subject Area: Otolaryngology, Phoniatrics and Audiology ; Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology
• Term: from 2018 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 409496899

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

We identified the oscillatory activities for each task, condition, and stimuli, localized their sources in the brain, and compared between them to study the neuronal signatures of each load. For the first time we could directly dissociate between the oscillatory neuronal signatures of sensory and cognitive loads in a complex paradigm that included behavioral and functional measures of auditory-cognitive functions. The oscillatory activities provided distinct information which was not observable in the ERPs (in evoked signals). The data demonstrated that the processing of the task is not finalized with the behavioral response but continues after it has been executed. A particularly advantageous decision in this regard was the extension of interstimulus time allowing to study oscillatory activity in the post-response period, where the dissociation of the loads was most pronounced. We observed signatures of executive control, especially pronounced in the post-response period. However, in contrast to young adults, older adults group exhibited greater degree of alpha desynchronization and less post-response beta activity. The pre-response beta desynchronization was also different, which appeared strong in all task-condition-stimulus combination in older adult groups. Most of these observed oscillatory signatures were induced, suggesting they are a consequence of corticocortical interactions (lateral and top- down cortico-cortical processes). Sources of the oscillatory activities were comparable between young and older adults, with the main sources included superior temporal gyrus, medial-, inferior frontal gyrus as well as cingulate gyrus and precuneus. In sum, we highlighted oscillatory activities during auditory processing in older adults, with alpha desynchronization as distinct oscillatory marker of aging. With regard to the association between hearing loss with cognitive decline this might, in the future, be translated to clinical practice as a marker of downstream consequences of hearing loss in aged subjects and provide a means for studying the mechanistic relation between hearing loss and cognitive decline with age. This work will be of key importance for developing signatures of functional brain aging and will provide a mean for differentiating healthy aging from aging affected by hearing loss rehabilitated by sensory devices.

Publications

• Neuronal Development of Hearing and Language: Cochlear Implants and Critical Periods. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 42(1), 47-65.
  Kral, Andrej; Dorman, Michael F. & Wilson, Blake S.
  
• Cochlear Implants: Neuroprosthetic Hearing and the Brain. The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, 923-944. Elsevier.
  Kral, Andrej & Tillein, Jochen
  
• Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) Annual MidWinter Meeting 2022 Orlando, USA, February 11th – 15th, 2022 “Cortical neural processing under auditory-cognitive load exceeds response time”. Podium Presentation
  Brilliant; Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Henkin, Yael & Kral, Andrej
  
• Hearing4All International Symposium 2022 Hannover, Germany, November 3rd – 4th, 2022 “Dynamics of cortical neural processing under sensory-perceptual and auditory-cognitive load”. Podium presentation
  Brilliant; Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Herrmann, Christoph S.; Henkin, Yael & Kral, Andrej
  
• International Conference of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON) 2022 Espoo, Finland, May 18th – 22nd, 2022 “Dynamics of cortical neural processing under sensory-perceptual and auditory-cognitive load in young listeners”
  Brilliant; Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Henkin, Yael & Kral, Andrej
  
• International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication (CHSCOM) 2022 Linköping, Sweden, June 12th – 15th, 2022 “Dynamics of cortical neural processing under sensory-perceptual and auditory-cognitive load in young listeners”.
  Brilliant; Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Henkin, Yael & Kral, Andrej
  
• Neural manifestations of auditory processing under sensory-perceptual and auditorycognitive load in older listeners. 6th International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication, Linköping, Sweden. Poster presentation June
  Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Brilliant; Muchnik, Chava; Kral, Andrej & Henkin, Yael
  
• Crossmodal plasticity in hearing loss. Trends in Neurosciences, 46(5), 377-393.
  Kral, Andrej & Sharma, Anu
  
• Hören und Kognition im Kindesalter. Laryngo-Rhino-Otologie, 102(S 01), S3-S11.
  Kral, Andrej
  
• International Evoked Response Audiometry Study Group (IERASG) Biennial Symposium 2023 Cologne, Germany, September 15th – 19th, 2023 “Auditory cognitive and sensory load modulate neural oscillatory activity before and after the behavioral response”. Poster presentation
  Brilliant; Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Herrmann, Christoph S.; Henkin, Yael & Kral, Andrej
  
• Theta and alpha oscillatory signatures of auditory sensory and cognitive loads during complex listening. NeuroImage, 289, 120546.
  Brilliant; Yaar-Soffer, Yifat; Herrmann, Christoph S.; Henkin, Yael & Kral, Andrej