Working Memory Changes With Aging and Hearing Loss
| Status: | Completed |
|---|---|
| Conditions: | Healthy Studies, Other Indications |
| Therapuetic Areas: | Other |
| Healthy: | No |
| Age Range: | 18 - 75 |
| Updated: | 4/21/2016 |
| Start Date: | March 2011 |
| End Date: | December 2012 |
Effects of Aging and Hearing Loss During Rapid Sound Processing
Hearing loss is one of the most common health concerns affecting 1 in 3 Americans over 60
years of age rising to 1 in 2 for those over 85 years old. Contributions to hearing
abilities provided by cognitive and memory processes are universally recognized as essential
to adequate speech communication, but these processes are not well understood. Cognitive
limitations in the ability to rapidly process sequential sounds occur with all listeners but
may have more impact on older Veterans with and without hearing impairment. The purpose of
this study is to examine and more thoroughly characterize the change in auditory working
memory with hearing loss and increasing age. Young and older listeners with and without
hearing loss will listen and report on two target sounds embedded in a stream of rapidly
occurring sound. The investigators expect that older listeners without hearing loss will
have more difficulty than young listeners but that older listeners with hearing impairment
will have the most difficulty with this task even when the sounds they are listening to are
adjusted to compensate for their hearing loss.
years of age rising to 1 in 2 for those over 85 years old. Contributions to hearing
abilities provided by cognitive and memory processes are universally recognized as essential
to adequate speech communication, but these processes are not well understood. Cognitive
limitations in the ability to rapidly process sequential sounds occur with all listeners but
may have more impact on older Veterans with and without hearing impairment. The purpose of
this study is to examine and more thoroughly characterize the change in auditory working
memory with hearing loss and increasing age. Young and older listeners with and without
hearing loss will listen and report on two target sounds embedded in a stream of rapidly
occurring sound. The investigators expect that older listeners without hearing loss will
have more difficulty than young listeners but that older listeners with hearing impairment
will have the most difficulty with this task even when the sounds they are listening to are
adjusted to compensate for their hearing loss.
The purpose of this pilot study is to understand how memory changes with aging and if
failures of working memory during rapid sound processing may account for some of the speech
perception difficulties reported by older Veteran listeners especially those with hearing
loss. A period of processing interference (and limitation) has been identified during rapid
auditory or visual processing. Specifically, when subjects are asked to report on two
targeted events embedded in a rapid stream of distractor events, the ability to report on
the second target is diminished when it occurs at an interval of approximately 200-400ms
following the first target. This has been identified as a failure of working memory
consolidation and is robust during both visual and auditory processing. Much is known about
how the failure of working memory affects young normal hearing listeners but little is known
of its effect on older listeners or listeners with hearing loss. A lengthened period of
processing interference is very likely to be present among older listeners. This is
important because speech is rapid and older listeners often report difficulty in auditory
environments in which multiple speakers are present. Further, older listeners, who are more
likely to have hearing loss, continue to report more problems hearing in noisy environments
even with their hearing aids optimally functional. The presence of a prolonged period of
processing interference in the auditory system could account for some of these complaints
and, if more completely understood, could be remediated.
Up to 75 subjects, ages 18-30 and 60-75 years will be invited to participate. Subjects will
undergo a complete audiological evaluation done to assign them into one of three arms/groups
of up to15 subjects each. Arms will be composed of young subjects with normal hearing (YNH),
older subjects with normal hearing (ONH) and older subjects with mild hearing impairment
(OHI). Each subject will be asked to listen to between 18 and 26 non-overlapping tones each
30ms in duration followed by a 70ms silent interval. Target tones and tone complexes (T1 and
T2) will be embedded in this stream. Sequences could contain (in equal probability) a) no
target, b) T1 only, c) T2 only or d) both targets. At the end of each stream, the subject
will be required to make an untimed judgment about whether the stream contained T1 (yes/no)
and T2 (yes/no). This project is self-paced. The hypothesized findings are that young
listeners without hearing impairment will have more difficulty reporting on T2 when it
follows T1 by approximately 200-400ms than at any other interval. However, older listeners
without hearing impairment will demonstrate a more prolonged period of interference (>400ms)
with slightly poorer performance overall while older listeners with hearing impairment will
have an even longer lasting period of processing interference and overall larger deficit
(poorer performance) suggesting that increasing age and hearing impairment combine to reveal
significant processing deficits for this group. These results would provide a much needed
explanation of the ways in which rapid processing (precisely what speech is) is degraded by
hearing impairment, aging, and a combination of the two.
failures of working memory during rapid sound processing may account for some of the speech
perception difficulties reported by older Veteran listeners especially those with hearing
loss. A period of processing interference (and limitation) has been identified during rapid
auditory or visual processing. Specifically, when subjects are asked to report on two
targeted events embedded in a rapid stream of distractor events, the ability to report on
the second target is diminished when it occurs at an interval of approximately 200-400ms
following the first target. This has been identified as a failure of working memory
consolidation and is robust during both visual and auditory processing. Much is known about
how the failure of working memory affects young normal hearing listeners but little is known
of its effect on older listeners or listeners with hearing loss. A lengthened period of
processing interference is very likely to be present among older listeners. This is
important because speech is rapid and older listeners often report difficulty in auditory
environments in which multiple speakers are present. Further, older listeners, who are more
likely to have hearing loss, continue to report more problems hearing in noisy environments
even with their hearing aids optimally functional. The presence of a prolonged period of
processing interference in the auditory system could account for some of these complaints
and, if more completely understood, could be remediated.
Up to 75 subjects, ages 18-30 and 60-75 years will be invited to participate. Subjects will
undergo a complete audiological evaluation done to assign them into one of three arms/groups
of up to15 subjects each. Arms will be composed of young subjects with normal hearing (YNH),
older subjects with normal hearing (ONH) and older subjects with mild hearing impairment
(OHI). Each subject will be asked to listen to between 18 and 26 non-overlapping tones each
30ms in duration followed by a 70ms silent interval. Target tones and tone complexes (T1 and
T2) will be embedded in this stream. Sequences could contain (in equal probability) a) no
target, b) T1 only, c) T2 only or d) both targets. At the end of each stream, the subject
will be required to make an untimed judgment about whether the stream contained T1 (yes/no)
and T2 (yes/no). This project is self-paced. The hypothesized findings are that young
listeners without hearing impairment will have more difficulty reporting on T2 when it
follows T1 by approximately 200-400ms than at any other interval. However, older listeners
without hearing impairment will demonstrate a more prolonged period of interference (>400ms)
with slightly poorer performance overall while older listeners with hearing impairment will
have an even longer lasting period of processing interference and overall larger deficit
(poorer performance) suggesting that increasing age and hearing impairment combine to reveal
significant processing deficits for this group. These results would provide a much needed
explanation of the ways in which rapid processing (precisely what speech is) is degraded by
hearing impairment, aging, and a combination of the two.
Inclusion Criteria:
- 18-30 years of age or 60-75 years of age
- Normal hearing or
- Mild to moderate hearing loss
- No major medical or memory problems
Exclusion Criteria:
- <24/30 on MMSE
- Conductive or mixed hearing loss.
- Hearing loss worse than 55dB in either ear.
- Taking medication known to alter concentration or alertness
- Inability to learn task after practice
- Major medical or psychological disorder
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