Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Afferent-efferent connectivity between auditory brainstem and cortex accounts for poorer speech-in-noise comprehension in older adults

View ORCID ProfileGavin M. Bidelman, Caitlin N. Price, Dawei Shen, Stephen R. Arnott, Claude Alain
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/568840
Gavin M. Bidelman
School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USAInstitute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USAUniversity of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Memphis, TN, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Gavin M. Bidelman
  • For correspondence: g.bidelman@memphis.edu
Caitlin N. Price
School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Dawei Shen
Rotman Research Institute—Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Stephen R. Arnott
Rotman Research Institute—Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Claude Alain
Rotman Research Institute—Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaUniversity of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaUniversity of Toronto, Institute of Medical Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

Age-related hearing loss leads to poorer speech comprehension, particularly in noise. Speech-in-noise (SIN) deficits among the elderly could result from weaker neural activity within, or poorer signal transmission between brainstem and auditory cortices. By recording neuroelectric responses from brainstem (BS) and primary auditory cortex (PAC), we show that beyond simply attenuating neural activity, hearing loss in older adults compromises the transmission of speech information between subcortical and cortical hubs of the auditory system. The strength of afferent BS→PAC neural signaling (but not the reverse efferent flow; PAC→BS) varied with mild declines in hearing acuity and this “bottom-up” functional connectivity robustly predicted older adults’ SIN perception. Our neuroimaging findings underscore the importance of brain connectivity, particularly afferent neural communication, in understanding the biological basis of age-related hearing deficits in real-world listening environments.

Footnotes

  • Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

  • Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted March 05, 2019.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Afferent-efferent connectivity between auditory brainstem and cortex accounts for poorer speech-in-noise comprehension in older adults
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
Share
Afferent-efferent connectivity between auditory brainstem and cortex accounts for poorer speech-in-noise comprehension in older adults
Gavin M. Bidelman, Caitlin N. Price, Dawei Shen, Stephen R. Arnott, Claude Alain
bioRxiv 568840; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/568840
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Afferent-efferent connectivity between auditory brainstem and cortex accounts for poorer speech-in-noise comprehension in older adults
Gavin M. Bidelman, Caitlin N. Price, Dawei Shen, Stephen R. Arnott, Claude Alain
bioRxiv 568840; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/568840

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (1544)
  • Biochemistry (2500)
  • Bioengineering (1757)
  • Bioinformatics (9727)
  • Biophysics (3928)
  • Cancer Biology (2990)
  • Cell Biology (4235)
  • Clinical Trials (135)
  • Developmental Biology (2653)
  • Ecology (4129)
  • Epidemiology (2033)
  • Evolutionary Biology (6931)
  • Genetics (5243)
  • Genomics (6531)
  • Immunology (2206)
  • Microbiology (7012)
  • Molecular Biology (2781)
  • Neuroscience (17410)
  • Paleontology (127)
  • Pathology (432)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (712)
  • Physiology (1068)
  • Plant Biology (2515)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (647)
  • Synthetic Biology (835)
  • Systems Biology (2698)
  • Zoology (439)