Jahn Kelly N, DeVries Lindsay, Arenberg Julie G
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA.
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2021 Mar;149(3):1633. doi: 10.1121/10.0003623.
Older adults exhibit deficits in auditory temporal processing relative to younger listeners. These age-related temporal processing difficulties may be further exacerbated in older adults with cochlear implant (CIs) when CI electrodes poorly interface with their target auditory neurons. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential interaction between chronological age and the estimated quality of the electrode-neuron interface (ENI) on psychophysical forward masking recovery, a measure that reflects single-channel temporal processing abilities. Fourteen CI listeners (age 15 to 88 years) with Advanced Bionics devices participated. Forward masking recovery was assessed on two channels in each ear (i.e., the channels with the lowest and highest signal detection thresholds). Results indicated that the rate of forward masking recovery declined with advancing age, and that the effect of age was more pronounced on channels estimated to interface poorly with the auditory nerve. These findings indicate that the quality of the ENI can influence the time course of forward masking recovery for older CI listeners. Channel-to-channel variability in the ENI likely interacts with central temporal processing deficits secondary to auditory aging, warranting further study of programming and rehabilitative approaches tailored to older listeners.
与年轻听众相比，老年人在听觉时间处理方面存在缺陷。当人工耳蜗（CI）电极与其目标听觉神经元的接口不佳时，老年人中这些与年龄相关的时间处理困难可能会进一步加剧。本研究的目的是评估实际年龄与电极-神经元接口（ENI）估计质量之间对心理物理学前掩蔽恢复的潜在相互作用，前掩蔽恢复是一种反映单通道时间处理能力的指标。14名使用先进仿生设备的人工耳蜗听众（年龄15至88岁）参与了研究。在每只耳朵的两个通道上评估前掩蔽恢复情况（即信号检测阈值最低和最高的通道）。结果表明，前掩蔽恢复率随着年龄的增长而下降，并且年龄的影响在估计与听神经接口不佳的通道上更为明显。这些发现表明，ENI的质量会影响老年人工耳蜗听众前掩蔽恢复的时间进程。ENI的通道间变异性可能与听觉衰老继发的中枢时间处理缺陷相互作用，这需要进一步研究针对老年听众的编程和康复方法。
