Tao Duo-Duo, Shi Bin, Galvin John J, Liu Ji-Sheng, Fu Qian-Jie
Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, China.
House Institute Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, 90057, USA.
Heliyon. 2023 Aug 6;9(8):e18922. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18922. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Elderly adults often experience difficulties in speech understanding, possibly due to age-related deficits in frequency perception. It is unclear whether age-related deficits in frequency perception differ between the apical or basal regions of the cochlea. It is also unclear how aging might differently affect frequency discrimination or detection of a change in frequency within a stimulus. In the present study, pure-tone frequency thresholds were measured in 19 older (61-74 years) and 20 younger (22-28 years) typically hearing adults. Participants were asked to discriminate between reference and probe frequencies or to detect changes in frequency within a probe stimulus. Broadband spectro-temporal pattern perception was also measured using the spectro-temporal modulated ripple test (SMRT). Frequency thresholds were significantly poorer in the basal than in the apical region of the cochlea; the deficit in the basal region was 2 times larger for the older than for the younger group. Frequency thresholds were significantly poorer in the older group, especially in the basal region where frequency detection thresholds were 3.9 times poorer for the older than for the younger group. SMRT thresholds were 1.5 times better for the younger than for the older group. Significant age effects were observed for SMRT thresholds and for frequency thresholds only in the basal region. SMRT thresholds were significantly correlated with frequency thresholds only in the older group. The poorer frequency and spectro-temporal pattern perception may contribute to age-related deficits in speech perception, even when audiometric thresholds are nearly normal.
老年人常常在言语理解方面遇到困难，这可能是由于与年龄相关的频率感知缺陷所致。目前尚不清楚耳蜗顶部或底部区域与年龄相关的频率感知缺陷是否存在差异。同样不清楚衰老如何以不同方式影响频率辨别或对刺激中频率变化的检测。在本研究中，对19名年龄较大（61 - 74岁）和20名年龄较小（22 - 28岁）的听力正常成年人测量了纯音频率阈值。要求参与者辨别参考频率和探测频率，或检测探测刺激中的频率变化。还使用频谱 - 时间调制波纹测试（SMRT）测量了宽带频谱 - 时间模式感知。耳蜗底部的频率阈值明显比顶部区域差；老年组底部区域的缺陷比年轻组大2倍。老年组的频率阈值明显更差，尤其是在底部区域，老年组的频率检测阈值比年轻组差3.9倍。年轻组的SMRT阈值比老年组好1.5倍。仅在底部区域观察到SMRT阈值和频率阈值存在显著的年龄效应。仅在老年组中，SMRT阈值与频率阈值显著相关。即使听力阈值几乎正常，较差的频率和频谱 - 时间模式感知可能也会导致与年龄相关的言语感知缺陷。
