Background: Hearing loss is associated with cognitive and neuroimaging markers of Alzheimer's disease dementia but it is unclear how specific measures relate to these after accounting for a range of hearing abilities.
Method: 200 participants (155 cognitively normal, 25 mild cognitively impaired and 20 Alzheimer's disease dementia) underwent auditory testing (peripheral and central abilities), cognitive testing and MR scanning (structural and diffusion-weighted sequences) to evaluate the relationship between hearing, cognition and imaging brain measures.
Result: Central auditory measures such as speech-in-noise perception and auditory memory for longer durations were associated with cognitive impairment across the Alzheimer's disease continuum and specific auditory measures were independently associated with morphometric and diffusion-weighted brain measures.
Conclusion: Auditory cognition could serve as a unique marker of cognition in Alzheimer's disease dementia and reflects imaging-derived brain changes potentially related to neurodegeneration.
© 2024 The Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's & Dementia published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.