Age-related changes in the central nervous system often impair hearing, in particular, speech understanding in noise or other difficult listening situations. This type of age-related central auditory processing disorder is known as central presbycusis. Of note, people with early stage probable Alzheimer dementia (pAD) exhibit signs of poor central auditory processing that are similar to people with central presbycusis except that these signs occur earlier, more prevalently, and to a greater degree than in controls. This suggests that some cases of central presbycusis may be due to incipient Alzheimer dementia and raises the possibility that assessments to detect central auditory processing dysfunction (i.e. central auditory tests) might be useful as a predictor of pAD. The goal of this research is to establish the epidemiologic basis for central auditory testing in the neuropsychological evaluation and in screening for risk and presence of pAD. Before this possibility can be considered, there are many unanswered questions about the association of central auditory dysfunction and pAD. Is the poor speech understanding due to Alzheimer lesions in the auditory pathways, or in the frontal executive control centers that regulate speech processing and attention? Why do most cases of pAD have asymmetric central auditory findings? Is central auditory dysfunction an early manifestation of pAD or a coincident effect of the aging process? Which central auditory measures are most sensitive to early pAD? What proportion of central presbycusis is due to undetected age-related auditory neuropathy secondary to spiral ganglion degeneration? This research application provides a unique opportunity to address these important questions by studying the hearing status of the elderly members of the Adult Change of Thought cohort enrolled in a longitudinal study of aging and dementia in Seattle. By comparing the results of behavioral central auditory tests in the pAD and non-pAD subjects, while controlling for peripheral hearing and neuropsychologic status, we may better understand the effects of aging and dementing disorders upon central auditory function.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01DC001525-10A2
Application #
6684195
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-EDC-3 (01))
Program Officer
Donahue, Amy
Project Start
1993-07-01
Project End
2006-06-30
Budget Start
2003-07-01
Budget End
2004-06-30
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$379,424
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Otolaryngology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
605799469
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Gates, George A; Anderson, Melissa L; McCurry, Susan M et al. (2011) Central auditory dysfunction as a harbinger of Alzheimer dementia. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 137:390-5
Gates, George A; Gibbons, Laura E; McCurry, Susan M et al. (2010) Executive dysfunction and presbycusis in older persons with and without memory loss and dementia. Cogn Behav Neurol 23:218-23
Gates, George A; Anderson, Melissa L; Feeney, M Patrick et al. (2008) Central auditory dysfunction in older persons with memory impairment or Alzheimer dementia. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 134:771-7
Gates, George A; Feeney, M Patrick; Mills, David (2008) Cross-sectional age-changes of hearing in the elderly. Ear Hear 29:865-74
Mills, David M; Feeney, M Patrick; Gates, George A (2007) Evaluation of cochlear hearing disorders: normative distortion product otoacoustic emission measurements. Ear Hear 28:778-92
Mills, David M (2006) Determining the cause of hearing loss: differential diagnosis using a comparison of audiometric and otoacoustic emission responses. Ear Hear 27:508-25
Cilento, Benjamin W; Norton, Susan J; Gates, George A (2003) The effects of aging and hearing loss on distortion product otoacoustic emissions. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 129:382-9
DeStefano, Anita L; Gates, George A; Heard-Costa, Nancy et al. (2003) Genomewide linkage analysis to presbycusis in the Framingham Heart Study. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 129:285-9
Gates, George A; Feeney, M Patrick; Higdon, Roger J (2003) Word recognition and the articulation index in older listeners with probable age-related auditory neuropathy. J Am Acad Audiol 14:574-81
Gates, George A; Beiser, Alexa; Rees, Thomas S et al. (2002) Central auditory dysfunction may precede the onset of clinical dementia in people with probable Alzheimer's disease. J Am Geriatr Soc 50:482-8

Showing the most recent 10 out of 16 publications