{"title":"Cochlear Tuning in Early Aging Estimated with Three Methods.","authors":"Courtney Coburn Glavin, Sumitrajit Dhar","doi":"10.1177/23312165251364675","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) currently affects over 20 million adults in the U.S. and its prevalence is expected to increase as the population ages. However, little is known about the earliest manifestations of ARHL, including its influence on auditory function beyond the threshold of sensation. This work explores the effects of early aging on frequency selectivity (i.e., \"tuning\"), a critical feature of normal hearing function. Tuning is estimated using both behavioral and physiological measures-fast psychophysical tuning curves (fPTC), distortion product otoacoustic emission level ratio functions (DPOAE LRFs), and stimulus-frequency OAE (SFOAE) phase gradient delay. All three measures were selected because they have high potential for clinical translation but have not been compared directly in the same sample of ears. Results indicate that there may be subtle changes in tuning during early aging, even in ears with clinically normal audiometric thresholds. Additionally, there are notable differences in tuning estimates derived from the three measures. Psychophysical tuning estimates are highly variable and statistically significantly different from OAE-derived tuning estimates, suggesting that behavioral tuning is uniquely influenced by factors not affecting OAE-based tuning. Across all measures, there is considerable individual variability that warrants future investigation. Collectively, this work suggests that age-related auditory decline begins in relatively young ears (<60 years) and in the absence of traditionally defined \"hearing loss.\" These findings suggest the potential benefit of characterizing ARHL beyond threshold and establishing a gold standard for measuring frequency selectivity in humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":48678,"journal":{"name":"Trends in Hearing","volume":"29 ","pages":"23312165251364675"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12317184/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Trends in Hearing","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23312165251364675","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/7/29 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) currently affects over 20 million adults in the U.S. and its prevalence is expected to increase as the population ages. However, little is known about the earliest manifestations of ARHL, including its influence on auditory function beyond the threshold of sensation. This work explores the effects of early aging on frequency selectivity (i.e., "tuning"), a critical feature of normal hearing function. Tuning is estimated using both behavioral and physiological measures-fast psychophysical tuning curves (fPTC), distortion product otoacoustic emission level ratio functions (DPOAE LRFs), and stimulus-frequency OAE (SFOAE) phase gradient delay. All three measures were selected because they have high potential for clinical translation but have not been compared directly in the same sample of ears. Results indicate that there may be subtle changes in tuning during early aging, even in ears with clinically normal audiometric thresholds. Additionally, there are notable differences in tuning estimates derived from the three measures. Psychophysical tuning estimates are highly variable and statistically significantly different from OAE-derived tuning estimates, suggesting that behavioral tuning is uniquely influenced by factors not affecting OAE-based tuning. Across all measures, there is considerable individual variability that warrants future investigation. Collectively, this work suggests that age-related auditory decline begins in relatively young ears (<60 years) and in the absence of traditionally defined "hearing loss." These findings suggest the potential benefit of characterizing ARHL beyond threshold and establishing a gold standard for measuring frequency selectivity in humans.
Trends in HearingAUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGYOTORH-OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY
CiteScore
4.50
自引率
11.10%
发文量
44
审稿时长
12 weeks
期刊介绍:
Trends in Hearing is an open access journal completely dedicated to publishing original research and reviews focusing on human hearing, hearing loss, hearing aids, auditory implants, and aural rehabilitation. Under its former name, Trends in Amplification, the journal established itself as a forum for concise explorations of all areas of translational hearing research by leaders in the field. Trends in Hearing has now expanded its focus to include original research articles, with the goal of becoming the premier venue for research related to human hearing and hearing loss.