Neural signatures of central auditory aging under sensory and cognitive loads

• Neural signatures of central auditory aging can be characterized under sensory and cognitive loads.¹
• Clinical Neurophysiology (Volume 183) reports electrophysiological measures, e.g. evoked potentials and neural time series, for central auditory aging.^{1 1}

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

• The study recorded EEG in 20 older adults (mean age 69.6 ± 5.2 years) with age-appropriate hearing and preserved cognition and 20 younger adults (mean age 24.9 ± 1.8 years) as controls.^{2 3}
• A factorial design manipulated sensory-perceptual load (quiet vs. noise) and auditory-cognitive load (a simple vs. a demanding task), plus a combined-load condition, with both event-related potentials and time-frequency analyses.^{2 3}
• Older adults showed delayed early N1 and late P3 cortical responses and slower reaction times relative to younger adults, indexing slowed sensory and decisional processing.^{2 3}
• Increased alpha-band desynchronization emerged as an age-related biomarker interpreted as reduced ability to inhibit task-irrelevant information.^{2 3}
• Sensory-perceptual load was linked to delayed neural responses across processing stages, longer reaction times, and delta- and theta-band activity.^{2 3}
• Auditory-cognitive load was linked to prolonged late P3 activity, slower reaction times, and broader neural recruitment across all frequency bands.^{2 3}
• Under combined load, older adults showed specific P3 latency prolongation, revealing heightened vulnerability to the dual challenge of noise suppression plus cognitive demand.^{2 3}
• The authors conclude that integrated time- and frequency-domain EEG exposes distinct, load-specific listening strategies in aging, with the stated significance of guiding targeted auditory rehabilitation.^{2 3}
• The paper appears in Clinical Neurophysiology (2025; DOI 10.1016/j.clinph.2025.2111465), consistent with the article’s noted Volume 183 origin.^{2 4}
• Context: converging fNIRS work reports that hearing loss lowers older adults’ brain-signal variability during speech-in-noise, complementing this EEG evidence that aging reshapes neural resource allocation under listening load.⁵

Footnotes

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245725013173?dgcid=rss_sd_all ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2025.2111465 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. https://neuroprostheses.com/AK/Papers_files/Clin_Neurophysiol_2026_Yifat.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388245725013173 ↩

5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1498666 ↩