Study finds auditory brain regions activate during high-demand visual tasks in older adults with hearing loss
Researchers using fMRI found that auditory cortex regions activate during visually demanding cognitive tasks in older adults, regardless of hearing status. This crossmodal plasticity—where sensory areas respond to other modalities when their primary input is reduced—occurred in both people with and without age-related hearing loss. The findings suggest the brain's sensory regions remain adaptable in later life and may help explain links between hearing loss and cognitive decline.
A preprint study examined how the aging brain reorganizes in response to hearing loss by scanning older adults with and without age-related hearing loss (ARHL) while they performed visual tasks of varying difficulty. Participants completed a visual task-switching paradigm and working memory task, with conditions designed to impose high or low executive demands. Both groups showed expected activation in frontoparietal regions during high-demand conditions, but crucially, auditory cortex regions also activated during these visually demanding tasks—particularly in the harder task-switching condition. Crossmodal activation occurred similarly in both hearing and hearing-impaired participants, with no significant differences based on hearing level or age. The researchers propose that reduced auditory input combined with age-related cortical changes drive reorganization of auditory regions, and they argue this plasticity mechanism may be relevant to understanding why hearing loss is associated with increased cognitive decline and dementia risk in older adults.
Limitations & open questions
The study's sample size, participant demographics beyond age, specific hearing loss severity thresholds used to classify groups, and whether results were corrected for multiple comparisons are not detailed in the abstract. Additionally, the preprint has not undergone peer review, and the causal relationship between observed crossmodal plasticity and cognitive decline remains speculative rather than demonstrated.
What different sources said
- bioRxivCenter
Crossmodal plasticity effects of hearing loss and ageing in the human auditory cortex
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