Neural correlation of speech envelope tracking for MCI

Decline in hearing ability has been recognized as one of the significant risk factors for dementia. Several studies have attempted to show the relationship between the ability to process speech in noise and the decrease in cognitive performance (Mamo et al., 2019, Pronk et al., 2019). Also, Decury et al. (2019) have investigated the effects of age on speech understanding, cognition, and neural tracking of the speech envelope using EEG (electroencephalography). They found that the enhancement of envelope tracking is correlated with the increase in speech understanding and that such association is more robust for older adults. Here we propose a preliminary study to examine the difference in the speech perception and neural envelope tracking between individuals with MCI and healthy older adults (demographically matched, normal hearing). Since speech perception in noise demands more cognitive processes (attention, working memory, and language processing), we hypothesize that the degree of the changes in envelope tracking would be different for the person with MCI compared with the healthy adults with normal hearing. The stimuli consisted of matrix sentences either masked by SSN (Speech Shaped Noise) or ISTS (International Speech Test Stimuli) presented under several noise conditions. We investigated the correlation of noise levels, cognitive abilities, and central auditory processing tasks on neural envelope tracking. We expect that our preliminary results could explain the possible relation between speech perception and the decline in cognitive abilities.

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1. H. An, J. Lee, M.W. Suh and Y. Lim (2023) Neural correlation of speech envelope tracking for background noise in normal hearing, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17:1268591

2. J. Park, S.C. Baek, M.W. Suh, J. Choi, S.J. Kim, and Y. Lim (2023) The effect of topic familiarity and volatility of auditory scene on selective auditory attention, Hearing Research, vol. 433