High-Frequency Cochlear Amplifier Dysfunction: A Dominating Contribution to the Cognitive-Ear Link

Yao Wang; Xiao Li; Fuxin Ren; Siqi Liu; Wen Ma; Yue Zhang; Zhihang Qi; Jing Yang; Honghao Li; Xinxing Fu; Huiquan Wang; Fei Gao

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.767570

High-Frequency Cochlear Amplifier Dysfunction: A Dominating Contribution to the Cognitive-Ear Link

Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Jan 6:13:767570. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.767570. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yao Wang^{1

2}, Xiao Li^{3

4}, Fuxin Ren^{3

4}, Siqi Liu¹, Wen Ma⁵, Yue Zhang¹, Zhihang Qi⁶, Jing Yang^{3

4}, Honghao Li⁷, Xinxing Fu^{8

9}, Huiquan Wang¹, Fei Gao³

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China.
² School of Precision Instruments and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
³ Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁵ Department of Otolaryngology, Jinan Central Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁶ School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China.
⁷ Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China.
⁸ Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁹ Medical School, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the role of the high-frequency cochlear dysfunction in the cognitive-ear link. Methods: Seventy-four presbycusis patients (PC group) and seventy-one age-, sex-, and education-level matched normal hearing controls (NH group) were recruited in this study. Participants underwent a battery of cognitive tests estimated by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Stroop Color-Word Interference Test (Stroop), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), and Trail-Making Test (TMT-A and B), as well as auditory tests including distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), pure tone (PT) thresholds, and speech reception thresholds (SRT). Data were analyzed using the factor analysis, partial correlation analysis, multiple linear regression models, and mediation models. Results: Distortion product otoacoustic emission detection amplitudes and PT thresholds performed worse gradually from low to high frequencies in both the NH and PC groups. High-frequency DPOAE (H-DPOAE) was significantly correlated with cognitive domains in the PC group (AVLT: r = 0.30, p = 0.04; SDMT: r = 0.36, p = 0.01; Stroop: r = -0.32, p = 0.03; TMT-A: r = -0.40, p = 0.005; TMT-B: r = -0.34, p = 0.02). Multiple linear regression models showed that H-DPOAE predicted cognitive impairment effectively for aspects of memory (R ² = 0.27, 95% CI, 0.03 to 1.55), attention (R ² = 0.32, 95% CI, -6.18 to -0.40), processing speed (R ² = 0.37, 95% CI, 0.20 to 1.64), and executive function (TMT-A: R ² = 0.34, 95% CI, -5.52 to 1.03; TMT-B: R ² = 0.29, 95% CI, -11.30 to -1.12). H-DPOAE directly affected cognition and fully mediated the relationship between pure tone average (PTA)/SRT and cognitive test scores, excluding MoCA. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that the high-frequency cochlear amplifier dysfunction has a direct predictive effect on the cognitive decline and makes a large contribution to the cognitive-ear link.

Keywords: cognitive decline; cognitive-ear link; high-frequency cochlear amplifier dysfunction; presbycusis; risk factor.