ArticleThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience2011
Hearing loss in older adults affects neural systems supporting speech comprehension.
Article in The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 203 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
203 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 440 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of cochlear implantation on gait performance in adults with hearing impairment: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Association of hearing loss and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Hearing loss impacts gray and white matter across the lifespan: Systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression.NeuroImage · 2021Pooled it
- Hearing loss and dementia: radiologic and biomolecular basis of their shared characteristics. A systematic review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2021Pooled it
- Hearing Loss, Loneliness, and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2020Pooled it
- A methodological assessment of studies that use voxel-based morphometry to study neural changes in tinnitus patients.Hearing research · 2017Pooled it
- Hearing Rehabilitative Treatment for Older Adults With Comorbid Hearing Loss and Depression: Effects on Depressive Symptoms and Executive Function.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2022Trial
- Gray matter declines with age and hearing loss, but is partially maintained in tinnitus.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Restoration of sensory input may improve cognitive and neural function.Neuropsychologia · 2018Trial
- Neurovascular-metabolic coupling links hearing loss to cognitive impairment: Evidence from GABA and cerebral blood flow in presbycusis.Neurobiology of disease · 2026Article
- Visual cortical responses in age-related hearing loss show evidence for compensatory neuroplasticity.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Language remains strongly left-lateralized in older adults: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A Global Burden Perspective on Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Hearing Loss, and Early-Onset Cognitive Decline.Neurology international · 2026Review
- Hearing Loss and Dementia: Risk Factor, Early Marker, or Both?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Association between intrinsic capacity and dementia risk in older Mexicans.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Is Age-Related Hearing Loss a Modifiable Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline? Mechanisms, Evidence, and Future Directions.Audiology research · 2026Review
- Hearing Loss Among Older Adults: Epidemiology, Disparities, and Gaps in Research.Annual review of public health · 2026Review
- Mood and Cognitive Disorders Following Hearing Loss: Impact of Hearing Aid Timing.Audiology research · 2026Review
143 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Hearing loss is one of the most common complaints in adults over the age of 60 and a major contributor to difficulties in speech comprehension. To examine the effects of hearing ability on the neural processes supporting spoken language processing in humans, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity while older adults with age-normal hearing listened to sentences that varied in their linguistic demands. Individual differences in hearing ability predicted the degree of language-driven neural recruitment during auditory sentence comprehension in bilateral superior temporal gyri (including primary auditory cortex), thalamus, and brainstem. In a second experiment, we examined the relationship of hearing ability to cortical structural integrity using voxel-based morphometry, demonstrating a significant linear relationship between hearing ability and gray matter volume in primary auditory cortex. Together, these results suggest that even moderate declines in peripheral auditory acuity lead to a systematic downregulation of neural activity during the processing of higher-level aspects of speech, and may also contribute to loss of gray matter volume in primary auditory cortex. More generally, these findings support a resource-allocation framework in which individual differences in sensory ability help define the degree to which brain regions are recruited in service of a particular task.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.