gms | German Medical Science

27. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie
und Arbeitstagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutschsprachiger Audiologen, Neurootologen und Otologen

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e. V. und ADANO

19. - 21.03.2025, Göttingen

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The impact of cognitive training on electrophysiological signatures of semantic processing in elderly and possible implications for hearing rehabilitation

Meeting Abstract

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  • presenting/speaker Annika Rackl - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich; Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, ICONE - Innsbruck Cognitive Neuroscience, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Isabella Thurner - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich; Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, ICONE - Innsbruck Cognitive Neuroscience, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Josef Seebacher - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich; Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, ICONE - Innsbruck Cognitive Neuroscience, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Philipp Zelger - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich; Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, ICONE - Innsbruck Cognitive Neuroscience, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Markus Rungger - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Sophia Lodes - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Christian Gstrein - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich
  • Sonja Rossi - Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Univ.-Klinik für Hör-Stimm- und Sprachstörungen, Innsbruck, Österreich; Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, ICONE - Innsbruck Cognitive Neuroscience, Innsbruck, Österreich

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e. V. und ADANO. 27. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie und Arbeitstagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutschsprachiger Audiologen, Neurootologen und Otologen. Göttingen, 19.-21.03.2025. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2025. Doc193

doi: 10.3205/25dga193, urn:nbn:de:0183-25dga1938

Veröffentlicht: 18. März 2025

© 2025 Rackl et al.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Gliederung

Text

Studying the perception of semantic content of spoken sentences and the underlying neural processes is crucial to gain insight into the mechanisms primarily affected in hearing impairments.

Cognitive abilities such as working memory and attention influence how efficiently we process spoken language, especially in challenging auditory environments. The relation between cognitive abilities and hearing suggests that the training of cognitive functions may provide the basis for neural plasticity to improve speech intelligibility. This could potentially lead to beneficial effects in the rehabilitation of patients who have undergone hearing-restoring interventions such as cochlear implant surgery.

To investigate the neural correlates of semantic processing and possible effects of cognitive ability, we provided app-based cognitive training to healthy participants without hearing impairments aged over 50 years. We recorded electroencephalography while participants listened to sentences that were either semantically correct or incorrect at multiple time points. Subsequently event-related potential (ERP) analyses were carried out to investigate fast dynamic neural processes in two groups (high or low amount of app-based training) at two time points (before and after six months of training).

In line with previous research, our overall preliminary analysis before training shows a centro-parietally distributed N400, with semantically incorrect sentences eliciting larger amplitudes than semantically correct sentences. The results additionally revealed a P600 showing larger amplitudes for semantically incorrect than correct sentences in parietal regions. Consistent with the retrieval-integration account, our findings could index prior access to word meaning and subsequent integration of contextual meaning. Following six months of training, P600 amplitudes appeared to increase in participants who used the app infrequently and decrease in participants who trained a lot, suggesting that P600 effects may indicate greater cognitive effort and proactive control in resolving semantic conflicts.

Understanding the link between semantic processing and cognitive abilities may improve therapeutic interventions for individuals with speech intelligibility difficulties, such as hearing loss, where semantic processing is particularly impaired. In our ongoing project, our main objective is to gain insight into whether hearing-impaired patients exhibit similar or altered neural mechanisms for semantic processing. This will provide further insights into strategies enhancing speech comprehension following cochlear implant surgery and the possible contribution of cognitive training in hearing rehabilitation.