Download PDF
Semin Hear 2001; 22(3): 255-270
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-15630
Copyright © 2001 by Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA. Tel.: +1(212) 584-4662

Asymmetry in Auditory Function in Elderly Persons

James Jerger
  • From the Program in Cognition and Neuroscience, The School of Human Development, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
31 December 2001 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

ABSTRACT

Evidence suggesting that aging is related to increasing suppression of the left ear in the dichotic listening paradigm is reviewed. The effect has been demonstrated for digits, words, sentences, and continuous discourse. It is present in both the free-recall and the directed-attention modes, and it cannot be readily ascribed to age-related increase in hearing sensitivity loss. It has been demonstrated both behaviorally, in terms of accuracy scores and reaction times, and electrophysiologically, in terms of the peak latency of the event-related potential recorded from scalp electrodes. Moreover changing the to-be-attended speech feature from linguistic to nonlinguistic can reverse the direction of the suppression effect. Taken as a whole these findings suggest an age-related deficit in the interhemispheric transfer of auditory information via the corpus callosum.

KEYWORD

Dichotic listening - aging - corpus callosum - event-related potentials - left ear suppression

REFERENCES

  • 1 Hellige J. Hemispheric Asymmetry: What's Right and What's Left?. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; 1993
    Google Scholar
  • 2 Fifer R, Jerger J, Berlin C, Tobey E, Campbell J. Development of a dichotic sentence identification test for hearing-impaired adults.  Ear Hear . 1983;  4 300-305
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Jerger J, Stach B, Johnson K, Loiselle L, Jerger S. Patterns of abnormality in dichotic listening. In: Jensen J, ed. presbyacusis and Other Age Related Aspects Copenhagen: Stougaard Jensen; 1990
    Google Scholar
  • 4 Jerger J, Jordan C. Age-related asymmetry on a cued-listening task.  Ear Hear . 1992;  13 272-277
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Barr R, Gambria L. Age-related decrement in auditory selective attention.  Psychol Aging . 1990;  5 597-599
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Martin D, Cranford J. Age-related changes in binaural processing. II. Behavioral findings.  Am J Otol . 1991;  12 365-369
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Jerger J, Darling R, Florin E. Efficacy of the cued-listening task in the evaluation of binaural hearing aids.  J Am Acad Audiol . 1994;  5 279-285
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Jerger J, Chmiel R, Allen J, Wilson A. Effects of age and gender on dichotic sentence identification.  Ear Hear . 1994;  15 273-285
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Strouse A, Wilson R. Recognition of one-, two, and three-pair digits under free and directed recall.  J Am Acad Audiol . 1999;  10 557-571
    Article in Thieme ConnectPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 10 Jerger J, Alford B, Lew H, Rivera V, Chmiel R. Dichotic listening, event-related potentials, and interhemispheric transfer in the elderly.  Ear Hear . 1995;  16 482-498
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 11 Jerger J, Moncrieff D, Greenwald R, Wambacq I, Seipel A. Effect of age on interaural asymmetry of event-related potentials in a dichotic listening task.  J Am Acad Audiol . 2000;  11 383-389
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 12 Bellis T, Nicol T, Kraus N. Aging affects hemispheric asymmetry in the neural representation of speech sounds.  J Neuroscience . 2000;  20 791-797
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 13 Greenwald R, Jerger J. Aging affects hemispheric asymmetry on a competing speech task.  J Am Acad Audiol . 2001;  12 167-173
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Hymel M, Cranford J, Stuart A. Effects of contralateral speech competition on auditory event-related potentials recorded from elderly listeners: brain map study.  J Am Acad Audiol . 1998;  9 385-397
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 15 Kimura D. Functional asymmetry of the brain in dichotic listening.  Cortex . 1967;  3 163-178
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 16 Barkhof F, Elton M, Lindeboom J. Functional correlates of callosal atrophy in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients: a preliminary MRI study.  J Neurol . 1998;  245 153-158
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 17 Rao S, Bernardin L, Leo G, Ellington L, Ryan S, Burg L. Cerebral disconnection in multiple sclerosis: relationship to atrophy of the corpus callosum.  Arch Neurol . 1989;  46 918-920
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 18 Benavidez D, Fletcher J, Hannay H. Corpus callosum damage and interhemispheric transfer of information following closed head injury in children.  Cortex . 1999;  35 315-333
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 19 Sugishita M, Otomo K, Yamazaki K, Shimizu H, Yoshioka M, Shinohara A. Dichotic listening in patients with partial section of the corpus callosum.  Brain . 1995;  118 417-427
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 20 Allen L, Richey M, Chai Y, Gorski R. Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being.  J Neuroscience . 1991;  11 933-942
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 21 Laissy J, Patrux B, Duchateau C. Midsagittal MR measurements of the corpus callosum in healthy subjects and diseased patients; a prospective study.  Am J Neuroradiol . 1993;  14 145-154
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 22 Salat D, Ward A, Kaye J, Janowsky J. Sex differences in the corpus callosum with aging.  Neurobiol Aging . 1997;  18 191-197
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
      >