Mismatch negativity in older adults and its relationship with the cognitive and behavioral aspects of central auditory processing

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe and compare the performance of older adults with normal hearing and hearing impairments in mismatch negativity (MMN), correlate MMN with cognitive tasks and central auditory processing (CAP), and identify normal values for MMN in older adults. METHODS: This study had 54 participants. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess cognition and the random gap detection test (RGDT), dichotic digit test (DDT), and speech to noise (SN) test were used to evaluate CAP. MMN was elicited with the verbal stimulus /da/ (frequent) and /ta/ (rare), and the latency, amplitude, duration, and area were analyzed. RESULTS: When comparing the normal-hearing group to those with hearing loss, there was no significant difference in MMN. When correlating MMN with MoCA, RGDT, DDT, and the SN test, there was a weak correlation between the MMN amplitude and the RGDT and DDT. When comparing the MMN of participants with normal and altered cognitive aspects and those with normal and altered DDT, the MMN duration was found to be affected by the DDT. The mean latency value of the MMN in the normal-hearing group was 199.8 ms, the amplitude was -2.2 µV, area was 116.1 µV/ms, and duration was 81.2 ms. CONCLUSION: Mild hearing loss did not influence MMN. There was no correlation between MMN and cognitive aspects, and there were weak correlations with CAP. Alterations in CAP led to longer durations in MMN. Normal values for MMN in adults aged between 60 and 77 years were generated.