Age- and noise-related differences in neural entrainment to speech sounds

Speech-in-noise (SIN) perception is a difficult everyday listening task that becomes more difficult with age. Neural tracking of target speech is associated with successful speech perception in clean and noise-degraded listening environments. How aging impacts neural tracking of speech and behavioral decrements in SIN perception remains unclear....

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Findings are preliminary and mechanistic; no actionable change to clinical practice is warranted yet, but they support using neural tracking measures as potential future biomarkers for speech-in-noise difficulty.

Understanding the neural basis of speech-in-noise perception could eventually guide more objective assessments and targeted interventions for age-related hearing difficulties.

1. 01Neural entrainment (brain-wave tracking of speech) was measured in older and younger adults under noisy conditions.
2. 02Stronger neural tracking of a target speaker correlated with better speech-in-noise perception outcomes.
3. 03Both aging and background noise independently affected neural entrainment quality.
4. 04Findings published in Neurobiology of Aging suggest entrainment is a potential objective marker of auditory processing decline.

PMID

42945789

DOI

10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2026.10.005.

Journal

Neurobiology of Aging

Publication type

research_article

Evidence level

2b

Population

Adults across age groups with varying degrees of noise exposure and speech-in-noise perception ability

Intervention

Measurement of neural entrainment (EEG-based brain-wave tracking) to speech stimuli in noise

Comparator

Younger versus older adults; quiet versus noisy listening conditions