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. 2022 May 30:14:890010.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.890010. eCollection 2022.

The Effect of Lifetime Noise Exposure and Aging on Speech-Perception-in-Noise Ability and Self-Reported Hearing Symptoms: An Online Study

Adnan M Shehabi  1   2 , Garreth Prendergast  1 , Hannah Guest  1 , Christopher J Plack  1   3
Affiliations

The Effect of Lifetime Noise Exposure and Aging on Speech-Perception-in-Noise Ability and Self-Reported Hearing Symptoms: An Online Study

Adnan M Shehabi et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Animal research shows that aging and excessive noise exposure damage cochlear outer hair cells, inner hair cells, and the synapses connecting inner hair cells with the auditory nerve. This may translate into auditory symptoms such as difficulty understanding speech in noise, tinnitus, and hyperacusis. The current study, using a novel online approach, assessed and quantified the effects of lifetime noise exposure and aging on (i) speech-perception-in-noise (SPiN) thresholds, (ii) self-reported hearing ability, and (iii) the presence of tinnitus. Secondary aims involved documenting the effects of lifetime noise exposure and aging on tinnitus handicap and the severity of hyperacusis. Two hundred and ninety-four adults with no past diagnosis of hearing or memory impairments were recruited online. Participants were assigned into two groups: 217 "young" (age range: 18-35 years, females: 151) and 77 "older" (age range: 50-70 years, females: 50). Participants completed a set of online instruments including an otologic health and demographic questionnaire, a dementia screening tool, forward and backward digit span tests, a noise exposure questionnaire, the Khalfa hyperacusis questionnaire, the short-form of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing scale, the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, a digits-in-noise test, and a Coordinate Response Measure speech-perception test. Analyses controlled for sex and cognitive function as reflected by the digit span. A detailed protocol was pre-registered, to guard against "p-hacking" of this extensive dataset. Lifetime noise exposure did not predict SPiN thresholds, self-reported hearing ability, or the presence of tinnitus in either age group. Exploratory analyses showed that worse hyperacusis scores, and a greater prevalence of tinnitus, were associated significantly with high lifetime noise exposure in the young, but not in the older group. Age was a significant predictor of SPiN thresholds and the presence of tinnitus, but not of self-reported hearing ability, tinnitus handicap, or severity of hyperacusis. Consistent with several lab studies, our online-derived data suggest that older adults with no diagnosis of hearing impairment have a poorer SPiN ability and a higher risk of tinnitus than their younger counterparts. Moreover, lifetime noise exposure may increase the risk of tinnitus and the severity of hyperacusis in young adults with no diagnosis of hearing impairment.

Keywords: age-related hearing loss (ARHL); aging; cochlear synaptopathy (CS); hyperacusis; noise exposure; self-reported hearing; speech perception in noise (SPiN); tinnitus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The distribution of lifetime noise exposure for the young (n = 217) and older (n = 78) groups. The left-hand side boxplot corresponds to the older group, while the right-hand side boxplot corresponds to the young group. The upper and lower hinges boxes represent the first and the third quartiles, the thick line the median, the upper whiskers the highest value within 1.5 * IQR (interquartile range) of the upper hinge, and lower whiskers the lowest value within 1.5 * IQR of the lower hinge. Black crosses and blue triangles correspond to individual female and male participants, respectively.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
DIN and CRM thresholds as a function of lifetime noise exposure. (A,B) DIN and thresholds in the young (n = 94) and older (n = 47) groups, respectively. (C,D) CRM thresholds in the young and older groups, respectively. Black crosses and blue triangles represent individual female and male participants, respectively. Best-fit regression lines are drawn through the data points.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The distribution of DIN (A) and CRM (B) thresholds among participants with low lifetime noise exposure (<1.0 logarithmic units) in the young (n = 79) and older (n = 34) groups. For each of the panels, the left-hand side boxplot corresponds to the older group, while the right-hand side boxplot corresponds to the young group. The upper and lower hinges boxes represent the first and the third quartiles, the thick line the median, the upper whiskers the highest value within 1.5 * IQR (interquartile range) of the upper hinge, and lower whiskers the lowest value within 1.5 * IQR of the lower hinge. Black crosses and blue triangles correspond to individual female and male participants, respectively. ** Represent statistical outcomes with significance level < 0.01.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
SSQ12 scores as a function of lifetime noise exposure expressed in logarithmic scale. (A) corresponds to the data of the young group (n = 217) while (B) to the older group (n = 78). Black crosses and blue triangles represent individual female and male participants, respectively. Best-fit regression lines are drawn through the data points.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
(A,B) The distribution of SSQ12 scores and hyperacusis scores for participants with low lifetime noise exposure (<1.0 logarithmic units) in the young (n = 175) and older (n = 56) groups. (C) The number of low-noise participants who reported tinnitus in the young (n = 175; proportion of low-noise participants with tinnitus in the young group = 16.0%) and older (n = 56; proportion of low-noise participants with tinnitus in the older group = 32.1%) groups (** denotes p < 0.01). (D) THI scores for low-noise participants who reported tinnitus in the young (n = 28) and older (n = 18) groups. For (A,B,D), the left-hand side boxplot corresponds to the young group, while the right-hand side boxplot corresponds to the older group. The upper and lower hinges represent the first and the third quartiles, the thick line the median, the upper whiskers the highest value within 1.5 * IQR (interquartile range) of the upper hinge, and lower whiskers the lowest value within 1.5 * IQR of the lower hinge. Black crosses and blue triangles correspond to individual female and male participants, respectively.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
The distribution of lifetime noise exposure scores in the young (n = 217; left-hand-side panel) and the older (n = 78; right-hand-side panel) groups as a function of the presence of tinnitus. For each of the panels, the left-hand side boxplot corresponds to absent tinnitus, while the right-hand side boxplot corresponds to present tinnitus. The upper and lower hinges represent the first and the third quartiles, the thick line the median, the upper whiskers the highest value with 1.5 * IQR (interquartile range), and lower whiskers the lowest value within 1.5 * IQR of the lower hinge. Black crosses and blue triangles correspond to individual female and male participants, respectively. ** denotes p < 0.01.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
THI scores as a function of lifetime noise exposure, for those participants who reported tinnitus. (A) Shows the data for the young group (n = 40) while (B) the data for the older group (n = 26). Black crosses and blue triangles represent individual female and male participants, respectively. Best-fit regression lines are drawn through the data points.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Hyperacusis scores as a function of lifetime noise exposure for the young group (n = 217; A) and the older group (n = 78; B). Black crosses and blue triangles represent individual female and male participants, respectively. Best-fit regression lines are drawn through the data points.
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