Scientists Found a Way to Boost Human Hearing in Noisy Situations

If you can't keep up with fast-paced chatter or conversation in a noisy room, it might be because of a brain problem. There is a training technique that could help manage the issue.

It involves practicing how the brain can distinguish between different speeds of sound. According to the study, the technique could potentially improve the hearing of millions of older adults because of the decline in our ability to sift through sounds as we age.

Auditory temporal processing is how the brain processes sound stimuli over time. It helps us make sense of the sounds we hear.

"We've seen some evidence that these temporal processing deficits might be improved in animal models but this is the first time we've shown it in humans."

40 volunteers completed rate discrimination training Participants were asked to distinguish between sets of tones played in a rapid sequence during the nine sessions.

The training required these individuals to identify which tones in a series had a higher or lower pitch. Each participant's ability to pick out changes in the audio they were hearing was assessed using similar tests.

Compared with the control group of 37 participants whose sessions involved a simpler tone detection exercise, those who underwent the rate discrimination training showed an improvement in their ability to pick out changes.

Older participants with hearing impairment were consistently shown this.

Audio detection test scores were better after the training process than they were before, with some older volunteers getting results similar to younger volunteers before training.

The results show the potential for training to restore temporal processing in older people and highlight the role of cognitive function in these gains.

Musical training has been shown to increase temporal processing abilities in people with normal hearing. Evidence has been shown that the brain can retain some of its plasticity as it gets older.

The current study is looking at how younger and older individuals may be affected by rate training exercises.

There is still more to be done. The researchers want to gather more data on the effects of rate discrimination training for a follow-up study.

The team wants to know how demands on memory might affect the impact of these exercises.

"The results offer great hope in developing clinically feasible auditory training programs that can improve older Listeners' ability to communicate in difficult situations," says lead researcher for the project, audiologists from the University of Maryland

The journal of the association for research in otology published the research.