{"id":82277,"date":"2025-05-07T16:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T16:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/82277\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T16:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T16:25:12","slug":"why-noisy-rooms-are-harder-for-some-brains-to-handle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/82277\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Noisy Rooms Are Harder for Some Brains to Handle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Summary: <\/strong>New research reveals that the insula, a key brain region, shows altered connectivity in people who struggle to understand speech in noisy environments. Using resting-state MRI, scientists found that the left insula works harder even when the brain is not actively processing sound, suggesting a permanent rewiring linked to hearing difficulties.<\/p>\n<p>Since insula abnormalities are also associated with early dementia, these findings may help explain the established link between hearing loss and cognitive decline. Researchers also discovered that exposure to noisy environments may help train the brain, raising hope for improving hearing challenges through practice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Insula Overactivation:<\/strong> People with speech-in-noise difficulties show stronger insula connectivity, even at rest.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Link to Dementia:<\/strong> Insula rewiring may explain connections between hearing loss and cognitive decline.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Potential for Improvement:<\/strong> Exposure to noisy environments may help train the brain to better process speech.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong>University at Buffalo<\/p>\n<p><strong>As they age, some people find it harder to understand speech in noisy environments. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now, University at Buffalo researchers have identified the area in the brain, called the insula, that shows significant changes in people who struggle with speech in noise. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The findings, published in the journal\u00a0Brain and Language, contribute to the growing link between hearing loss and cognitive impairment leading to dementia.<\/p>\n<p>  <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/noise-conversation-neurosciencce.jpg\" alt=\"This shows two heads and brains.\"  \/> That finding, he says, has implications for how dementia may develop, since the insula is also associated with early dementia. Credit: Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p>Previous research has separately established connections between hearing difficulties and dementia, as well as insula abnormalities and cognitive decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The insulae are two complicated structures that interact with the brain\u2019s frontal lobe, which is responsible for higher-level cognitive function. The insulae integrate sensory, emotional and cognitive information.<\/p>\n<p>The study involved 40 men and women ages 20-80. They underwent hearing testing first to determine who had difficulty hearing speech in noisy environments; they then underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests of their brains at rest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The brain at baseline<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While task-based studies reveal what parts of the brain activate during specific activities, the researchers in this study wanted to see how difficulties hearing speech in noise might affect the brain at baseline, at rest.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0David S. Wack, PhD, first author and associate professor of radiology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, resting-state MRI reveals functional connections, showing how different brain regions work together even when not actively engaged in tasks.<\/p>\n<p>The study found that the left insula shows stronger connectivity with auditory regions in people who struggle with speech in noise, suggesting a permanent rewiring of brain networks that persists even when they\u2019re not actively listening to challenging speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour brain is always doing something,\u201d Wack explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when you have hearing loss, you are recruiting other areas of the brain to do more processing in order to decode what\u2019s going on. What\u2019s interesting is that we found the insula working harder when the brain was supposedly at rest, when there was no speech in noise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That finding, he says, has implications for how dementia may develop, since the insula is also associated with early dementia. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMultiple studies have established correlations between hearing loss, speech-in-noise difficulties and dementia,\u201d Wack explains.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur findings show baseline brain connectivity changes that occur with poorer performance with speech in noise that may explain these connections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have a bad signal coming (the sound or the seen object) and then the brain is left to interpret what it means,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour brain fills in what works, what seems to make the most sense and it incorporates higher-level regions of the brain to do it.<\/p>\n<p>He continues: \u201cIt\u2019s not that hearing loss causes dementia, but if we could find a way to preserve the fidelity of the signal coming in, then the brain wouldn\u2019t have to start compensating for that hearing loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>An unexpected finding<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The researchers reported one unexpected and fascinating finding. \u201cWe had a subject who had relatively poor hearing for pure tones, but who achieved the highest score for speech-in-noise for one ear,\u201d Wack says.<\/p>\n<p>It turned out this person worked in an environment with high background noise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis suggests that people don\u2019t have to just accept poor performance in noisy backgrounds,\u201d says Wack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt shows that you might be able to practice your way out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He hopes to further study the relationship between hearing loss and dementia. \u201cBy identifying shared neural networks at rest, our research adds to the understanding of why addressing hearing difficulties might help with cognitive function,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>University at Buffalo co-authors include Ferdinand Schweser, PhD, of the Department of Neurology; Sarah F. Muldoon, PhD, of the Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Robert S. Miletich, MD, PhD, formerly interim chair and professor of nuclear medicine.<\/p>\n<p>Kathleen McNerney, PhD, from SUNY Buffalo State, also contributed to this work.\u00a0 Other co-authors are from the Boston University School of Medicine, the Institute of Science in Tokyo and Canon Medical Systems.<\/p>\n<p>The imaging work was done at the Center for Biomedical Imaging in UB\u2019s Clinical and Translational Science Institute.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Funding: <\/strong>Funding for the study and resources were provided by Canon Medical Systems USA, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NIH, UL1TR001412) and by a gift from William and Grace Mabie for the advancement of neuroscience.<\/p>\n<p>About this auditory neuroscience research news<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Author: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buffalo.edu\/news\/about-us\/staff\/goldbaum.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ellen Goldbaum<\/a><br \/><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.buffalo.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">University at Buffalo<\/a><br \/><strong>Contact: <\/strong>Ellen Goldbaum \u2013 University at Buffalo<br \/><strong>Image: <\/strong>The image is credited to Neuroscience News<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ffffe8\"><strong>Original Research: <\/strong>Open access.<br \/>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.bandl.2024.105503\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Speech in noise listening correlates identified in resting state and DTI MRI images<\/a>\u201d by David S. Wack et al. Brain and Language<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Speech in noise listening correlates identified in resting state and DTI MRI images<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This study presents an examination of the neural connectivity associated with processing speech in noisy environments, an ability that declines with age.<\/p>\n<p>We correlated subjects\u2019 speech-in-noise (SIN) ability with resting-state MRI scans and Fractional Anisotropy (FA) values from the auditory section of the corpus callosum, both with and without correcting for age.<\/p>\n<p>The results revealed that subjects who performed poorly on the right ear SIN test (QuickSIN, MedRx) had higher correlations between the primary auditory cortex and regions of the brain that process language.<\/p>\n<p>Subjects who performed well on the QuickSIN test had stronger correlations bilaterally between the primary auditory cortices, however, this finding was due to age. Likewise, FA values seem best explained by age not SIN.<\/p>\n<p>The Ig2 region of the insula showed significant correlation with right ear SIN when correcting for age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: New research reveals that the insula, a key brain region, shows altered connectivity in people who struggle&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[29269,215,105,39838,219,220,10123,12192,16,15,39839],"class_list":{"0":"post-82277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-auditory-neuroscience","9":"tag-brain-research","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-insular","12":"tag-neurobiology","13":"tag-neuroscience","14":"tag-noise","15":"tag-speech","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-university-at-buffalo"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114467486555603673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}