Evaluation of cognitive functions in the elderly with and without central auditory processing disorder.
Caroline Nunes Rocha-Muniz, Tatiane Eisencraft Zalcman, Renata Alonso and 4 others
PMID 38055414WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with central auditory processing disorder performed like controls on most cognitive tests and on a brainwave measure.
Only clock drawing was lower in the disorder group, and it tracked pitch pattern sequence scores.
Key findings
01Most Brief Cognitive Battery tests and the P300 brainwave test showed no significant group differences.
02The only significant cognitive test difference was the Clock Drawing Test, with controls performing better than the CAPD group.
03Clock Drawing scores and Pitch Pattern Sequence scores were moderately associated.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small, with only 28 participants, so the results may be unstable and hard to generalise. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether central auditory processing disorder caused cognitive changes or whether both changed with aging. Participants had normal peripheral hearing and no neurological, psychiatric or vestibular conditions, so findings may not apply to older adults who have hearing loss, tinnitus or common comorbidities. The reported sex distribution for the control group was inconsistent. Nine male and eight female individuals were listed for a group of 14, so group comparability is uncertain. Normality criteria for central auditory tests came from the 1997 manual, not the later 2011 manual, which may affect how CAPD was defined. Some central auditory skills, such as temporal resolution and binaural interaction, were not assessed, so the CAPD grouping may have missed other processing problems.
Declared interests
The study was funded by FAPESP and CAPES. No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that central auditory processing disorder causes cognitive decline. The study was cross-sectional, small, and found no broad cognitive differences; the clock drawing finding is an association, not proof of cause.