Examining relationship between auditory brainstem responses, cognitive ability, and speech-in-noise perception among young adults with normal hearing thresholds

The goal of this research was to determine the contributions of auditory
neural processing and cognitive abilities to predict performance on a
competing talker task in young, normal hearing adults. Two experiments
were performed, each with separate cohorts of ~30 young adults with normal
hearing who performed a competing talker task which included a high-pass
filtered condition that was designed to be more sensitive to auditory
nerve functioning than are commonly used speech-in-noise perception tests.
Predictors of performance on this speech-in-speech task included ABR waves
I and V metrics and cognitive test scores. Experiment one included click
ABRs at a moderate level commensurate with the level of the competing
talker task, as well as the cognitive digit span working memory test.
Experiment two included high-intensity click clinical ABRs and three
cognitive tests from the NIH Toolbox V3 that assessed working memory,
cognitive flexibility and attention, and inhibitory control: List Sorting
Working Memory, Dimensional Change Card Sort, and Flanker Inhibitory
Control and Attention tests, respectively. Performance on the high-pass
competing talker task varied across participants in both experiments. This
variability was predicted by performance on the test of inhibitory
control, but not the tests involving working memory or cognitive
flexibility, nor by any of the auditory processing metrics from moderate
or high-intensity click ABRs. Among two groups of young adults with normal
hearing, cognitive factors with very similar demands to the competing
talker task seem to play the greatest role in speech-in-noise perception.