Central Auditory Dysfunction in Older Persons With Memory Impairment or Alzheimer Dementia

Abstract

Behavioral auditory testing using standard test protocols provides a clinical opportunity to examine brain functions involved in understanding and interpreting speech. We previously demonstrated that central auditory processing (CAP) dysfunction in the presence of adequate peripheral auditory function, as judged by competing message testing, is highly prevalent in persons with a diagnosis of Alzheimer dementia (AD).¹ The present report extends those observations and provides additional evidence about the possible mechanism(s) involved.