Abstract

Perception of speech requires sensitivity to features, such as amplitude and frequency modulations, that are often temporally regular. Previous work suggests age-related changes in neural responses to temporally regular features, but little work has focused on age differences for different types of modulations. We recorded magnetoencephalography in younger (21-33 years) and older adults (53-73 years) to investigate age differences in neural responses to slow (2-6 Hz sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal) modulations in amplitude, frequency, or combined amplitude and frequency. Audiometric pure-tone average thresholds were elevated in older compared to younger adults, indicating subclinical hearing impairment in the recruited older-adult sample. Neural responses to sound onset (independent of temporal modulations) were increased in magnitude in older compared to younger adults, suggesting hyperresponsivity and a loss of inhibition in the aged auditory system. Analyses of neural activity to modulations revealed greater neural synchronization with amplitude, frequency, and combined amplitude-frequency modulations for older compared to younger adults. This potentiated response generalized across different degrees of temporal regularity (sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal), although neural synchronization was generally lower for non-sinusoidal modulation. Despite greater synchronization, sustained neural activity was reduced in older compared to younger adults for sounds modulated both sinusoidally and non-sinusoidally in frequency. Our results suggest age differences in the sensitivity of the auditory system to features present in speech and other natural sounds.