Beyond Words: Non-verbal auditory cognitive impairments in Alzheimer's Disease dementia

BackgroundVerbal speech-in-noise (SIN) measures are impaired in early Alzheimers disease (AD) but may be confounded by linguistic and cultural factors. We investigated whether non-verbal auditory memory could predict cognitive impairment in AD. MethodsWe evaluated 158 cognitively healthy individuals, 26 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 28 with AD dementia using the Addenbrookes Cognitive Examination (ACE-III), pure-tone audiometry, verbal SIN tests, and non-verbal auditory memory tests for basic sound features. Group differences were assessed adjusting for age, sex, and education. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses compared model fit of verbal and non-verbal auditory variables. ResultsAll auditory cognition measures were significantly associated with cognition. Non-verbal measures provided a better fit to diagnosis than verbal measures (AIC difference >10), although ROC analyses showed no significant differences between models. ConclusionsNon-verbal auditory measures are effective measures in distinguishing between cognitively healthy, MCI, and AD dementia individuals.