Understanding speech-in-noise is a significant challenge for individuals with age-related hearing loss (ARHL). Evidence suggests that increased activity in the frontal cortex compensates for impaired speech perception in healthy aging older adults. However, whether older adults with ARHL still show preserved compensatory function and the specific neural regulatory mechanisms underlying such compensation remains largely unclear. Here, by utilizing a synchronized EEG-fNIRS test, we investigated the neural oscillatory characteristics of the theta band and synchronous hemodynamic changes in the frontal cortex during a speech recognition task in noise. The study included healthy older adults (n = 26, aged 65.4 ± 2.8), those with mild hearing loss (n = 26, aged 66.3 ± 3.8), and those with moderate to severe hearing loss (n = 26, aged 67.5 ± 3.7). Results showed that, relative to healthy older adults, older adults with ARHL exhibited lower activation and weakened theta band neural oscillations in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) under noisy conditions, and this decreased activity correlated with high-frequency hearing loss. Meanwhile, we found that the connectivity of the frontoparietal network was significantly reduced, which might depress the top-down articulatory prediction function affecting speech recognition performance in ARHL older adults. The results suggested that healthy aging older adults might exhibit compensatory attentional resource recruitment through a top-down auditory-motor integration mechanism. In comparison, older adults with ARHL reflected decompensation of the left DLPFC involving the frontoparietal integration network during speech recognition tasks in noise.

对于患有年龄相关性听力损失 （ARHL） 的人来说，了解噪声中的语音是一项重大挑战。有证据表明，额叶皮层活动的增加可以补偿健康老年老年人的言语感知受损。然而，患有 ARHL 的老年人是否仍然表现出保留的代偿功能以及这种代偿背后的特定神经调节机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。在这里，通过使用同步 EEG-fNIRS 测试，我们研究了在噪声语音识别任务中 θ 波段的神经振荡特性和额叶皮层的同步血流动力学变化。该研究包括健康的老年人 （n = 26，年龄 65.4 ± 2.8）、轻度听力损失者 （n = 26，年龄 66.3 ± 3.8） 和中度至重度听力损失者 （n = 26，年龄 67.5 ± 3.7）。结果表明，相对于健康的老年人，在嘈杂的条件下，患有 ARHL 的老年人在嘈杂条件下表现出较低的激活和左背外侧前额叶皮层 （DLPFC） 的 θ 带神经振荡减弱，这种活动减少与高频听力损失相关。同时，我们发现额顶叶网络的连通性显著降低，这可能会抑制影响 ARHL 老年人语音识别性能的自上而下的发音预测功能。结果表明，健康老龄化老年人可能通过自上而下的听觉-运动整合机制表现出补偿性注意力资源募集。相比之下，患有 ARHL 的老年人在噪声中的语音识别任务中反映了涉及额顶整合网络的左侧 DLPFC 失代偿。