The neurophysiological effect of aging on AM processing in the rat auditory cortex

grantor: University of TorontoDifficulty in speech discrimination is a common complaint among the elderly population. In recent years, it has been proposed that part of this difficulty in speech perception may be the result of age-related changes in the central auditory system, specifically a decline in temporal processing speed. The goal of the present study was to investigate the neurophysiological effects of aging on temporal processing speed within the auditory cortex. Sinusoidal amplitude modulations (SAM) was the stimulus of choice as it is a complex sound found in animal vocalizations including human speech. Extracellular single unit recordings were made from cells of young and old male Long Evans Hooded rats in the auditory cortex. Tone bursts were presented to assess characteristic frequency followed by SAM stimuli to assess best modulation frequency (BMF) of the cells. Results indicate no significant differences between age groups for BMFs. Thus no neural basis for aging was found using SAM stimuli.M.Sc