Cortical aperiodic dynamics in hearing impairments predicts neural tracking of speech

作者：Hangze Mao, Yuhan Lu, Zhuang Jiang, Difei Hu, Shui‐Hong Zhou, Xing Tian, Yan Han, Yongtao Xiao, Zhili Zhang · 发表于：NeuroImage · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121477 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Neural dynamics and brain function、Functional Brain Connectivity Studies、Neuroscience and Music Perception

• EEG Spectral exponent noninvasively indexes cortical excitatory-inhibitory balance. • Bilateral hearing loss reduces exponent, longer duration restores it towards normal. • Left vs. right deafness show distinct lateralized patterns in spectral exponent. • Resting-state exponent predicts speech-in-noise tracking across hearing disorders. Excitation–inhibition balance is a fundamental property of cortical circuits, reflecting homeostatic plasticity that stabilizes neural activity in the face of functional disruption. This framework has been widely implicated in sensory deprivation and psychiatric disorders. In the auditory domain, it remains unclear how long-term bilateral and unilateral hearing loss reorganizes cortical E-I balance and how such reorganization affects speech processing. Here, we recorded resting-state EEG and measured spectral exponents as a noninvasive proxy for cortical E-I balance in individuals with bilateral hearing loss, single-sided deafness, and normal hearing. We found that spectral exponents differed systematically across hearing loss types. Participants with bilateral hearing loss exhibited reduced exponents, primarily in central-parietal regions, relative to normal-hearing controls, with a gradual increase with prolonged hearing-loss duration. In contrast, left- and right-sided deafness showed distinct patterns of hemispheric lateralization in spectral exponents. Participants also performed a naturalistic speech listening task, allowing quantifica...