Auditory brainstem responses as a biomarker for cognition

A non-invasive, accessible and effective biomarker is critical to the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of age-related cognitive decline. Recent work has suggested a strong association between auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and cognitive function in aging macaques. Here we show in 118 human participants (66 females; age range=18-92 years; hearing loss = -5 to 70 dB HL) that cognition is associated with both age and hearing level, but this triad relationship is mainly driven by the age factor. After adjusting for age, cognition is still significantly associated with both the ABR wave V amplitude (B, 0.110, 95% CI, 0.018– 0.202; p = 0.020) and latency (B, -0.101, 95% CI, -0.186– -0.016; p = 0.021). Importantly, this age-adjusted ABR-cognition association is primarily driven by older individuals and language-dependent cognitive functions. We also perform the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating-characteristic analysis and find that the ABR wave V amplitude is best for detecting good cognitive performers (AUC = 0.96) whereas the wave V latency is best for detecting poor ones (AUC = 0.86). The present result not only confirms the previous animal work in humans but also shows the clinical potential of using auditory brainstem responses to improve diagnosis and treatment of age-related cognitive decline.