Resting-state EEG microstate dynamics indicate altered brain network temporal organization in age-related hearing loss.

Authors

Yurun Chen, Qiaoyu Liu, Yaohan Chen, Min Zhu, Yufei Qiao, Jiaran Chen, Wen Sun, Hua Yang, Yingying Shang

Published in

Frontiers in aging neuroscience. Volume 18. Pages 1850657. Epub Aug 03, 2026.

Abstract

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is increasingly recognized as a condition that involves changes in the central nervous system beyond the auditory pathway, with growing evidence showing altered large-scale brain network connectivity. However, how ARHL reshapes the temporal organization of large-scale brain networks remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate whether ARHL is associated with alterations in resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) microstate dynamics and to examine the relationship between microstate features and auditory function.
Resting-state EEGs were recorded in 45 older adults with ARHL and 50 age-matched normal-hearing (NH) controls. Microstate analysis was performed using a seven-class model. Group differences in microstate parameters were assessed. Correlation analyses were conducted to examine associations between microstate metrics and audiological measures, including pure-tone audiometry (PTA) thresholds and speech-in-noise (SIN) perception.
Compared with NH controls, participants with ARHL exhibited reduced microstate G time coverage at the nominal significance level (uncorrected p < 0.05, FDR-adjusted q ≥ 0.05). In addition, the ARHL group showed significantly (FDR-adjusted q < 0.05) increased transition probabilities (TPs) from C to F and from F to C. Conversely, the TP from D to G was significantly reduced, whereas the TP from G to D showed a reduction at the nominal significance level. Across all participants, after controlling for age and sex, microstate G time coverage and TP from D to G were negatively correlated with PTA thresholds, whereas the TPs from C to F and from F to C were positively correlated with PTA thresholds. Furthermore, microstate G time coverage showed a nominal negative correlation with the SIN threshold.
ARHL is associated with altered resting-state EEG microstate dynamics, mainly reflected by changes in TPs among sensorimotor and higher-order cognitive networks. Resting-state EEG microstate analysis provides a comprehensive and systematic framework for studying brain network temporal reorganization induced by auditory decline.

PMID:
42609411
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Aug 2026.

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