Tone Discrimination as a Window Into Acoustic Perceptual Deficits in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Purpose Deficits in auditory perception compromise a range of linguistic processes in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD), including speech perception and sensitivity to affective and linguistic prosody. An unanswered question is whether this deficit exists not only at the level of speech perception, but also at a more pervasive level of auditory perception. It is possible that PD produces a selective impairment in the perception of a salient acoustic feature such as frequency, amplitude, or duration. Method Auditory perception in persons with PD was investigated using a tone discrimination task where clients (N = 12) and age-matched controls (N = 15) made same/different judgments for pairs of pure tones that were factorially varied by acoustic feature (i.e., frequency, amplitude, or duration) crossed with perceptual distance (i.e., close vs. far). Results Relative to healthy age-matched controls, persons with PD showed marked impairment in tone discrimination. Persons with PD showed an acoustic feature by perceptual distance interaction that was characterized by deficits in detecting frequency and amplitude differences for perceptually near tones. Conclusion These results suggest that persons with PD show a reduced ability to notice change in frequency and amplitude as compared to normal older adults. More generally, these findings implicate a frontal–striatal contribution to auditory perception.

Is there auditory impairment in Parkinson's disease?

“…However, the most pronounced temporal auditory impairment in PD remains controversial. The results of the GIN test in our study revealed no difference between the non-PD and the PD groups, as it was observed in previous investigations that evaluated temporal perception 12,13 . On the other hand, worse detection, discrimination and naming of gaps have already been identified in individuals with PD 12,13 .…”

“…The results of the GIN test in our study revealed no difference between the non-PD and the PD groups, as it was observed in previous investigations that evaluated temporal perception 12,13 . On the other hand, worse detection, discrimination and naming of gaps have already been identified in individuals with PD 12,13 . It is believed that these findings are a reflection of tasks used that recruited greater cognitive expression, since they approached the indication of intervals by means of the comparison between listening conditions at different moments, also involving memorization, besides the perception of the interval itself.…”

“…In DPS, the task used involves, in addition to the differentiation of sound duration patterns, the identification of the order of presentation of three stimuli, thus implying greater complexity and proximity to the necessary abilities to discriminate speech sounds. These characteristics may justify the divergent findings obtained in previous research in individuals with PD 13 , in which the method used involved discrimination of subtle differences of the duration of two syllables, not requiring the memorization and naming of the stimuli. Thus, it is important to consider in our results the influence of difficulties regarding executive functions and attention present in PD 28 .…”

“…Thus, the investigation of the frequency of impairment in temporal auditory processing skills is relevant to indicate the extent of auditory impairment, which needs to be better described in PD.Furthermore, it remains controversial whether patients perform poorly in these skills when compared to individuals without the disease 12,13 .Thus, the objective of the present study is to describe the audiological profile of individuals with Parkinson's disease and to investigate the association between hearing disorders and the disease.…”

Predicting parkinsonism: New opportunities from Gaucher disease

“…Previous studies have identified other clinical markers currently used in movement disorders clinics or investigated in Parkinson disease research centers around the world, including hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra using transcranial sonography [9], olfactory testing [10], acoustic analysis [11], and cerebrospinal fluid analysis [12]. Some of these tests, like optical coherence tomography or transcranial sonography, require specific expertise and equipment and may have suboptimal specificity.…”