A preliminary study by researchers at Northeastern University showed that a higher level of physical fitness may be associated with a better ability to understand speech amid noise.
Jonathan Bell, a professor of health sciences at Northeastern University's Buffay School of Health Sciences, says that about 80% of adults may experience some degree of hearing loss by age 80. But the problem isn't just a decrease in volume; some people also have difficulty distinguishing speech from surrounding sounds, especially in noisy environments like restaurants.
Understanding speech amid noise is linked to mental processes that include attention, working memory, and executive functions, which are highly dependent on the prefrontal cortex of the brain and may be affected by aging.
Based on the well-known link between physical activity and brain health, Bell and researcher Bridget Carey began investigating whether physical fitness could also help improve speech comprehension.
In the first phase, the researchers measured the cardiorespiratory fitness of volunteers using the VO2 max test, and then subjected them to tests in which they were asked to repeat recorded sentences amidst different levels of noise.
Preliminary results showed that the fittest participants performed about 15% better in understanding speech amid noise compared to the least fit.
Bell says that picking up an extra word or two in each sentence can give a person more context and help them follow the conversation.
However, the researchers emphasize that these findings do not prove that physical fitness is the cause of the improvement. Kirk Erickson, a researcher at Advent Health Hospitals, suggests that fitness may help the brain use its cognitive resources more efficiently when listening becomes more challenging.
In the next phase, participants will undergo a 20-minute exercise session on a treadmill, followed by a retest of their speech comprehension abilities to determine if the physical activity leads to immediate improvement. The results will pave the way for a longer, six-month intervention.
The researchers also plan to use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to monitor brain activity while listening in noisy, real-world environments.
Bill hopes that this research will eventually lead to interventions that help people improve their ability to communicate and understand speech in their daily lives.
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