Completed Brain & Nervous System Psychology & Behaviour

Are auditory cognitive measures related to blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease dementia?

Funder AMS (part of Academy)
Recipient organisation Newcastle University
Funding £20K
Period Apr 2025 — Apr 2026

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A simple listening test could help spot the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease, years before memory loss becomes obvious. Standard hearing checks only measure how well the ears pick up sound, but they miss a crucial problem: the brain’s ability to *process* what it hears. This “central” hearing loss can be an early marker of cognitive decline, yet it often goes undetected. The researcher has already developed quick, language-free auditory tests that pick up on this brain-based hearing difficulty. Pilot data show that poor performance on these tests correlates with brain shrinkage in regions vulnerable to Alzheimer’s pathology. This project will directly compare those auditory test results with cutting-edge blood biomarkers—measuring amyloid, tau, and inflammation simultaneously using an ultrasensitive assay. If the listening tests align with these molecular signs of disease, they could become a cheap, non-invasive screening tool for early Alzheimer’s detection, especially in diverse populations where language-based cognitive tests are unreliable. The findings will also provide the statistical power calculations needed to design larger, definitive studies. If successful, this work could shift Alzheimer’s screening from expensive brain scans and lumbar punctures toward a simple, five-minute listening task in a GP’s office.

View original technical description
Auditory cognitive impairments, linked to brain pathways, may be early indicators of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Traditional hearing tests may not detect this 'central' hearing loss, which can reflect early cognitive decline. During my PhD, I developed novel auditory tests that are easy to use, language-free and widely applicable offering a promising approach for early detection of cognitive impairment in diverse populations. Pilot data show that these measures are associated with structural MRI brain changes indicative of neuropathological accumulation (medial temporal lobe atrophy) and neurodegeneration (cortical thinning). This project will study the relationship between the auditory tests and state-of-the-art blood-based neurodegenerative biomarker measures, which can detect various processes simultaneously (e.g. amyloid, tau accumulation, neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation) using an ultrasensitive assay (NULISAseq). My objectives will be to study a group of participants with mild cognitive impairment and AD dementia to: 1. Assess the relationship between performance on auditory memory tests and tau accumulation (measuring pTau-217), based on pilot data showing MR associations with medial temporal lobe volume and 2. Explore associations with other neurodegenerative markers (e.g., neurofilament light chain, neurogranin) and neuroinflammation (e.g., GFAP, YKL-40) and auditory memory performance. Findings from this pilot feasibility study will allow sample size calculations to support larger prospective studies that test the predictive value of auditory cognitive biomarkers and blood-based biomarkers for AD.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Meher Lad (EPMC Awardee)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Auditory Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease
From ears to brains: understanding and measuring hearing impairment in dementia
Auditory Cognition in Cognitive Disorder
Blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegeneration in cognitively impaired individuals without neurological disease at autopsy
Auditory Cognition in Cognitive Disorder in PREVENT

Original classification

Starter Grant for Clinical Lecturers

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