Processamento auditivo central e caracterização de aspectos cognitivos em mulheres pós-menopáusicas

Abstract

Introduction : The hormonal changes associated with menopause are able to modulate functions that are important for the central processing of verbal information.Objective : To evaluate the relationship between complaints of speech understanding and central auditory processing and cognitive function inpostmenopausal women.Methodology : The study included 92 postmenopausal women (45-60 years), which were classified into two groups according to presence or absence of complaints of difficulty understanding speech. All were right-handed, had normal hearing or mild sensorineural hearing loss and underwent bilateral hearing evaluation (otoscopy, impedance and ipsilateral and contralateral acoustic reflex, audiometry and speech audiometry), central auditory processing tests (dichotic consonant-vowel, Sequence Pattern frequency and Duration) and cognitive tests (Trail A and B, BDI, Procedure Brow Peterson, Stroop, divided and sustained attention).Results : 63% of women complained of speech understanding. The experimental groups showed no significant differences in demographic variables, hearing assessment or evidence of central auditory processing. However, women with complaints of speech understanding had poorer performance on tasks Trail B, Brown Peterson (interference motor), sustained attention (concentration) and Stroop(color-word), and higher scores on the BDI.Conclusions : Most women in post-menopausal women complain of speech understanding, which are associated with changes in cognitive domains potentially involved in central auditory processing, as processing speed, attention and working memory.