Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves speech comprehension in noise: A crossover, placebo-controlled study.

ABSTRACT: Speech comprehension in noisy environments remains a significant challenge, even among individuals with clinically normal hearing and users of hearing aids and cochlear implants. While conventional assistive hearing devices address limitations in the auditory periphery, they do not directly enhance the brain's capacity to segregate speech from background noise. Because tonic vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has demonstrated potential for rapidly improving central sensory processing, this study investigated whether tonic transcutaneous cervical VNS (tcVNS) can augment speech-in-noise intelligibility. Two cohorts of older human adults (60-84 years) participated in a placebo-controlled, crossover study. Participants completed speech-in-noise assessments using either QuickSIN or AzBio sentences,

SUBMITTER: Jigo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11974696 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature