Neural Coding of Fundamental Frequency and Processing of Discrete Pitch Accents in Middle Age.

ABSTRACT: Pitch is a prosodic element of speech that speakers dynamically manipulate to convey intention and meaning, making it a powerful cue for spoken language. Neural encoding of fundamental frequency, the primary acoustic cue for pitch, has been shown to deteriorate with age and can occur as early as midlife without overt hearing loss. Here, we systematically examined neural coding of fundamental frequency in middle-aged and young adult listeners using syllabic and naturalistic speech stimuli. We then examined the extent to which neural processing of pitch accents, phonological units of prosody that convey differences in word prominence in naturalistic speech, differed based on age group. Our findings revealed that middle-aged adults exhibited reduced neural coding of fundamental frequency to s

SUBMITTER: McHaney JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12573739 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature