Publications by authors named "Benjamin A Levett"
Background: Various explanations have been proposed for how hearing impairment might be associated with increased risk of dementia. Several theories have proposed direct links with Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuropathology, either due to shared aetiology (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and right temporal variant frontotemporal dementia (rtvFTD) commonly exhibit abnormal hedonic and other behavioural responses to sounds, however hearing dysfunction in this disorder is poorly characterised. Here we addressed this issue using the Queen Square Tests of Auditory Cognition (QSTAC) - a neuropsychological battery for the systematic assessment of central auditory functions (including pitch pattern perception, environmental sound recognition, sound localisation and emotion processing) in cognitively impaired people.
Method: The QSTAC was administered to 12 patients with bvFTD, 7 patients with rtvFTD and 24 patients with comparator dementia syndromes (primary progressive aphasia and typical Alzheimer's disease) and 15 healthy age-matched individuals.
Background: Impaired auditory verbal working memory is a diagnostic hallmark and integral driver of the clinical phenotype in logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA). However, the physiology of the working memory buffer in this syndrome is poorly characterised. Here we addressed the temporal dynamics of auditory verbal working memory in patients with lvPPA and typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigated both peripheral (basic hearing ability) and central (speech processing ability) hearing in different dementia patients compared to healthy individuals.
- Findings revealed that while central hearing (measured through dichotic listening) was significantly impaired in dementia patients, peripheral hearing (measured with pure-tone audiometry) showed no notable difference from healthy controls.
- The results suggest a critical link between central hearing abilities and cognitive functioning in dementia, emphasizing the need to assess both types of hearing to better understand and address the auditory challenges faced by these patients.