For some people, noisy environments are just too much for their brains to handle. A loud restaurant, a party with friends, or even waiting in line to catch the next subway to work can make it almost impossible to focus on what anyone around them is saying. Now, researchers may finally understand why.
According to a new paper published in Brain and Language, this problem arises from distinct changes in the insulae. These are two structures within the frontal lobe that are responsible for higher-level cognitive functions like handling emotional and sensory information.
These hotspots are actually vital to how the brain works, and the researchers discovered that people who struggle with hearing speech in a crowded room have completely different wiring in their brains. The left insula shows an increased connection to auditory regions within those individuals.
Further, they show signs of that rewiring at all times, even when there isn’t any active speech within the noisy environment. This, the researchers say, is more evidence of how our brains rewire themselves to fit the part we need them to play. This also raises new questions about how the brain works, as we previously believed that these areas would work less when the brain was at rest.
However, because they were still working overtime, even when there wasn’t anything to decode, means that there are distinct baseline connectivity changes we need to take into account. But the discoveries didn’t stop there.
The researchers wrote that one study participant had relatively poor hearing for pure tones. However, when scoring for speech-in-noise, that participant scored higher than anyone else. This could be evidence that people with hearing problems can actually rewire their brains by practicing how they pick up on sounds.
It’s certainly an interesting find, and one that suggests we need deeper research into hearing loss. Also, considering hearing loss is such a connected issue with individuals with dementia, the researchers believe these discoveries could also help us better understand the facets of cognitive decline. This could be especially important, as dementia cases have skyrocketed in China in recent years.
