Effect of exercise on the auditory discrimination task in perimenopausal women: a preliminary study

Abstract

Background The climacteric phase of menopausal transition (perimenopause) is marked by reproductive hormone fluctuations and reduced cognitive capacity. Exercise enhances neurocognitive performance. However, auditory perceptual sensitivity has not been examined.

Purpose This study aimed to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on the response speed (reaction time) and error rate during auditory processing among perimenopausal women.

Methods Three pitches (500, 1000, and 2000 Hz) were used during a simple auditory discrimination task, which was performed before and after exercise. We included 14 perimenopausal women and 17 right-handed young women (aged 46–54 years and 18–22 years, respectively). To achieve similar exercise intensity in both groups, we proposed two types of physical activities for each group. Mixed models statistics were used to analyze the reaction time and error rate before and after training in the two groups.

Results Perimenopausal women exhibited a significantly longer reaction time than young women during the baseline auditory discrimination task (p < 0.05) but not during the second test. The error rate decreased significantly after exercise among perimenopausal women (p < 0.05) but not among young women. Thus, exercise had a stronger beneficial influence on auditory plasticity or sensitivity for perimenopausal women than for young women.

Conclusion The ability of aerobic exercise to modulate auditory neurocognitive performance differs between the two groups. Aerobic exercise improves auditory discrimination performance specifically for perimenopausal women. These results provide preliminary evidence concerning the acoustic features of middle-aged women, underscoring the importance of exercise for preventing decline in auditory cognitive function in perimenopausal women.

KEYWORDS:

• Perimenopausal women
• exercise
• auditory discrimination

Acknowledgements

We thank the 31 participants, as well as Chang Gung University of Science and Technology for providing administrative support.

R.J. provided substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data; made sure statistical power was adequate; drafted the article and revised it critically for important intellectual content; and gave final approval of the version to be published. H.Y. conceived of the study, and participated in its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. H.J. participated in the sequence alignment and drafted the manuscript. J.Y. participated in the design of the study and performed the statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article is reported. The authors declare they have no competing interests.

Source of funding

The study was sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology Taiwan (NSC 100-2410-H-255-005-MY2; NSC 101-2629-B-255-001-MY2); Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (BMRP C52).