To investigate resting-state connectivity and further understand directional aspects of implicit alterations in presbycusis patients, we used degree centrality (DC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA) to detect functional hubs of the whole-brain network and then analyze directional connectivity. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were performed on 40 presbycusis patients and 40 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and education. We used DC analysis and GCA to characterize abnormal brain networks in presbycusis patients. The associations of network centrality and directed functional connectivity (FC) with clinical measures of presbycusis were also examined according to the above results. We found that the network centrality of left frontal middle gyrus (MFG) was significantly lower than that of healthy control group. Unidirectionally, the left MFG revealed increased directional connectivity to the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG), while the left MFG exhibited decreased directional connectivity to the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and right lingual gyrus (LinG). And the decreased directional connectivity was found from the left precentral gyrus (PrCG) to the left MFG. In addition, the Trail-Making Test B (TMT-B) score was negatively correlated with the decreased DC of the left MFG (r = −0.359, p = 0.032). Resting-state fMRI provides a novel method for identifying aberrant brain network architecture. These results primarily indicate altered functional hubs and abnormal frontal lobe connectivity patterns that may further reflect executive dysfunction in patients with presbycusis.

为了研究静息状态的连通性并进一步了解老年患者隐性改变的方向，我们使用度中心性（DC）和格兰杰因果关系分析（GCA）来检测全脑网络的功能中心，然后分析方向性连通性。对40名老年患者和40名年龄，性别和教育程度相匹配的健康对照者进行了静息状态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描。我们使用DC分析和GCA来表征老年患者的脑部异常网络。根据上述结果，还检查了网络中心度和定向功能连接性（FC）与老年性耳聋的临床指标之间的关联。我们发现左额中回（MFG）的网络中心明显低于健康对照组。单向性，左MFG显示出与左上额额回（SFG）的方向连通性增加，而左MFG显示出与左中颞回（MTG）和右舌状回（LinG）的方向连通性降低。并且发现从左前中央回（PrCG）到左MFG的方向连通性降低。此外，Trail-Making Test B（TMT-B）得分与左侧MFG的DC降低呈负相关（r = -0.359，而左侧MFG与左侧中颞回（MTG）和右侧舌回（LinG）的方向连通性降低。并且发现从左前中央回（PrCG）到左MFG的方向连通性降低。此外，Trail-Making Test B（TMT-B）得分与左侧MFG的DC降低呈负相关（r = -0.359，而左侧MFG与左侧中颞回（MTG）和右侧舌回（LinG）的方向连通性降低。并且发现从左前中央回（PrCG）到左MFG的方向连通性降低。此外，Trail-Making Test B（TMT-B）得分与左侧MFG的DC降低呈负相关（r = -0.359，p  = 0.032）。静止状态功能磁共振成像提供了一种识别异常脑网络架构的新颖方法。这些结果主要表明功能枢纽的改变和额叶连接性异常，这可能进一步反映了老年性痴呆患者的执行功能障碍。