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Envelope following responses (EFRs) can index this neural loss noninvasively, but conventional protocols are too slow for clinical use. We tested a dynamic amplitude-modulated (dAM) EFR that sweeps the full modulation spectrum in a single brief stimulus. In Mongolian gerbils with histologically verified CND, dAM EFRs revealed selective deficits at fast modulation rates without threshold elevation. A machine-learning classifier distinguished young from middleaged animals with high accuracy; additionally, its most informative feature, power near 400-500 Hz, tracked synapse counts, indicating a readout of cochlear neural health rather than age. Applied without retraining to 56 human listeners, the gerbil-trained classifier separated age groups above chance. dAM EFRs thus offer a rapid, objective and clinically viable marker of CND.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.09.24.754199","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T21:25:18Z","timestamp":1790803518000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A rapid, machine-learning readout of cochlear neural degeneration that transfers from animals to humans"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6252-5249","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luz S.","family":"Andrino","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Communication Science and Disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA"},{"name":"Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 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