Characterizing the Impact of Auditory Experience on Language, Cognitive, and Neural Development in Children

项目概要/摘要：研究项目（3） 表征听觉体验的影响 儿童语言、认知和神经发育 众所周知，听力损失儿童有语言和学术缺陷的风险。听力损失 也被称为影响认知措施，如工作记忆，和语言能力正相关 具有这些更高层次的认知技能。然而，听力损失儿童的延迟并不普遍;一些人 明显落后于听力正常儿童（CNH），而其他儿童的表现与CNH相似。最近的工作 在患有轻度至重度听力损失的儿童中（即，听力障碍儿童（CHH））佩戴助听器 (HAs)表明，语言延迟的严重程度与听觉剂量相关，听觉剂量是一个指标， 由HA可听度定义的体验，或HA改善语音访问的程度，以及 使用HA。综合来看，语言、认知功能和听觉体验似乎是紧密相连的， 这些因素的组合可能解释了CHH结果的大部分变异性。不过有 目前还没有一个全面的框架来把握这些关系。很难探究 语言和认知使用行为测试，因为它们依赖于终点指标，不能评估认知 实时处理;因此，对中枢神经机制的研究至关重要。拟建项目 将提供关于听觉体验对认知、语言和神经功能影响的关键新数据， 孩子我们开创性的初步工作表明，在高阶认知过程中， CHH相对于CNH的加工，并且这些神经畸变与CHH的量显著相关。 HA使用和语言能力。在当前的研究中，我们将探讨听觉体验， 语言和认知使用创新的多模态方法。具体来说，我们将招募一大批 CHH和人口统计学匹配的CNH，所有人都将在口头期间接受脑磁图成像。 和非语言认知任务，结构MRI，以及一系列神经心理学和听力测试。在Aim中 1，我们将确定CHH中言语和非言语认知过程中的行为和神经生理学差异， CNH。我们认为，CHH将表现出改变的神经活动，在额顶叶语言区，在口头 认知任务，而执行功能和记忆网络将是非典型的非言语认知任务。 在目标2中，我们将确定哪些高阶认知处理的神经标记预测语言能力， 以及在CHH中语言和神经功能之间的关系如何改变。我们假设， 非语言认知过程中的活动将预测语言功能， 认知加工在目标3中，我们将阐明听觉剂量对语言、认知和神经系统的影响。 功能在CHH。我们认为，听觉剂量将介导行为结果之间的关系， CHH中的神经动力学这项研究将提供直接的生理证据， 听力损失背景下的高阶认知，这将导致更好的信息，个性化的治疗 接近CHH。

Project Summary/Abstract: Research Project (3) Characterizing the Impact of Auditory Experience on Language, Cognitive, and Neural Development in Children It is well-established that children with hearing loss are at risk for language and academic deficits. Hearing loss is also known to impact cognitive measures such as working memory, and language ability positively correlates with these higher-order cognitive skills. However, delays in children with hearing loss are not universal; some fall significantly behind children with normal hearing (CNH), while others perform similarly to CNH. Recent work in children with mild-to-severe hearing loss (i.e., children who are hard-of-hearing (CHH)) who wear hearing aids (HAs) suggests that the severity of language delays correlates with auditory dosage, an index of auditory experience defined by HA audibility, or the degree to which a HA improves access to speech, and the amount of HA use. Taken together, language, cognitive function, and auditory experience appear to be tightly linked, and a combination of these factors likely explains much of the variability in outcomes in CHH. However, there is currently no overall framework that captures these relationships. It is difficult to probe the interactions between language and cognition using behavioral tests, as they rely on end-point metrics and cannot evaluate cognitive processing in real-time; thus, an investigation of the central neural mechanisms is crucial. The proposed project will provide pivotal new data on the impact of auditory experience on cognitive, language, and neural function in children. Our groundbreaking preliminary work has shown altered neural dynamics during higher-order cognitive processing in CHH relative to CNH, and that these neural aberrations are significantly linked with the amount of HA use and language ability. In the current study, we will probe the interactions between auditory experience, language, and cognition using an innovative multimodal approach. Specifically, we will enroll a large cohort of CHH and demographically matched CNH and all will undergo magnetoencephalographic imaging during verbal and nonverbal cognitive tasks, structural MRI, and a battery of neuropsychological and audiometric tests. In Aim 1, we will identify differences in behavior and neurophysiology during verbal and nonverbal cognition in CHH and CNH. We posit that CHH will exhibit altered neural activity in fronto-parietal language regions during verbal cognitive tasks, while executive function and memory networks will be atypical during nonverbal cognitive tasks. In Aim 2, we will determine which neural markers of higher-order cognitive processing predict language ability, and how the relationships between language and neural function are altered in CHH. We hypothesize that neural activity during nonverbal cognition will predict language function above and beyond neural markers of verbal cognitive processing. In Aim 3, we will clarify the impact of auditory dosage on language, cognitive, and neural function in CHH. We posit that auditory dosage will mediate the relationships between behavioral outcomes and neural dynamics in CHH. This study will provide direct physiological evidence linking language development and higher-order cognition in the context of hearing loss, which will lead to better-informed, individualized therapeutic approaches for CHH.