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New pathways to hearing: A multisensory noise reducing and palate based sensory substitution device for speech perception

听觉的新途径：用于语音感知的多感官降噪和基于味觉的感官替代设备

基本信息

批准号：
EP/M026965/1
负责人：
Jeremy Skipper
金额：
$ 89.29万
依托单位：
University College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2015 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FM026965%2F1
关键词：
New pathways hearing multisensory noise

项目摘要

Disabling hearing loss is a global problem that affects nearly half a billion people. Furthermore, it is a problem that is growing with an aging population and has clear negative functional, social, emotional, and economic impacts. In the United Kingdom, adult onset hearing loss is predicted to be one of the top ten disease burdens by 2030 (WHO). Commercially available correction for hearing loss is mostly limited to hearing aids and cochlear implants. These devices suffer from signal processing and sensory transduction limitations. On the signal processing side, they struggle with the separation of speech from noise, often from other voices in social situations - the cocktail party phenomenon. On the transduction side, devices continue to rely on the damaged cochlea as the channel of communication. The aim of this proposal is to address these limitations through multisensory remapping at both the signal processing and transduction stages. We will address signal processing limitations by introducing a new multisensory algorithm that will aim to recover the auditory signal from talking faces. The moving face can provide a source of information that is independent of environmental noise. Facial movement can also be used to enhance the signal to noise ratio of audio-only based speech. The new method can also recover facial movement from auditory signals alone so that speech perception might continually benefit from known improvements associated with being able to see the face, even when it is not present, as when the recovered face is presented on a device carried by the listener (e.g. a smart phone or Google Glass). We will address signal transduction limitations by building on recent successes in supplementing vision through high-density tactile stimulation of the tongue and previous work demonstrating promise for supplementing word learning through tactile stimulation. In particular, we will build a novel non-invasive conformable high-density electrode array that provides electrotactile stimulation of the hard palate. This is the first device with high enough channel density to realistically provide, in tactile form, the spatial information about sound frequency available along the healthy cochlea. By putting it on the hard palate, this device will be the first sensory supplementation device to have direct access to sensorimotor brain circuitry important for speech learning and perception through the trigeminal nerve. Finally, we will use behavioural and brain imaging methods to experimentally test the combined use of these signal processing and transduction innovations for hearing supplementation. From past experience with more primitive devices (e.g. The Tickle Talker), we expect people will be able to rapidly learn words and transfer training to novel words in new contexts. We expect training to be enhanced by combined presentation of audio to the hard palate and the face to a portable display device, so learning can occur in natural contexts. We will test the ability of participants to use the device for speech perception behaviourally and use functional imaging to look for indications of activation or modification of speech circuits in the brain after training. This work will contribute to our understanding of multisensory signal processing algorithms for hearing devices, auditory-to-tactile hearing supplementation, and multisensory brain plasticity. Success with this experimental device would warrant clinical trials to supplement hearing in individuals with hearing loss and bring these innovations to market as a new device to help with the social and economic challenges posed by disabling hearing loss.

听力损失是一个全球性问题，影响着近5亿人。此外，这是一个随着人口老龄化而增长的问题，并具有明显的负面功能，社会，情感和经济影响。在英国，预计到2030年，成人听力损失将成为十大疾病负担之一（WHO）。市场上可买到的听力损失矫正主要限于助听器和人工耳蜗。这些装置受到信号处理和感觉转导的限制。在信号处理方面，他们努力将语音与噪音分离，通常是从社交场合的其他声音中分离出来-鸡尾酒会现象。在传导方面，设备继续依赖于受损的耳蜗作为通信通道。该建议的目的是通过在信号处理和转导阶段的多感觉重新映射来解决这些限制。我们将通过引入一种新的多感官算法来解决信号处理的局限性，该算法旨在从说话的面孔中恢复听觉信号。移动的面部可以提供独立于环境噪声的信息源。面部运动还可以用于增强仅基于音频的语音的信噪比。新方法还可以单独从听觉信号中恢复面部运动，以便语音感知可以持续受益于与能够看到面部相关的已知改进，即使当面部不存在时，如当恢复的面部呈现在收听者携带的设备上时（例如智能手机或谷歌眼镜）。我们将通过建立在最近的成功，通过高密度触觉刺激的舌头和以前的工作证明通过触觉刺激补充单词学习的承诺，以补充视觉解决信号转导的限制。特别是，我们将建立一个新的非侵入性的适形高密度电极阵列，提供硬腭的电触觉刺激。这是第一个具有足够高的通道密度的设备，以触觉形式真实地提供关于沿着健康耳蜗沿着可用的声音频率的空间信息。通过将其放在硬腭上，该设备将成为第一个通过三叉神经直接进入对语音学习和感知至关重要的感觉运动脑回路的感觉补充设备。最后，我们将使用行为和大脑成像方法来实验测试这些信号处理和转导创新的组合使用，以补充听力。根据过去使用更原始设备（例如Tickle Talker）的经验，我们预计人们将能够快速学习单词，并将训练转移到新的上下文中的新单词。我们希望通过将音频呈现给硬腭和将面部呈现给便携式显示设备来增强训练，以便学习可以在自然环境中进行。我们将测试参与者在行为上使用该设备进行言语感知的能力，并使用功能成像来寻找训练后大脑中言语回路激活或修改的迹象。这项工作将有助于我们理解听力设备的多感官信号处理算法，触觉听觉补充和多感官大脑可塑性。这种实验设备的成功将保证临床试验，以补充听力损失患者的听力，并将这些创新作为一种新设备推向市场，以帮助应对因听力损失而带来的社会和经济挑战。