Brain Mechanisms underlying Performance in ITD Processing: Biophysics to Behaviour

用两只耳朵听（？双耳听力？）是日常听力任务中的关键因素。大脑能够比较到达每个耳朵的声音信息，以确定声源的位置并执行？鸡尾酒会上的倾听?在嘈杂的房间里听谈话的能力。这些能力的关键在于检测声音到达每只耳朵的时间的微小差异。对这些敏感？耳间的？时间差（ITD）--大约是几十万分之一秒--需要一些已知存在的最快的大脑机制。目前的研究提案将研究大脑如何能够在如此快速的时间限制下运行以检测ITD，并将寻求确定如何在失去听力的人中重建双耳听力，依靠耳蜗植入物等设备（直接刺激听觉神经的电气设备）来听到和理解语音。该工作方案还将在动物和人类身上使用新的非侵入性脑成像技术，直接测试小动物脑的生理发现与人类听觉的相关性。在我以前研究成果的基础上，该计划将建立包括人类在内的哺乳动物大脑中双耳听力的连贯和综合观点，并将建议如何增强聋人和听力障碍者的新技术，以便在声学混乱或嘈杂的环境中更好地倾听。

Hearing with two ears (?binaural hearing?) is a critical factor in every-day listening tasks. The brain is able to compare information about the sound arriving at each ear to determine the location of sound sources and to perform ?cocktail-party listening? ? the ability to follow a conversation in a noisy room. The key to these abilities lies in detecting small differences in the time of arrival of the sound at each ear. Sensitivity to these ?interaural? time differences (ITDs) - in the order of a few tens of millionths of a second - requires some of the fastest brain mechanisms that are known to exist. The current research proposal will examine how the brain is able to operate at such fast temporal limits to detect ITDs, and will seek to determine how binaural hearing can be re-established in those who, having lost their hearing, rely on devices such as cochlear implants (electrical devices that stimulate the auditory nerves directly) to hear and understand speech. The programme of work will also use new, non-invasive brain imaging technologies in both animals and humans to test directly the relevance of physiological findings from the brains of small animals to human hearing. Building on outcomes of my previous research, the programme will establish a coherent and integrated view of binaural hearing in the mammalian brain, including humans, and will suggest ways in which new technologies for the deaf and hard-of-hearing can be enhanced for better listening in acoustically cluttered or noisy environments.