Impact of developmental experience on spatial hearing in noisy environments.

我们在日常嘈杂环境中倾听的能力是如何受到早期生活经验的影响的？我们能否利用这些知识来改变我们诊断和治疗一种非常常见的儿童障碍的方式？对大脑的更好理解能帮助我们让手机和助听器在嘈杂的环境中更好地工作吗？仅在英国，目前就有1100万人患有听力损失。80%的儿童在发育过程中也会经历听力损失的时期。在嘈杂的教室里，如果不同的声音来自不同的地点，孩子们可以定位和分离不同的声音，这使得听课变得更容易。听力损失会损害这一重要技能，并可能扰乱正常发育。即使听力恢复正常，这些损害也会持续存在。如果孩子只有一只耳朵经历了复发性听力损失，也可能发生听力障碍。这通常是由“胶耳”引起的，这是儿童最常见的疾病之一。然而，目前我们不知道大脑功能的什么变化会导致这些损伤。我们也对发育中的大脑如何受到不同环境声音的影响知之甚少，特别是那些可能已经因为听力丧失而变得脆弱的儿童。使用虚拟现实技术，我将测试雪貂和人类在检测、定位或分离来自不同地点的声音时的情况。我会问，反复出现听力损失的病史是如何影响行为表现的，以及行为表现与大脑功能指标之间的关系。我将在听力损失和听力正常的两个时期进行这些实验，并询问：(1)听力损失的直接影响是什么？(2)大脑是否会随着时间的推移适应听力损失？(3)即使听力恢复正常，听力损失是否会产生持续存在的问题？我还会问不同的环境声音如何塑造发育中的大脑，不同类型的听力损失是否会产生不同的结果。在雪貂身上，我会打开和关闭大脑的不同部分，看看大脑的哪些部分对行为是重要的。这将告诉我们，在听力丧失后，大脑的某些部分是否会学习执行不同的功能。为了评估早期经验的相对重要性，我还将测试成年或儿童时期经历过听力损失的患者。然后我会问，在生命的早期，大脑是否更脆弱(或适应能力更强)。近年来，人工智能通过制造从经验中学习的机器，取得了巨大的进步。这包括学习在嘈杂环境中定位声音的机器。我会问，如果我让这些机器在学习阶段反复出现听力损失，并将结果与雪貂和人类的行为进行比较，会发生什么。这种比较将突出生物系统的相对优势和劣势，这可能有助于我们制造更智能的机器(例如电话和声控设备)。通过了解大脑如何适应听力损失，我们可能能够设计更好的助听器和植入物，并更好地培训人们使用它们。通过识别产生损伤的大脑功能变化，我们还可以更好地预防、检测和逆转这些变化。对于年幼的孩子来说，很难识别复杂的听力问题，比如在空间中分离声音。因此，检测大脑功能的变化可能有助于我们更早地发现问题，并决定某个孩子是否会从手术中受益。未来，患者可以使用互联网访问我将在他们自己的家里进行的测试。随着老年人数量的增加，以及对听力服务的需求增加，在线测试将变得越来越重要。通过与工程师以及欧洲两家领先的听力研究和治疗中心合作，我的长期目标是帮助实现这一目标。

How is our ability to listen in everyday noisy environments shaped by early life experience? Can we use this knowledge to transform how we diagnose and treat a very common childhood disorder? Could a better understanding of the brain help us make phones and hearing aids work better in noisy environments? In the UK alone, 11 million people currently suffer from hearing loss. 80% of children also experience periods of hearing loss during development. In noisy classrooms, children can locate and separate different sounds if they come from different locations, which makes listening to the teacher easier. Hearing loss impairs this important skill and can disrupt normal development. These impairments can persist even if normal hearing returns. Impairments can also occur if a child merely experiences a recurring hearing loss in one ear. This is often caused by 'glue ear', one of the most common diseases in children. Currently, however, we do not know what changes in brain function produce these impairments. We also know very little about how the developing brain is affected by different environmental sounds, particularly in children who may be already vulnerable because of hearing loss.Using virtual reality techniques, I will test ferrets and humans while they detect, locate, or separate sounds coming from different locations. I will ask how performance is affected by a history of recurring hearing loss and correlate behavioural performance with measures of brain function. I will perform these experiments during periods of both hearing loss and normal hearing, and ask: (1) what are the immediate effects of hearing loss? (2) does the brain adapt to hearing loss over time?(3) can hearing loss produce problems that persist even if normal hearing is restored?I will also ask how different environmental sounds shape the developing brain, and whether different types of hearing loss produce different results. In ferrets, I will turn different parts of the brain on and off to see which parts of the brain are important for behaviour. This will tell us whether parts of the brain learn to perform different functions following hearing loss. To assess the relative importance of early experience, I will also test patients who experienced hearing loss as adults or children. I will then ask whether the brain is more vulnerable (or adaptive) during the early years of life. In recent years, artificial intelligence has advanced enormously by building machines that learn through experience. This includes machines that learn to locate sounds in noisy environments. I will ask what happens if I give these machines a recurring hearing loss during their learning phase, and compare the results with ferret and human behaviour. This comparison will highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses of biological systems, which may help us build smarter machines (e.g. phones and voice-activated devices). By understanding how the brain adapts to hearing loss, we may be able to design better hearing aids and implants, and better train people to use them. By identifying changes in brain function that produce impairments, we may also better prevent, detect, and reverse these changes. In young children, it is difficult to identify complex hearing problems, such as separating sounds in space. Detecting changes in brain function might therefore help us identify problems earlier and decide whether a particular child will benefit from surgery.In the future, patients could use the internet to access the tests that I will develop in their own homes. As the number of older adults grows, and the demands on audiological services increase, online tests will become increasingly important. By collaborating with engineers, and two of Europe's leading centres for hearing research and treatment, my long term goal is to help to bring this about.