INNER EAR, CENTRAL CONTROL--OLIVOCOCHLEAR REFLEX IN HUMANS

内耳，中枢控制——人类橄榄耳蜗反射

• 批准号: 6315289
• 负责人: J GUINAN
• 金额: $ 16.5万
• 依托单位: MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-06-01 至 2001-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6315289
• 关键词: attention; auditory reflex; auditory stimulus; behavioral /social science research tag; cats; clinical research; human subject; labyrinth; neural information processing; noise; noise biological effect; olivocochlear bundle; otoacoustic emission; psychophysics; sound frequency; sound perception

The overall goal of this project is to understand how natural how natural acoustic environments that include reverberations and multiple sound sources are represented in the auditory midbrain. Such complex environments are frequently encountered in every- day situation, sand cause difficulties in speech reception for the hearing-impaired. We will use the powerful ~virtual-space~ stimulation technique that we developed in the preceding project period. This technique, which simulates natural acoustic environments with closed acoustic systems, achieves precise control over individual acoustic cues used for sound localization (intermural differences in time and level, and spectrum). This technique will be used to study neural mechanisms that allow listeners to better detect sound signals in noisy backgrounds when the signal and the noise are spatially separated (Aim 1). We will assess the roses of monaural and binaural factors in the ability of populations of inferior-colliculus neurons to detect the signal in noise, and identify which localization cues are most important for detection. We will also study neural correlates of the precedence effect, wherein listeners accurately localize sound sources in the presence of reflections from wall surfaces (Aim 2). We will test hypotheses as to how populations of inferior-colliculus neurons represent sound location by comparing estimates of sound location derived from neural responses with corresponding patterns of human localization judgements in the presence of reflections. To better understand the anatomical basis of localization mechanisms, we will correlate physiological properties of neurons important for spatial hearing to their location with respect to regions that show distinct cytochemical labels (Aim 3). This work addresses general questions about the neural basis of spatial hearing: how auditory space is represented in neural populations, how the auditory system uses differences in location to separate and recognize auditory objects, how it copes with reflections and competing sounds, and the extent to which these neural mechanisms specifically depend on directional information. In combination with research on the neural coding of speech, this work may clarify why hearing-impaired and elderly listeners have greater difficulties than normals in understanding speech in the presence of reverberation and competing sounds, and may help develop new kinds of hearing aids that would perform better in noisy and reverberant environments.

这个项目的总体目标是了解如何自然地 自然声学环境，包括混响和 听觉中脑有多个声源。 这种复杂的环境在每一个地方都是经常遇到的- 一天的情况，沙子造成了语音接收的困难 听力受损。我们将使用强大的~虚拟空间~。 我们在上一个项目中开发的刺激技术 句号。这项模拟自然声学的技术 具有封闭式声学系统的环境，实现精确 控制用于声音定位的单个声学提示 (壁间在时间和水平以及光谱上的差异)。这 技术将被用来研究神经机制，使 收听者可以更好地检测噪音背景中的声音信号 信号和噪声在空间上是分开的(目标1)。我们会 评估玫瑰单耳和双耳因素在能力中的作用 检测脑内信号的下丘神经元群 噪声，并确定哪些定位线索对 侦测。我们还将研究优先顺序的神经关联。 效果，其中收听者准确地定位 墙面反射的存在(目标2)。我们将测试 关于下丘神经元群体的假说 通过比较声音位置的估计来表示声音位置 从具有相应模式的神经反应派生的 人类在反思中的本土化判断。至 更好地理解定位机制的解剖学基础， 我们将把神经元的生理特性与 它们相对于显示出的区域的位置的空间听觉 明确的细胞化学标记(目标3)。这项工作针对的是一般 关于空间听觉神经基础的问题：听觉如何 空间在神经种群中被表示，听觉是如何 系统使用位置的差异来区分和识别 听觉对象，它如何应对反射和竞争 声音以及这些神经机制在多大程度上 具体取决于方向信息。结合在一起 随着对语音神经编码的研究，这项工作可能会 解释为什么听力受损和年长的听众有更多 在在场的情况下理解言语比正常的困难 混响和相互竞争的声音，并可能有助于开发新的 各种助听器，在嘈杂和 回响的环境。