FMRI Studies of Neural Development in Speech Recognition

语音识别中神经发育的 FMRI 研究

• 批准号: 6984279
• 负责人: CHUNGYIU Peter CHIU
• 金额: $ 7.3万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2008-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6984279
• 关键词: adolescence (12-20); age difference; auditory pathways; behavioral /social science research tag; bioimaging /biomedical imaging; clinical research; cochlear implants; developmental neurobiology; functional magnetic resonance imaging; human subject; middle childhood (6-11); neural information processing; perceptual distortions; psychoacoustics; speech recognition

This R03 application is to support a preliminary investigation of age-related differences in the neurocognitive mechanisms associated with speech recognition under conditions that simulate listening through a cochlear implant (Cl). There is considerable variability in speech recognition abilities of adult and, in particular, pediatric Cl users. Part of this variability may result from suboptimal fitting of the internal parameters of the Cl or variable functional integrity of the ascending auditory pathway of individual patients - both of which may lead to distortions or reduction of the acoustic input; however, patients also differ in important ways of how they deploy their neurocognitive processes to compensate for such acoustic distortions in order to maximize their speech recognition performance. Better characterization of these neurocognitive processes is critical for a more accurate assessment of the potential benefits of Cl as implantation criteria are expanded to include more individuals with different types of sensory and/or neurocognitive impairments in addition to their hearing loss. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful neuroimaging tool that can provide information about neurocognitive functions with high spatial resolution; it can be performed in children and adults in the absence of ionizing radiation. Recent advances in imaging technologies allow us to present speech stimuli in the relative absence of the intense noise generated by the magnet's gradients while collecting data in a time-efficient manner. The specific aim of this application constitutes a prerequisite step that must be addressed in order to fully characterize the neural correlates of speech recognition in Cl users. Specifically, we propose to use fMRI to contrast brain activation patterns elicited by natural speech versus speech with acoustic distortions that mimic those of a Cl (i.e., vocoded speech), in children and late adolescents with normal hearing (NH). These data should reveal the neurocognitive processes normally recruited to decode acoustically degraded speech and how such processes change with age. The results may also lead to a better understanding of the performance variability among pediatric Cl users and further development of fMRI to provide useful clinical information in the Cl evaluation process.

此R03应用是为了支持对年龄相关的差异的初步研究，这些差异与通过人工耳蜗（CL）模拟聆听的条件下的语音识别相关的神经认知机制。成人，尤其是小儿CL使用者的语音识别能力有很大的差异。这种变异的一部分可能是由于CL的内部参数的次优拟合或单个患者上升听觉途径的可变功能完整性而引起的，这两者都可能导致声学输入的扭曲或减少；但是，患者在重要方式方面也有所不同，如何部署神经认知过程以补偿这种声学扭曲，以最大程度地提高语音识别表现。这些神经认知过程的更好表征对于更准确地评估CL的潜在益处至关重要，因为植入标准被扩展到包括更多具有不同类型的感觉和/或神经认知障碍的个体外，除了听力损失外。功能磁共振成像（fMRI）是一种强大的神经影像学工具，可以提供有关具有高空间分辨率的神经认知功能的信息；在没有电离辐射的情况下，可以在儿童和成人中进行。成像技术的最新进展使我们能够在相对没有磁铁梯度产生的强烈噪声的同时，以时间效率的方式收集数据。该应用程序的具体目的构成了必须解决的先决条件，以便充分表征CL用户语音识别的神经相关性。具体而言，我们建议使用fMRI与自然语音与言语引起的脑激活模式与模仿CL（即辅助语音）的声学畸变引起的脑部激活模式，在正常听力（NH）的儿童和晚期青少年中。这些数据应揭示通常招募的神经认知过程，以解码声学降低的语音以及此类过程如何随着年龄的变化而变化。结果还可能导致对小儿CL用户的性能变异性有更好的了解，并进一步开发fMRI，以在CL评估过程中提供有用的临床信息。