Auditory-Visual Integration and Age

描述（由申请人提供）：日常面对面的谈话经常发生在不利的环境条件下，如背景噪音和/或光线不足。在我们对视听语音感知与衰老的研究的第二阶段，我们将注意力转向在有利条件和不利条件下对话语的理解（即扩展的言语表达）。首先，我们建议确定听觉-视觉整合是否是一个处理模块，在听觉和视觉语音信号编码之后运行，正如目前的理论模型所假设的那样，以及年龄差异是否随着听觉和视觉语音信息水平的降低而出现。为此，我们开发了一种新的整合增强指数，用于统计控制单峰语音感知的差异。使用这个指数，我们将评估在有利和不利的听力和观看条件下，年轻人和老年人的整合增强。其次，我们计划评估年龄和退化的环境条件对视听话语理解的影响程度。第三，我们将通过听觉和视觉灵敏度、听觉和视觉言语感知、加工速度、整合增强和工作记忆来确定预测老年人话语理解个体差异的感觉和认知因素。第四，我们将在18个月的时间里对一组首次使用助听器的老年人的视听话语理解的纵向变化进行研究。我们最后的研究目的是研究表现是如何变化的，以及感觉和认知变量对视听话语理解的影响是否随时间而变化。总的来说，这个项目代表了一个独特的机会，它汇集了临床听力学研究人员和认知心理学家，目的是为老年人开发听觉康复程序，这些程序以完善的视听话语理解理论模型为基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Everyday face-to-face conversations often occur in the presence of adverse environmental conditions such as background noise and/or poor lighting. In this second stage of our research on audiovisual speech perception and aging, we turn our attention to comprehension of discourse (i.e., extended verbal expression) under both favorable and unfavorable conditions. First, we propose to determine whether auditory-visual integration is a processing module that operates subsequent to the encoding of the auditory and visual speech signals, as current theoretical models assume and whether age differences emerge as the levels of auditory and visual speech information are decreased. To this end, we have developed a novel integration enhancement index that statistically controls for differences in unimodal speech perception. Using this index, we will assess integration enhancement in younger and older adults under both favorable and unfavorable listening and viewing conditions. Second, we plan to assess the extent to which age and degraded environmental conditions impair audiovisual discourse comprehension. Third, we will determine the sensory and cognitive factors that predict individual differences in older adults' discourse comprehension using measures of hearing and visual acuity, auditory and visual speech perception, processing speed, integration enhancement, and working memory. Fourth, we will examine longitudinal changes in audiovisual discourse comprehension in a group of older first-time hearing aid users over a period of 18 months. Our goal in this final study is to examine how performance changes, and whether the influence of sensory and cognitive variables on audiovisual discourse comprehension varies over time. Overall, this project represents a unique opportunity that brings together clinical audiological researchers and cognitive psychologists for the purpose of developing aural rehabilitation procedures for older persons that are grounded in well-developed theoretical models of audiovisual discourse comprehension.