Speech Perception and Phonological Memory with Combined Electric Acoustic Hearing

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目的目的是评估如何将低频声信号添加到电信号（即，助听器在耳蜗植入物的相对耳朵中）影响耳蜗植入物接受者的语音处理。先前的研究表明，人工耳蜗提供的有限频谱线索导致在嘈杂环境中的语音识别效果不佳，并阻止成功的语音识别。这个项目的第一个目的是确定如何使用双峰刺激影响识别孤立元音，语音性别和个人说话者的方言。三组研究参与者（即，单侧耳蜗植入物接受者、双侧耳蜗植入物接受者以及使用助听器和耳蜗植入物两者的个体）将完成评估以下各项的测试：1）噪声中的言语感知能力，2）语音性别识别和方言辨别/分类，以及3）元音识别。第二个目的是评估双峰刺激对语音记忆能力的影响，声学上不同的和声学上相似的元音，并确定个人的工作记忆技能如何影响说话人的识别。为了这个目的，研究参与者将被要求回忆孤立的元音，无论是语音相似或语音不相似的短列表。从这些过程的措施的结果将进行比较，从目的I研究的结果，以评估语音工作记忆的言语知觉的贡献。预计本研究的结果将确立人工耳蜗植入后继续使用助听器的重要性。此外，这项研究的结果将为人工耳蜗植入技术的未来发展提供方向，以改善语音精细结构的编码。这些技术进步将最终提高人工耳蜗植入者的言语感知能力。本研究旨在建立个人辨别能力和言语知觉中的即时语音记忆技能之间的联系。因此，这项研究将有助于进一步了解人工耳蜗植入人群中广泛观察到的结局表现个体差异的潜在基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this research project is to assess how the addition of a low-frequency acoustic signal to an electrical signal (i.e., a hearing aid in opposite ear to a cochlear implant) affects the processing of speech in cochlear implant recipients. Previous research has shown that the limited spectral cues provided by a cochlear implant results in poor speech recognition in noisy environments and prevents successful voice identification. The first aim of this project is to determine how the use of bimodal stimulation affects the identification of isolated vowels, voice-gender and the dialect of individual talkers. Three groups of study participants (i.e., unilateral cochlear implant recipients, bilateral cochlear implant recipients, and individuals using both a hearing aid and a cochlear implant) will complete tests that assess: 1) speech perception abilities in noise, 2) voice-gender identification and dialect discrimination/categorization, and 3) vowel recognition. The second aim is to assess the effects of bimodal stimulation on phonological memory capacity for acoustically distinct and acoustically similar vowels, and determine how individual working memory skills affect talker recognition. For this aim, study participants will be asked to recall short lists of isolated vowels that are either phonologically similar or phonologically dissimilar. The findings from these process measures will be compared with the findings from the Aim I studies to assess the contribution of phonological working memory in speech perception. It is expected that the results from this study will establish the importance of continued hearing aid use following cochlear implantation. Additionally, the findings from this study will provide the direction for future advances in cochlear implant technology related to improving the coding of the fine structure of speech. These technological advances will ultimately improve the speech perception abilities of cochlear implant recipients. This research is designed to establish links between individual discrimination abilities and immediate phonological memory skills in speech perception. Consequently, this research will contribute additional knowledge about the underlying basis for the individual variability in outcome performance that is widely observed within the cochlear implant population.