AUDITORY TRAINING AND TALKER VARIABILITY

描述(由申请人提供)：接受助听器或其他辅助听力设备的成年人经常对他们获得的有限好处感到不满。因此，许多助听器使用者寻求听觉训练来增强他们的听力能力。这一培训的目标是提供超出培训期限的长期利益，并推广到以前从未遇到过的材料和演讲者。不幸的是，几乎没有系统地评估听力训练对听力成绩的改善程度，以及随着时间的推移，这种改善是否会保持下去。以前的研究经常受到方法学上的限制，例如样本量小，缺乏对照组，临床医生能力的可变性，测试方案的限制，或这些因素的某种组合。这个项目将是第一个大规模的研究，以解决纵向听力训练的有效性，比较训练方法，并确定预测受益的患者变量。对于第一个特定目标，70名成年助听器用户将在8周内接受16小时的计算机化传统单人听力培训。他们的语音识别能力将在4种情况下与70名助听器用户的对照组进行比较：培训前、培训后立即、培训后3个月和培训后6个月。成绩将通过辅音、单词、句子来评估，也许最重要的是因为它们具有很高的表面效度，即语篇刺激。对照组将接受定性和定量类似的训练，尽管是非听觉形式的训练。对于第二个具体目标，将评估一种新的听觉训练方法的有效性。一组新的70名成人助听器使用者将完成16个小时的计算机化多人说话听觉训练，并完成与其他参与者相同的测试计划。来自记忆和第二语言学习文献的研究预测，多人授课在提高听力成绩方面将比单人授课更有效。对于第三个具体目标，将确定预测长期、可推广的益处的因素，如助听器的使用时间。这个项目汇集了听力学、第二语言习得和认知科学领域的专业知识。这是一个独特的机会，可以记录听觉训练的效果，改进现有的听觉训练程序，并制定关于哪些患者最有可能受益的预测。公共卫生相关性美国有超过3100万人患有听力损失。许多人甚至在接受适当的扩音后也会遇到听力困难。本项目的目的是评估听力训练是否能提高听力损失患者的听力表现，并比较两种不同的训练模式。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adults who receive hearing aids or other assistive listening devices are often dissatisfied with the limited benefits that they receive. As a result, many hearing aid users seek auditory training to enhance their listening abilities. The goal of this training is to provide long-term benefits that extend beyond the duration of training and that generalize to material and speakers not previously encountered. Unfortunately, there has been little systematic evaluation of how well auditory training leads to improvements in listening performance and whether improvements are maintained over time. Previous studies often suffer from methodological limitations, such as small sample size, absence of control groups, variability in clinician aptitude, limitations in testing protocols, or some combination of these. This project will be the first large-scale study to address the effectiveness of auditory training longitudinally, to compare training methods, and to identify patient variables that predict benefit. For the first specific aim, 70 adult hearing aid users will receive 16 hours of computerized traditional single-talker auditory training during an 8-week period. Their speech recognition performance will be compared to that of a control group of 70 hearing aid users on 4 occasions: pre-training, immediate post- training, 3 months following training, and 6 months following training. Performance will be evaluated with consonant, word, sentence, and perhaps most importantly because of their high face validity, discourse stimuli. The control group will receive qualitatively and quantitatively similar training, albeit in a non-auditory form. For the second specific aim, the effectiveness of a novel method of auditory training will be evaluated. A new group of 70 adult hearing aid users will complete 16 hours of computerized multiple-talker auditory training and complete the same testing schedule as the other participants. Research from memory and second language learning literature leads to the prediction that multiple-talker instruction will be more effective than single-talker instruction in improving listening performance. For the third specific aim, factors that predict long-term, generalizable benefit, such as duration of hearing aid use, will be identified. This project brings together expertise from the fields of audiology, second language acquisition, and cognitive science. It represents a unique opportunity to document the efficacy of auditory training, to improve upon existing auditory training procedures, and to develop predictions about which patients are most likely to receive benefit. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Over thirty-one million persons in the United States have hearing loss. Many experience listening difficulties, even after receiving appropriate amplification. The goals of this project are to evaluate whether auditory training can enhance listening performance in persons who have hearing loss and to compare two different training paradigms.