Cortical Dynamics of Auditory Attention

项目摘要/摘要 为了在拥挤的环境中动态地跟踪不同的对话，我们必须不断地引导 注意感兴趣的听觉信号，并分离来自其他来源的声音。正常- 听力听者可以无缝地完成这一任务，但听力受损的听者、人工耳蜗使用者和 患有(中枢)听觉处理障碍的人经常发现在这种日常的声音中进行交流 环境挑战。这项研究的长期目标是描述大脑皮层的动力学 与听觉注意力的不同方面相关联，并将这些大脑信号结合到下一个- 新一代助听器，帮助解释听者的注意力。当前项目是 建立在假设存在自上而下和自下而上协调的分布的皮质区域的基础上 听觉注意，这些区域在功能上与听觉感觉区域有不同的耦合 这取决于手头的任务。与听觉注意相关的大脑动力学目前还不是很好 理解，因此实现我们的长期目标的必要的第一步是研究注意 在听力正常的听众中建立网络。该项目的具体目标是找出 根据空间和非空间特征(目标1)招募用于注意的皮质区域，以及 当外周听觉信号退化时，大脑皮层的其余部分通过模拟 听力受损的听者和人工耳蜗者的频谱敏锐度(目标2)。 此外，我们建议采取系统水平的方法，研究其他皮质区域如何 与听觉感觉区沟通，以协调注意的切换和维持 拥挤的音响场景(目标3)。我们的建议强调设计行为范例，使之成为 心理声学和神经成像研究之间的差距，从而解决不同区域的 大脑皮层协同行动，帮助我们在日常环境中进行交流。

Project Summary / Abstract In order to dynamically follow different conversations in a crowded environment, we must constantly direct attention to the auditory signal of interest and segregate sounds that originated from other sources. Normal- hearing listeners can achieve this task seamlessly, but hearing-impaired listeners, cochlear implant users, and individuals with (central) auditory processing disorders often find communicating in this everyday acoustic environment challenging. The long-term objective of this research is to characterize the cortical dynamics associated with different aspects of auditory attention and to incorporate these brain signals in a next- generation hearing assistive device that helps account for the listener's attentional focus. The current project is built on the hypothesis that there are distributed cortical regions that coordinate top-down and bottom-up auditory attention, and that these regions are functionally coupled to the auditory sensory areas differently depending on the task at hand. The brain dynamics associated with auditory attention are currently not well understood, and thus a necessary first step to achieve our long-term objective is to study the attentional network in normal-hearing listeners. The specific aims of this project seek to identify differences between the cortical regions recruited for attention based on spatial and non-spatial features (Aim 1), as well as how the rest of the cortex compensates when the peripheral auditory signal is degraded by simulating the reduction in spectrotemporal acuity experienced by listeners with hearing impairments and cochlear implant users (Aim 2). Furthermore, we propose to take a systems-level approach and investigate how other cortical regions communicate with the auditory sensory areas in order to coordinate switching and maintenance of attention in a crowded acoustical scene (Aim 3). Our proposal emphasizes designing behavioral paradigms that bridge the gap between psychoacoustics and neuroimaging research, thereby addressing how different regions of the cortex act in concert to aid us in communicating in everyday settings.