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个人通常对他们所获得的有限益处不满意，并且在存在背景噪音的情况下听力时会遇到特别的困难。我们设想有一天，大多数，如果不是所有接受助听器（或人工耳蜗植入）的患者，也将参加一个经过验证的听觉训练（AT）计划，教他们从语音信号中提取意义，并在噪音中更成功地倾听。在我们的第一个资助周期中，我们的跨学科研究团队对成人助听器用户的AT功效进行了首次大规模，系统的评估。我们发现，基于意义的AT，这是基于第二语言学习的原则，导致听力和日常交流互动的实质性改善，这些改善至少保持3个月后的培训。这项工作最具创新性的方面之一是，它审查了长期保持培训成果的程度。虽然在培训后12个月保持了一些改善，但相对于培训后立即评估观察到下降。我们基于意义的AT计划的成功激发了当前的提案，我们建议研究我们是否可以在听力损失的成年人中保持AT益处长达24个月，并确定基于意义的AT是否也有利于使用助听器或人工耳蜗植入物的学龄儿童。我们还建议确定AT导致的编码需求减少是否提高了个体从视觉语音信息的添加中受益的能力（即，视觉增强）。在第一个具体目标中，100名成年人将接受12小时的AT，然后在12个月的测试阶段之前接受额外的间隔或集中AT。目前认知心理学和学习理论的研究结果表明，间隔训练比集中训练更有效地防止我们在12个月时注意到的训练效益下降，并且这两种类型的“助推器”训练将防止相对于我们第一个资助周期的50名参与者的下降。我们建议，以确定在何种程度上意义为基础的AT提高40名学龄儿童的听力技能相比，一个非正式的控制组。我们将把益处与预测变量联系起来，这些变量包括工作记忆、语言技能和听力损失程度。最后，第三个具体目标将确定成人和儿童在AT后改善视觉增强的程度，并将任何改善与感知努力的变化联系起来。汇集了来自听力康复，第二语言习得和认知心理学领域的专家，这个翻译研究项目代表了一个独特的机会，应用认知心理学和第二语言学习的理论原则，为成人和儿童开发有效的AT程序，并研究如何在听觉领域的培训可以提高个人对视觉语音信号的利用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Individuals who receive hearing aids or other assistive listening devices are often dissatisfied with the limited benefits they receive, and experience particular difficulty when listening in the presence of background noise. We envision that someday the majority, if not all patients who receive a hearing aid (or cochlear implant), wil also participate in a well-validated program of auditory training (AT), one that teaches them to extract meaning from the speech signal and to listen more successfully in noise. In our first grant cycle, our interdisciplinary research team conducted one of the first large-scale, systematic evaluations of the efficacy of AT for adult hearing aid users. We found that meaning-based AT, which is based upon principles of second language learning, leads to substantial improvements in listening and in everyday communication interactions, and that these improvements are maintained for at least 3 mos following training. One of the most innovative aspects of this work was that it examined the extent to which training gains were maintained over the long term. Although some improvements were maintained 12 mos post training, declines were observed relative to immediate post-training assessments. The success of our meaning-based AT program has motivated the current proposal in which we propose to study whether we can maintain AT benefits for up to 24 mos post- training in adults who have hearing loss and to determine whether meaning-based AT is also beneficial for school-aged children who use either hearing aids or cochlear implants. We also propose to establish whether the reduced encoding demands resulting from AT improve individuals' ability to benefit from the addition of visual speech information (i.e., visual enhancement). In the first specific aim, 100 adults will receive 12 hrs of AT and then receive either additional spaced or massed sessions of AT prior to their 12-mo test session. Current findings in cognitive psychology and learning theory suggest that spaced training will be more effective than massed training in preventing the declines in training benefit that we have noted at 12 mos, and that both types of "booster" training will prevent the declines seen relative to the 50 participants from our first grant cycle.In the second specific aim, we propose to determine the extent to which meaning-based AT improves the listening skills of 40 school-aged children as compared to a compatriot control group. We will relate benefits to predictor variables that include working memory, language skills, and degree of hearing loss. Finally, the third specific aim will determine the extent to which both adults and children improve their visual enhancement following AT, and will relate any improvements to changes in perceptual effort. Bringing together experts from the fields of aural rehabilitation, second language acquisition, and cognitive psychology, this translational research project represents a unique opportunity to apply theoretical principles of cognitive psychology and second language learning to develop effective AT procedures for both adults and children and to research how training in the auditory realm may enhance individuals' utilization of a visual speech signal.