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装置的个人经常对他们获得的有限好处感到不满，在背景噪音存在的情况下聆听时会遇到特别困难。我们设想，有一天，即使不是所有接受助听器(或人工耳蜗植入)的患者，大多数患者也将参加经过良好验证的听觉训练(AT)计划，该计划教会他们从语音信号中提取含义，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使用者的AT疗效进行了第一次大规模、系统的评估。我们发现，以第二语言学习原则为基础的基于意义的自动翻译能显著提高听力水平和日常交际能力，并在培训后至少3个月内保持这种改善。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。尽管培训后12个月保持了一些改善，但与培训后即刻评估相比，出现了下降。我们基于意义的AT计划的成功促使了目前的建议，在该计划中，我们建议研究是否可以在听力损失的成年人的培训后保持长达24个月的AT福利，并确定基于意义的AT是否也对使用助听器或人工耳蜗的学龄儿童有利。我们还建议确定AT导致的编码需求的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，然后在他们12个月的测试之前接受额外的间隔或集中的AT训练。认知心理学和学习理论的最新发现表明，间隔训练比集中训练更有效地防止了我们在12个月时注意到的训练效益的下降，并且两种类型的助推器训练都将防止相对于第一个资助周期的50名参与者的下降。在第二个具体目标中，我们建议确定与同胞控制组相比，基于意义的AT在多大程度上提高了40名学龄儿童的听力。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，第三个具体目标将决定成人和儿童在AT后视力提高的程度，并将任何改善与知觉努力的变化联系起来。这个翻译研究项目汇集了听力康复、第二语言习得和认知心理学领域的专家，是一个独特的机会，可以应用认知心理学和第二语言学习的理论原理来为成人和儿童开发有效的AT程序，并研究听觉领域的培训如何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.