AUDITORY TRAINING AND TALKER VARIABILITY

描述（由申请人提供）：使用助听器或其他辅助听力设备的个人通常对他们获得的有限好处不满意，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，如果不是所有接受助听器（或人工耳蜗）的患者，也会参加一个经过验证的听觉训练（AT）项目，这个项目教会他们从语音信号中提取意义，并在噪音中更成功地倾听。在我们的第一个拨款周期中，我们的跨学科研究团队对成人助听器使用者的AT效果进行了第一次大规模的系统评估。我们发现，基于第二语言学习原理的基于意义的AT可以在听力和日常交流互动方面取得实质性的进步，并且这些进步在训练后至少可以保持3个月。这项工作最具创新性的一个方面是，它审查了长期保持培训成果的程度。虽然在培训后12个月内保持了一些改进，但与培训后立即进行的评估相比有所下降。我们基于意义的AT项目的成功激发了当前的建议，我们建议研究我们是否可以在听力损失的成人培训后24个月内保持AT的益处，并确定基于意义的AT是否对使用助听器或人工耳蜗的学龄儿童也有益。我们还建议确定AT所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获益的能力（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治疗，然后在12个月的测试之前接受额外的间隔或大量的AT治疗。认知心理学和学习理论的最新研究结果表明，间隔训练将比大规模训练更有效地防止我们在12个月时注意到的训练收益下降，并且两种类型的“强化”训练都将防止相对于我们第一个资助周期的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对照组相比，基于意义的AT在多大程度上提高了40名学龄儿童的听力技能。我们将把益处与包括工作记忆、语言技能和听力损失程度在内的预测变量联系起来。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。汇集了来自听觉康复、第二语言习得和认知心理学领域的专家，这个转化研究项目代表了一个独特的机会，可以应用认知心理学和第二语言学习的理论原则，为成人和儿童开发有效的AT程序，并研究听觉领域的训练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.