Visual and auditory perceptual factors affecting spatial release from masking

影响掩蔽空间释放的视觉和听觉感知因素

• 批准号: 9342762
• 负责人: Ross K Maddox
• 金额: $ 24.9万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9342762
• 关键词: Affect; Auditory; Auditory Perception; Auditory system; Award; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Assay; Behavioral Paradigm; Binaural; Binding; Brain; Characteristics; Cues; Data; Discrimination; Ear; Electroencephalography; Electrophysiology (science); Environment; Exhibits; Eye; Face; Goals; Hearing; Hearing Tests; Individual; Individual Differences; Institution; Investigation; Lead; Learning; Literature; Location; Masks; Measurement; Measures; Mentors; Modality; Nature; Noise; Performance; Persons; Phase; Physiology; Process; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Research Personnel; Sensory; Source; Space Perception; Speech; Stimulus; Stream; Systems Integration; Test Result; Testing; Time; Training; Visual; Visual system structure; Visuospatial; Weight; Work; auditory processing; behavior measurement; binaural hearing; career; clinically relevant; coping; experience; experimental study; gaze; improved; insight; interest; meetings; multisensory; novel; oculomotor; programs; public health relevance; selective attention; skills; sound; trend; visual information; visual neuroscience

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Difficulty listening to one person speak in the presence of many other competing sounds is a significant problem for many people, even some with normal hearing test results. Understanding speech in these adverse conditions improves markedly when sound sources are spatially separated, an effect known as spatial release from masking. If a person looks toward a talker of interest, seeing that person's face provides visual spatial and temporal information that can improve understanding even more, making this a common and important audiologic rehabilitative strategy. However, recent work performed by the candidate hints at a perceptual benefit from the mere act of directing gaze toward that sound. Furthermore, despite wide acceptance of the importance of spatial hearing and visual information to auditory selective attention, the interplay between these processes is largely unexplored and little work has been done to characterize how differences in spatial hearing abilities among individual listeners affects their ability to listen in noisy situations. In the mentored training phase of this research program, the candidate will perform two experiments exploring the impact of eye gaze and visual information while receiving training in visual neuroscience. He will first build on his previous findings by measuring the effects of directed eye gaze on spatial release from masking in a multiple- talker speech task (Aim 1). Next he will assess the low-level benefits of spatial and temporal visual information to selective attention in task that uses stimuli that exhibit some of the basic characteristics of speech but are non-linguistic in nature (Aim 2). After progressing to the independent phase of the award, the candidate will examine the range of auditory spatial abilities in normal hearing listeners and the effects of binaural deficits on listening performance in multiple-talker environments, then whether deficits can be ascertained electrophysio- logically, and ultimately if spatial deficits change the way listeners leverage visual cues (Aim 3). This research is clinically relevant because it will provide important insights into listening in noise: how spatial hearing deficits affect understanding in the individual, and what specific visual factors underlie important audio-visual coping strategies. The work will facilitate the candidate's immediate career goals of becoming an audio-visual researcher with the necessary substantial experience in both sensory modalities and the ability to execute experiments using measures of both behavior and brain activity. Training during the mentored phase will be supplemented by formal coursework in the physiology and neuroscience of the visual system, meetings with the co-mentor's visual neuroscience group to learn the current literature and critically evaluate the candidate's own work, and by learning nonscientific skills such as mentoring and lab management from the primary mentor as well as institution-wide seminars. The research performed and training provided during this award will be critical for the candidate's long-term goal of directing a lab whose research yields important new insights into how people understand and navigate their sensory world.

描述（由申请人提供）：在许多其他竞争声音存在的情况下，难以听一个人说话对许多人来说是一个重大问题，甚至一些听力测试结果正常的人也是如此。当声源在空间上分离时，在这些不利条件下理解语音的能力显著提高，这种效果被称为掩蔽的空间释放。如果一个人看向一个感兴趣的谈话者，看到那个人的脸提供了视觉空间和时间信息，可以进一步改善理解，使其成为一种常见而重要的听力康复策略。然而，候选人最近的工作表明，仅仅将目光投向那个声音的行为就能带来感知上的好处。此外，尽管广泛接受的重要性，空间听觉和视觉信息的听觉选择性注意，这些过程之间的相互作用在很大程度上是未开发的，很少有工作已经做了表征个体听众之间的空间听觉能力的差异如何影响他们的能力，在嘈杂的情况下听。在本研究计划的指导培训阶段，候选人将进行两项实验，探索眼睛凝视和视觉信息的影响，同时接受视觉神经科学的培训。他将首先通过测量定向眼的影响来建立他以前的发现 在多人言语任务（目标1）中凝视掩蔽的空间释放。接下来，他将评估空间和时间视觉信息在任务中对选择性注意力的低水平益处，该任务使用表现出语音的一些基本特征但本质上是非语言的刺激（目标2）。在进入独立阶段后，候选人将检查正常听力听众的听觉空间能力范围以及双耳缺陷对多人环境中听力表现的影响，然后是否可以从电生理学上确定缺陷，并最终检查空间缺陷是否改变了听众利用视觉线索的方式（目标3）。这项研究是临床相关的，因为它将提供重要的见解听噪音：空间听力障碍如何影响个人的理解，以及哪些具体的视觉因素是重要的视听应对策略。这项工作将促进候选人的直接职业目标，即成为一名视听研究人员，在感觉方式和使用行为和大脑活动的措施执行实验的能力方面具有必要的丰富经验。在指导阶段的培训将通过视觉系统的生理学和神经科学的正式课程，与共同导师的视觉神经科学小组会议，以学习当前的文献和批判性地评估候选人自己的工作，并通过学习非科学技能，如指导和实验室管理从主要导师以及机构范围的研讨会。在此奖项期间进行的研究和提供的培训将对候选人指导实验室的长期目标至关重要，该实验室的研究产生了人们如何理解和驾驭其感官世界的重要新见解。