Binaural Spectral Integration with Hearing Loss and Hearing Devices

项目摘要 大约有2200万美国人患有听力障碍。而听力设备，如听力 艾滋病(HAS)和人工耳蜗术(CI)成功地改善了许多听力和听力障碍的语音识别能力。 受损的个体，在受益方面仍然存在显著的差异，而噪声中的语音识别仍然是一种 有问题。可能限制收益，特别是双耳收益的一个因素是不正常的双耳频谱整合。 双耳融合的先决条件是双耳融合--将来自两只耳朵的刺激融合成一个 单一的听觉物体。我们上一次拨款的发现表明，与正常听力(NH)听众不同的是， 许多HA和CI用户在频域中体验到异常的“广泛的”双耳融合，使得音调 两只耳朵在频率上有很大差异的声音仍然可以作为一个单一的感知被听到。个人拥有广泛的 融合还会经历异常的双耳光谱积分-平均，从而导致光谱失真 当不同的声音融合在一起时，耳朵里传来的信息。我们也证明了广泛的融合是相关联的 双耳干扰--两只耳朵的语音识别能力比一只耳朵差。 更重要的是，初步数据显示，广泛的融合与更大的困难有关 在具有挑战性的多人听力环境中理解语音，例如嘈杂的餐厅。遇到的困难 噪声中的语音理解是HA和CI用户的主要抱怨。为了帮助听力受损的人 听者在背景噪声中减少双耳干扰，提高语音理解能力，需要 在广泛的融合中理解潜在的原因和因素。 这项研究计划的长期目标是调查影响、原因和潜在的治疗方法 对于听力受损的听者的异常双耳频谱整合。在这份提案中，我们将：1)确定 广泛的双耳融合如何影响安静和背景说话者的言语感知；以及2)调查 儿童和成人HAS和CIS广泛双耳融合的潜在原因，重点放在外周 频谱分辨率、听觉体验和自上而下的听觉处理因素。 拟议的研究将表明宽双耳光谱融合在面临的困难中的作用 听力受损的听众，尤其是在背景噪音中理解语音的人。确定了 广泛融合背后的因素将为未来治疗广泛融合的康复方法提供信息，并有助于 听力受损的听众获得了与NH听众相同的双耳听力好处。

Project Summary Approximately 22 million Americans have a hearing impairment. While hearing devices such as hearing aids (HAs) and cochlear implants (CIs) are successful in improving speech recognition for many hearing- impaired individuals, there is still significant variability in benefit, and speech recognition in noise remains a problem. One factor that may limit benefit, especially binaural benefit, is abnormal binaural spectral integration. A prerequisite for binaural integration is binaural fusion — the fusion of stimuli from the two ears into a single auditory object. Our findings from the previous grant showed that unlike normal-hearing (NH) listeners, many HA and CI users experience abnormally “broad” binaural fusion in the spectral domain, such that pitches that differ greatly in frequency between the two ears are still heard as a single percept. Individuals with broad fusion also experience abnormal binaural spectral integration - averaging and thus distortion of spectral information across the ears when disparate sounds are fused. We also showed broad fusion to be associated with binaural interference — poorer speech recognition with two ears compared to one. More importantly, preliminary data show that broad fusion is associated with greater difficulty with understanding speech in challenging multi-talker listening situations, such as noisy restaurants. Difficulties with speech understanding in noise is a major complaint of both HA and CI users. In order to help hearing-impaired listeners reduce binaural interference and improve speech understanding in background noise, we need to understand the underlying causes and factors in broad fusion. The long-term goal of this research program is to investigate the effects, causes, and potential treatments for abnormal binaural spectral integration in hearing-impaired listeners. In this proposal we will: 1) determine how broad binaural fusion affects speech perception in quiet and in background talkers; and 2) investigate potential causes of broad binaural fusion in children and adults with HAs and CIs, focusing on peripheral spectral resolution, auditory experience, and top-down auditory processing factors. The proposed research will indicate the role of broad binaural spectral fusion in difficulties faced by hearing-impaired listeners, especially for speech understanding in background noise. Determination of the factors underlying broad fusion will inform future rehabilitation approaches to treat broad fusion, and help hearing-impaired listeners attain the same benefits of binaural hearing as NH listeners.