Efferent Auditory Measurements during Continuous Attended Speech in Normal Hearing Listeners With and Without Speech-in-Noise Deficits

有或没有噪声中言语缺陷的正常听力听众连续听讲讲话期间的传出听觉测量

• 批准号: 10651887
• 负责人: Spencer Smith
• 金额: $ 19.08万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10651887
• 关键词: Academic achievement; Acoustic Nerve; Active Listening; Adult; Algorithms; Amplifiers; Animals; Attention; Auditory; Auditory system; Biological Assay; Biophysics; Brain; Brain Stem; Clinical; Clinical assessments; Cochlea; Cochlear Implants; Cognitive; Communication impairment; Contralateral; Development; Frequencies; Glean; Goals; Hearing Aids; Hearing Tests; Human; Impairment; Individual; Labyrinth; Lesion; Light; Measurement; Measures; Mechanics; Medial; Methods; Modeling; Nervous System; Neurobiology; Noise; Outcomes Research; Outer Hair Cells; Patients; Perception; Performance; Physiological; Play; Proxy; Reflex action; Research; Research Project Grants; Role; Signal Transduction; Site; Speech; Speech Perception; Statistical Models; Stimulus; Structure of tractus olivocochlearis; System; Time; Vocation; Withdrawal; Work; attentional modulation; auditory pathway; base; brain computer interface; experimental study; improved; neural; neural circuit; neurophysiology; noise perception; normal hearing; otoacoustic emission; outcome disparities; personalized diagnostics; predictive test; response; social; speech in noise; speech processing; standard measure; targeted treatment; treatment strategy

PROJECT SUMMARY Audiologists frequently encounter patients who complain of speech-in-noise perception difficulties despite having normal hearing sensitivity. The neurobiological bases of such deficits are currently debated and remain unknown, which limits development of precision diagnostics and targeted treatment strategies to help these patients. As a consequence, many may suffer untreated and debilitating communication impairments in real world situations, causing social withdrawal, limiting academic achievement, and/or constraining vocational opportunities. Limited evidence suggests that the efferent auditory pathway, which descends from the brain to the inner ears and putatively filters out noise before it enters the nervous system, may be impaired in some of these patients. This research project investigates relationships between inner ear efferent activity and subcortical processing of speech-in-noise during active listening in audiometrically-normal adults with and without clinically-documented speech-in-noise deficits. Specifically, we have developed a method for simultaneously measuring pre-neural (i.e., otoacoustic emissions; OAE) and neural (i.e., frequency following responses) biophysical responses evoked by naturalistic continuous speech. This approach makes it possible, for the first time, to directly study the influence of cochlear efferent effects on neural processing and perception of speech-in-noise. We hypothesize that: 1) “traditional” passive assays of cochlear efferent activity (i.e., OAE inhibition with contralateral noise) underestimate efferent modulation of cochlear mechanics during active listening to speech-in-noise; 2) attentional modulation of cochlear activity predicts attentional modulation of subcortical neural activity; and 3) cochlear and neural attention modulation effects can be used to statistically model speech-in-noise perceptual performance. The outcomes of this research will clarify the role of the efferent system in naturalistic speech-in- noise processing and may elucidate “sites of lesion” responsible for speech-in-noise deficits in audiometrically- normal listeners. Further, our findings may inform development of assistive listening devices and/or brain- computer interfaces that are inspired by typical neurophysiologic auditory function to aid listeners with speech- in-noise deficits.

项目总结 听觉学家经常遇到患者抱怨在噪音中言语感知困难，尽管 听力正常。这种缺陷的神经生物学基础目前仍有争议，目前仍不清楚。 这限制了帮助这些患者的精确诊断和有针对性的治疗策略的发展。作为一名 结果，许多人可能在现实世界中遭受未经治疗的、使人衰弱的沟通障碍， 导致社交退缩、限制学业成就和/或限制职业机会。有限 有证据表明，从大脑下行到内耳的传出听觉通路 据推测，在噪音进入神经系统之前会过滤掉噪音，其中一些患者可能会受到损害。这 研究项目调查内耳传出活动与皮层下加工之间的关系 有和没有临床记录的听力正常成年人在主动听过程中的噪声中言语 噪声中的语音缺陷。具体地说，我们开发了一种同时测量前神经元的方法 (即耳声发射；OAE)和神经(即频率跟随响应)诱发的生物物理反应 通过自然主义的连续不断的演讲。这种方法使得第一次有可能直接研究 耳蜗传出效应对神经加工和噪声中语音知觉的影响。我们假设 即：1)“传统的”耳蜗传出活动的被动测试(即，用对侧噪声抑制耳声发射) 低估了主动听噪声中语音时耳蜗力学的传出调制；2) 耳蜗活动的注意调节预测皮质下神经活动的注意调节；3) 耳蜗神经注意调制效应可以用来对噪声中的语音感知进行统计建模 性能。这项研究的结果将阐明传出系统在自然主义言语中的作用。 噪声处理，并可阐明在听力测量中造成噪声中言语缺陷的“病变部位”。 正常的听众。此外，我们的发现可能会为辅助听力设备和/或大脑的发展提供信息。 计算机界面受到典型神经生理听觉功能的启发，以帮助听众说话- 噪音赤字。