Identifying neural circuits that support effortful listening

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Project Summary/Abstract Candidate: My long-term career goal is to establish an independent research program focusing on the neural mechanisms of listening effort, and explore how adolescent hearing loss alters this mechanism. My previous training has provided me with a strong foundation in acoustics, auditory physiology, behavioral neuroscience, and hearing loss-induced deficits in sensory processing and perception. I propose to expand my skillset with additional training in cognitive mechanisms of auditory perception, awake-behaving recordings, pharmacological and chemogenetic attenuation of neural activity in awake-behaving animals, and pupillometric measures. During the K99 phase, I will continue working towards independence by developing the intellectual and technical skills needed for success. This includes attending workshops on putting together a successful job application and chalk talk, and learning effective strategies for the job interview and lab management. By the end of the R00 phase, I will have a strong publication record and the preliminary data needed for a successful R01 application. Environment: The K99 phase of the award will take place in the Center for Neural Science at New York University (NYU), an excellent environment for the proposed training. My primary mentor, Dr. Dan Sanes, has 30+ years of experience in developmental auditory neuroscience. He will provide his expertise and mentorship in all areas of my training, including auditory sensory processing, hearing loss-induced sensory and cognitive deficits, and awake-behaving methods. Additional mentoring will be provided by Dr. Matthew McGinley (Baylor College of Medicine), an expert on attentional auditory mechanisms and rodent pupillometry, and Dr. Matthew Winn (University of Minnesota), an expert on listening effort and hearing loss. Research: Listening to speech requires intact sensory and cognitive processing. For those with hearing loss, additional mental effort is often required, resulting in cognitive fatigue that can have long-term negative implications for quality of life. However, the neural mechanisms underlying effortful listening, and how hearing loss alters this mechanism, is uncertain. This proposal will identify a cortical network that is engaged during an effort-based auditory task, and use perturbations of neural activity to determine whether candidate regions are required for task performance during difficult listening conditions (K99). Next, I will use wireless neural recordings in sensory and non-sensory cortical areas, along with pupillometry approaches, to explore how adolescent hearing loss disrupts this cortical mechanism (R00).