Electrophysiology of Infant Speech Perception

描述（由申请人提供）：Cone-Wesson的职业生涯包括在医院/医学院项目中担任临床研究员15年，以及在提供听力学临床培训的学术项目中担任教师研究员10年。她的研究一直集中在非常年幼的婴儿的听力障碍，使用电生理方法来检测和评估这些听力障碍。她的研究旨在将发育神经科学与临床听力学相结合，以便在婴儿时期，在大脑具有巨大可塑性的时期，提供早期发现，评估和治疗残疾。环境：亚利桑那大学言语、语言和听力科学系通过其博士课程提供研究培训，并通过言语语言病理学硕士课程和听力学博士课程（aud）提供临床培训。该系的研究项目本质上是高度跨学科的，包括神经病学和儿科等（临床）部门以及细胞生物学和解剖学、电子和计算机工程、心理学、生理学、神经科学、认知科学、语言学、特殊教育和康复等（学术）部门。研究的具体目的是：1)利用来自脑干和皮层的听觉诱发电位评估婴儿对言语特征的辨别；2)使用与年龄相适应的行为方法评估语言感知能力；3)结合电生理学和行为学方法来预测有听力损失、中枢性听觉障碍或语言障碍风险的婴儿的言语感知能力和最终的言语和语言发展。该研究提出的长期目标是获得有关婴儿对包括言语在内的复杂声音的听力敏感性和感知发展的详细知识。相关性：新生儿听力筛查增加了听力损失婴儿的数量；这些婴儿将从听力、言语和语言的早期评估和干预中获益最多。在拟议的研究中获得的知识将为婴儿听力评估和治疗和居住监测的创新和敏感的临床方法奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cone-Wesson's career has included 15 years as a clinician-investigator in hospital/medical school based programs, and 10 years as a teacher-investigator, in academic programs offering clinical training in audiology. Her research has been focused on hearing disabilities in very young infants, using electrophysiological methods for detection and assessment of those hearing disabilities. Her research seeks to combine developmental neuroscience with clinical audiology, so as to provide for the early detection, assessment and treatment of the disability in infancy, during a period of prodigious brain plasticity. Environment: The University of Arizona Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences offers research training through its Ph.D. program, and clinical training through a master's program in speech- language pathology and an audiology doctorate (Au.D.). The research programs within the department are highly interdisciplinary in nature with collaborations in (clinical) departments such as Neurology and Pediatrics and in (academic) departments of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Psychology, Physiology, Neuroscience, and Cognitive Sciences, Linguistics, Special Education and Rehabilitation. Research: Specific aims are to: 1) evaluate infant discrimination of speech features using auditory evoked potentials from the brainstem and cortex; 2) evaluate speech perception abilities using age-appropriate behavioral methods; 3) tie together electrophysiologic and behavioral methods to predict speech perception abilities and eventual speech and language development in infants at risk for hearing loss, central auditory dysfunction or language impairment. The long-term goals the research proposed are to obtain detailed knowledge about the development of infant hearing sensitivity for, and perception of, complex sounds including speech. Relevance: Newborn hearing screening has increase the number of infants identified with hearing loss; these infants will benefit most from early assessment of and intervention for hearing, speech and language. The knowledge gained in the proposed research will constitute the basis of innovative and sensitive clinical methods for hearing evaluation and the monitoring of treatment and habitation in infants.