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/医学院的项目中担任临床研究员15年，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。她的研究重点是非常年幼的婴儿的听力残疾，使用电生理学方法检测和评估这些听力残疾。她的研究旨在将联合收割机发展神经科学与临床听力学相结合，以便在婴儿期大脑可塑性巨大的时期，为残疾提供早期检测，评估和治疗。环境：亚利桑那大学言语、语言和听力科学系通过其博士学位提供研究培训。课程，以及通过言语语言病理学硕士课程和听力学博士学位（Au.D.）进行临床培训。该部门内的研究计划是高度跨学科的性质与合作（临床）部门，如神经病学和儿科和（学术）部门的细胞生物学和解剖学，电气和计算机工程，心理学，生理学，神经科学和认知科学，语言学，特殊教育和康复。调研：具体目标是：1）使用脑干和皮层的听觉诱发电位评估婴儿的言语特征辨别能力; 2）使用与年龄相适应的行为方法评估言语感知能力; 3）将电生理学和行为学方法结合起来，预测有听力损失、中枢听觉功能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育。该研究提出的长期目标是获得有关婴儿对包括语音在内的复杂声音的听觉灵敏度和感知的发展的详细知识。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受益最多。在拟议的研究中获得的知识将构成创新和敏感的听力评估和婴儿治疗和居住监测的临床方法的基础。

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.