Listening effort and binaural-hearing benefits in bilateral cochlear-implant users

项目摘要/摘要 双侧人工耳蜗术(BI-CI)可改善语音理解和声音定位，但目前尚不清楚 两只耳朵是否负担得起任何听力努力对BI-CI听者有利。我们的长期目标是理解本-- 听觉(双耳)对听力受损的听众有好处，因此听力设备的设计不仅是为了最大限度地 言语感知，但也最大限度地减少倾听的努力，这是感知的一个方面，潜在地很重要。这个 这项建议的具体目标是评估BI-CI在言语理解和听力努力方面的变化 双耳任务的监听者。中心假设是，对称的耳朵改善了双耳的益处，但不对称的耳朵- 有节律的耳朵限制了这些好处。方法是将感知的行为测量与小学生- 测试，一种客观的和生理的听力努力的测量，它还没有被用作理解 两个声音输入在BI-CI收听者中的好处。其基本原理是考虑到倾听努力和 将言语感知结合在一起，可以更全面地了解真实世界的听力。双耳对说话的益处 感知和倾听的努力将在两个目标上进行探索：1)确定不对称的程度 在BI-CI和听力正常听者中，输入影响知觉和听力努力，2)到 衡量BI-CI在多大程度上改善了语音理解并减少了空间SEP-CI的听力工作。 说话者的兴致。预计这项研究的贡献将是了解双耳听力的好处 BI-CI听者的听力努力。这一贡献意义重大，因为它是理解 在未来，特别是在嘈杂的环境中，对听力受损的人来说，这将有助于减少他们的听力努力。 这一建议是创新的，因为它使用了一种客观的生理技术？？瞳孔测量法？？来测量。 在CI听众中的听力努力，并结合双耳听力和听力努力的专业知识来检查广告- BI-CI监听的优势。这项指导职业发展奖的PI是一名Au.D.-Ph.D.博士后 马里兰大学学院公园分校的研究员。私家侦探将获得双耳听力方面的专门知识，并 听力努力，提高对CI听者的研究和CI模拟的使用，开发计划- 具备设计听觉实验和模拟声音位置的技能，并学习先进的统计方法 在这个奖项下。其他培训活动包括统计方法课程、校园研讨会、正式 培训拨款撰写，并在专业会议上发表研究报告。私家侦探组织了一个内部小组- 辅导员团队，他们是PI感兴趣的领域的专家。这种指导性和学员的强势 心理声学背景将为PI达到获得终身教职的长期目标做好准备 定位并开发一个独立的、由R01资助的研究计划，作为临床医生-科学家，专注于免疫治疗。 证明听力损失的人在嘈杂环境中的听力。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Bilateral cochlear implants (BI-CIs) improve speech understanding and sound localization, but it is unknown whether two ears afford any listening effort benefits to BI-CI listeners. The long term goal is to understand bin- aural (two-ear) benefits in hearing-impaired listeners so that hearing devices are designed not only to maximize speech perception but also minimize listening effort, a dimension of perception that is potentially important. The specific objective of this proposal is to evaluate changes in speech understanding and listening effort in BI-CI listeners for binaural tasks. The central hypothesis is that symmetrical ears improve binaural benefits, but asym- metrical ears limit these benefits. The approach is to combine behavioral measures of perception with pupillom- etry, an objective and physiological measure of listening effort, which has yet to be used as a tool to understand the benefits of two sound inputs in BI-CI listeners. The rationale is that consideration of listening effort and speech perception together can give a more complete picture of real-world listening. Binaural benefits to speech perception and listening effort will be explored in two aims: 1) to determine the extent to which asymmetrical inputs affect perception and listening effort in dichotic listening in BI-CI and normal-hearing listeners and 2) to measure the extent to which BI-CIs improve speech understanding and reduce listening effort with spatial sep- aration of talkers. The contribution of this research is expected to be knowledge of the benefit of binaural hearing to listening effort in BI-CI listeners. This contribution is significant because it is a first step in understanding listening effort and reducing it in the future, particularly in noisy environments, for hearing-impaired listeners. This proposal is innovative because it uses an objective physiologic technique – pupillometry – to measure listening effort in CI listeners, and combines binaural hearing and listening effort expertise to examine the ad- vantages of BI-CI listening. The PI of this Mentored Career Development Award is an Au.D.-Ph.D. postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland-College Park. The PI will acquire expertise in binaural hearing and listening effort, increase proficiency in the study of CI listeners and the use of CI simulations, develop program- ming skills to design auditory experiments and simulate sound locations, and learn advanced statistical methods under this award. Other training activities include coursework in statistical methods, on-campus seminars, formal training in grant writing, and presenting research at professional meetings. The PI has assembled an interdisci- plinary team of mentors who are experts in the PI’s areas of interest. This mentorship and the mentee’s strong psychoacoustics background will prepare the PI to reach the long-term goals of attaining a tenure-track faculty position and developing an independent, R01-funded research program as a clinician-scientist, focused on im- proving the hearing of individuals with hearing loss in noisy environments.