Determining the mechanisms of spoken language processing delay for children with cochlear implants

项目摘要 而人工耳蜗(Cis)使严重听力损失的儿童能够通过电子耳机 信号，它们传输的语音信号会以阻碍语音感知的方式退化。这些困难 言语感知可能会对发育产生下游影响，因为患有顺式语言的儿童更多 与患有NH的同龄人相比，可能在言语、语言和识字能力方面表现出延迟。然而，目前还不清楚 语音感知中CI特有的限制如何导致观察到的口语处理延迟。 该项目的长期目标是更好地了解降低的CI信号如何影响 为了设计更有针对性和有效性的顺势语言儿童口语发展 对这一人群的干预。建议的研究的具体目标是利用心理语言学 研究由cis传输的频谱退化的语音信号如何延迟所说的单词的方法 词库中语义相关词网络的识别和访问，这两者都是至关重要的 有效的口语理解的组成部分。目标1将调查潜在的来源 观察到患有顺语症的儿童在口语单词识别方面的延迟。具体地说，拟议的实验将 确定感知到频谱退化的信号是否会导致扩展和效率降低 词汇竞争或采用一般的观望听力策略。申请者将使用眼睛- 追踪以测量来自发音相似的单词的竞争，而患有顺语症的儿童(实验1)和 听噪声声码语音的NH儿童(实验2)感知所说的单词。实验3将 使用脑电(EEG)测量语音相似词的语义加工 语音识别。目标2将调查观察到的使用延迟的可能机制 具有顺位的儿童的语义语境，以促进口语处理。该团队将确定 顺位儿童的词汇通达是否涉及从音位到语音的级联激活 或者相反，语义网络作为一个更连续的过程发生。实验4将使用脑电来测量 发音相似的单词及其语义关联在口语单词识别过程中是如何被激活的。 培训目标侧重于学习使用脑电方法进行心理语言学研究，操作 语音刺激，以及时间序列数据的高级统计分析。此外，培训还将培养技能。 需要独立开展创新和临床适用的研究，纳入以下研究结果 认知神经科学领域以及与临床教师和当地临床医生的合作。 拟议项目的结果将有助于更详细地了解 观察到顺式语言儿童口语处理延迟背后的机制。正在处理中 在口语识别中产生个体差异的机制也有可能成为 对有语言发展落后风险的独联体儿童进行言语语言干预。

Project Summary While cochlear implants (CIs) have enabled children with profound hearing loss to hear via an electrical signal, the speech signal they transmit is degraded in ways that hinder speech perception. These difficulties with speech perception likely have downstream consequences on development, as children with CIs are more likely to show delays in speech, language, and literacy abilities relative to peers with NH. However, it is unclear how CI-specific limitations in speech perception contribute to observed delays in spoken language processing. The long-term objective of this project is to better understand how the degraded CI signal impacts spoken language development in children with CIs in order to design more targeted and efficacious intervention for this population. The specific objective of the proposed research is to utilize psycholinguistic methods to investigate how the spectrally degraded speech signal transmitted by CIs delays spoken word recognition and the access of networks of semantically related words in the lexicon, which are both vital components for efficient spoken language comprehension. Aim 1 will investigate the potential sources of observed delays in spoken word recognition by children with CIs. Specifically, the proposed experiments will determine whether perception of a spectrally degraded signal leads to expanded and less efficient lexical competition or adoption of a general wait-and-see listening strategy. The applicant will use eye- tracking to measure competition from similar-sounding words while children with CIs (Experiment 1) and children with NH listening to noise-vocoded speech (Experiment 2) perceive spoken words. Experiment 3 will use electroencephalography (EEG) to measure semantic processing of phonologically similar words during spoken word recognition. Aim 2 will investigate the possible mechanisms underlying observed delays in use of semantic context by children with CIs to facilitate spoken language processing. The team will determine whether lexical access by children with CIs involves cascading activation from phonological to semantic networks or instead occurs as a more serial process. Experiment 4 will use EEG to measure how similar-sounding words and their semantic associates are activated during spoken word recognition. Training goals focus on learning to use EEG methods for psycholinguistic research, manipulation of speech stimuli, and advanced statistical analysis of time series data. In addition, training will foster skills needed to independently carry out innovative and clinically applicable research by incorporating findings from the field of cognitive neuroscience and collaborating with clinical faculty and local clinicians. The findings from the proposed project will contribute to a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms behind observed delays in spoken language processing by children with CIs. Processing mechanisms yielding individual differences in spoken word recognition also have the potential to be targets of speech-language intervention for children with CIs who are at-risk of falling behind in language development.