Efferent Auditory Measurements during Continuous Attended Speech in Normal Hearing Listeners With and Without Speech-in-Noise Deficits

有或没有噪声中言语缺陷的正常听力听众连续听讲讲话时的传出听觉测量

• 批准号: 10904248
• 负责人: Spencer Smith
• 金额: $ 7.7万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10904248
• 关键词: Academic achievement; Acoustic Nerve; Active Listening; Adult; Algorithms; Amplifiers; Animals; Attention; Auditory; Auditory system; Biological Assay; Biophysics; Brain; Brain Stem; Clinical; Clinical assessments; Cochlea; Cochlear Implants; Cognitive; Communication impairment; Contralateral; Development; Frequencies; Glean; Goals; Hearing Aids; Hearing Tests; Human; Impairment; Individual; Labyrinth; Lesion; Light; Measurement; Measures; Mechanics; Medial; Methods; Modeling; Nervous System; Neurobiology; Noise; Outcomes Research; Outer Hair Cells; Patients; Perception; Performance; Physiological; Play; Proxy; Reflex action; Research; Research Project Grants; Role; Signal Transduction; Site; Speech; Speech Perception; Statistical Models; Stimulus; Structure of tractus olivocochlearis; System; Time; Vocation; Withdrawal; Work; attentional modulation; auditory pathway; base; brain computer interface; experimental study; improved; neural; neural circuit; neurophysiology; noise perception; normal hearing; otoacoustic emission; outcome disparities; personalized diagnostics; predictive test; response; social; speech in noise; speech processing; standard measure; targeted treatment; treatment strategy

PROJECT SUMMARY Audiologists frequently encounter patients who complain of speech-in-noise perception difficulties despite having normal hearing sensitivity. The neurobiological bases of such deficits are currently debated and remain unknown, which limits development of precision diagnostics and targeted treatment strategies to help these patients. As a consequence, many may suffer untreated and debilitating communication impairments in real world situations, causing social withdrawal, limiting academic achievement, and/or constraining vocational opportunities. Limited evidence suggests that the efferent auditory pathway, which descends from the brain to the inner ears and putatively filters out noise before it enters the nervous system, may be impaired in some of these patients. This research project investigates relationships between inner ear efferent activity and subcortical processing of speech-in-noise during active listening in audiometrically-normal adults with and without clinically-documented speech-in-noise deficits. Specifically, we have developed a method for simultaneously measuring pre-neural (i.e., otoacoustic emissions; OAE) and neural (i.e., frequency following responses) biophysical responses evoked by naturalistic continuous speech. This approach makes it possible, for the first time, to directly study the influence of cochlear efferent effects on neural processing and perception of speech-in-noise. We hypothesize that: 1) “traditional” passive assays of cochlear efferent activity (i.e., OAE inhibition with contralateral noise) underestimate efferent modulation of cochlear mechanics during active listening to speech-in-noise; 2) attentional modulation of cochlear activity predicts attentional modulation of subcortical neural activity; and 3) cochlear and neural attention modulation effects can be used to statistically model speech-in-noise perceptual performance. The outcomes of this research will clarify the role of the efferent system in naturalistic speech-in- noise processing and may elucidate “sites of lesion” responsible for speech-in-noise deficits in audiometrically- normal listeners. Further, our findings may inform development of assistive listening devices and/or brain- computer interfaces that are inspired by typical neurophysiologic auditory function to aid listeners with speech- in-noise deficits.

项目摘要 听力学家经常遇到抱怨噪音中言语感知困难的患者，尽管他们有 正常的听觉灵敏度。这种缺陷的神经生物学基础目前仍有争议，仍然未知， 这限制了帮助这些患者的精确诊断和靶向治疗策略的发展。作为 因此，许多人可能在真实的世界情况中遭受未经治疗的和使人衰弱的通信障碍， 导致社交退缩，限制学术成就和/或限制职业机会。有限 有证据表明，从大脑到内耳的传出听觉通路， 在噪音进入神经系统之前，puepulmonary过滤掉噪音，可能在一些患者中受损。这 一项研究项目调查了内耳传出活动和皮层下处理之间的关系， 听力正常成年人在有或无临床记录的主动听力期间的噪声中言语 噪音中的言语缺陷具体来说，我们已经开发了一种方法，同时测量前神经 (i.e.,耳声发射; OAE）和神经（即，频率跟随响应）诱发的生物物理响应 自然主义的连续言语。这种方法使人们有可能，第一次，直接研究 耳蜗传出效应对噪声中言语神经加工和感知的影响我们假设 1）耳蜗传出活动的“传统”被动测定（即，OAE抑制与对侧噪声） 低估了在主动听噪声中的语音时耳蜗力学的传出调制; 2） 耳蜗活动的注意力调节预测皮层下神经活动的注意力调节;以及3） 耳蜗和神经注意力调制效应可用于统计建模噪声中的语音感知 性能这项研究的结果将阐明传出系统在自然主义言语中的作用， 噪声处理，并可能阐明“病变部位”负责语音噪声赤字听力- 普通听众。此外，我们的发现可能会为辅助听力设备和/或大脑的发展提供信息。 受典型神经生理听觉功能启发的计算机接口，以帮助听众进行语音， 噪音不足。