Spectral and Temporal Resolution in Infants with Cochlear Implants

项目摘要 这个K23应用程序的长期目标是提高我们对听觉容量如何驱动 使用人工耳蜗（CI）的聋哑婴儿的言语和语言发育。作为一个儿科 作为耳鼻喉科医生和CI外科医生，候选人非常清楚临床结局的广泛差异， 这一人群和需要更精确的临床工具来评估受益和预测言语， CI婴儿的语言结果。作为第一步，本研究计划将调查CI婴儿的早期获得 听觉频谱和时间分辨率的研究。光谱涟漪鉴别 和幅度调制检测是两个独立的语音感知预测指标 成年CI患者的技能。本申请的中心假设是光谱和时间分辨率将 在植入后的前7个月内，每种药物都在CI婴儿中达到成熟，并将限制随后的 获得言语感知和语言技能。这一假设的基础是光谱和 正常听觉系统的时间分辨率在生命的第一年成熟，反映了早期 耳蜗和脑干神经机制的发展。有证据表明，这些早期发展的 在植入后的第一年，CI婴儿的结构也迅速成熟。 这项研究的基本原理是，提高我们对光谱和时间的理解， 在CI婴儿中出现的与口语习得相关的技能将使临床 CI婴儿的听觉能力测量。本K23中描述的婴儿心理声学方法 应用程序将形成一个正在进行的研究计划，研究在CI婴儿的听觉发展的核心。当地 听觉发展、言语和语言发展领域的课程和培训经验， 和电生理学将使PI能够继续建立必要的技能， 心理声学研究成果转化为临床可行的措施。这种职业发展和研究 计划，在一个非常支持和培育学术环境进行将设置候选人 作为一个可持续资助的研究者，成功地监督这个临床相关的研究项目。

Project Summary The long-term goal of this K23 application is to improve our understanding of how auditory capacity drives speech and language development in deaf infants who use cochlear implants (CIs). As a pediatric otolaryngologist and CI surgeon, the candidate is intimately aware of the wide variability in clinical outcomes in this population and the need for more precise clinical tools for assessing benefit and predicting speech and language outcomes in CI infants. As a first step, this research plan will investigate CI infants' early acquisition of auditory spectral and temporal resolution using behavioral methods. Spectral ripple discrimination (SRD) and amplitude modulation detection are two measures that are independent predictors of speech perception skills in adults with CIs. The central hypothesis of this application is that spectral and temporal resolution will each reach maturity in CI infants over the first 7 months after implantation and will constrain subsequent acquisition of speech perception and language skills. The basis for this hypothesis is that spectral and temporal resolution of the normal auditory system mature during the first year of life, reflecting early development of cochlear and brainstem neural mechanisms. Evidence suggests that these early developing structures also mature rapidly in CI infants during the first post-implant year. The rationale for the proposed research is that improving our understanding of how spectral and temporal skills emerge and relate to spoken-language acquisition in CI infants will enable the development of clinical measures of auditory capacity in CI infants. The infant psychoacoustic methods described in this K23 application will form the core an ongoing research program to study auditory development in CI infants. Local coursework and training experiences in the fields of auditory development, speech and language development, and electrophysiology will enable the PI to continue to build the skill set necessary to translate basic psychoacoustic research findings into clinically feasible measures. This career development and research plan, conducted within an extremely supportive and nurturing academic environment will set the candidate up to succeed as a sustainably funded investigator overseeing this clinically relevant program of research.