Understanding Auditory Development in Young Children

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Both of the major communication systems in humans - language and music - are based on auditory perception. Because communication skills affect virtually all aspects of development, understanding the development of auditory perception is crucial for understanding optimal development in general. The equipment in this proposal supports studies on three major topics in this area. The first topic concerns how infants learn to parse the complex sound waves that reach their ears into the separate sounding "auditory objects" that created them, a process known as auditory scene analysis. The second topic concerns how infants learn to integrate auditory and motor information, a necessary skill for speaking or playing a musical instrument. The third topic explores the development of rhythm perception and its relation to memory, language, and cognitive development in normal and special populations. To accomplish this research, we require four categories of equipment. I. EXPERIMENTAL TESTING EQUIPMENT that presents sound and video in experimental procedures and controls external devices such as those for physiological measurement (e.g., heart rate) and electronic drums for measuring rhythm production. II. STIMULUS CREATION EQUIPMENT that enables us to make animations so that we can test perception in children in fun video game-like experiments as well as to film and edit sequences of matched and mismatched audio and movement in order examine auditory-motor interactions. III. AUDIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT EQUIPMENT to perform standard clinical hearing assessments in infants, older children, and special populations. IV. SOUND MEASUREMENT EQUIPMENT that enables us to calibrate our sound stimuli. This equipment will enable students in my lab and in networks across the country (NSERC CREATE Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience; AIRS MCRI) and internationally (e.g., Erasmus Mundus) to conduct important research and to gain valuable training in sound measurement, audiological testing, and industry standard programs.