Impact of developmental experience on spatial hearing in noisy environments.

我们在日常嘈杂环境中倾听的能力是如何受到早期生活经验的影响的？我们能否利用这些知识来改变我们诊断和治疗一种非常常见的儿童疾病的方式？更好地了解大脑是否可以帮助我们在嘈杂的环境中更好地使用电话和助听器？仅在英国，目前就有1100万人患有听力损失。80%的儿童在发育过程中也会经历听力损失。在嘈杂的教室里，孩子们可以定位和分离来自不同位置的不同声音，这使得听老师讲课更容易。听力损失会损害这一重要技能，并可能扰乱正常发育。即使听力恢复正常，这些障碍也会持续存在。如果孩子只是在一只耳朵中经历了复发性听力损失，也可能发生损伤。这通常是由“胶耳”引起的，这是儿童最常见的疾病之一。然而，目前我们还不知道大脑功能的什么变化会导致这些损伤。我们对不同环境声音如何影响发育中的大脑也知之甚少，特别是对那些可能已经因为听力损失而脆弱的儿童来说。我将使用虚拟现实技术测试雪貂和人类，让他们检测、定位或分离来自不同位置的声音。我将询问重复性听力损失的历史如何影响行为表现，并将行为表现与大脑功能的测量相关联。我将在听力损失和听力正常的时期进行这些实验，并问：（1）听力损失的直接影响是什么？(2)随着时间的推移，大脑会适应听力损失吗？(3)听力损失是否会产生即使恢复正常听力也会持续存在的问题？我还将探讨不同的环境声音如何塑造发育中的大脑，以及不同类型的听力损失是否会产生不同的结果。在雪貂身上，我将打开和关闭大脑的不同部分，看看大脑的哪些部分对行为很重要。这将告诉我们大脑的某些部分是否在听力损失后学会执行不同的功能。为了评估早期经验的相对重要性，我还将对成年或儿童听力损失的患者进行测试。然后，我会问，在生命的早期，大脑是否更脆弱（或适应性更强）。近年来，人工智能通过制造通过经验学习的机器而取得了巨大的进步。这包括学习在嘈杂环境中定位声音的机器。我会问，如果我在这些机器的学习阶段给它们一个反复出现的听力损失，会发生什么，并将结果与雪貂和人类的行为进行比较。这种比较将突出生物系统的相对优势和弱点，这可能有助于我们构建更智能的机器（例如电话和语音激活设备）。通过了解大脑如何适应听力损失，我们可以设计出更好的助听器和植入物，并更好地训练人们使用它们。通过识别产生损伤的大脑功能变化，我们也可以更好地预防，检测和逆转这些变化。在幼儿中，很难识别复杂的听力问题，例如在空间中分离声音。因此，检测大脑功能的变化可能有助于我们更早地发现问题，并决定某个特定的孩子是否会从手术中受益。将来，患者可以通过互联网访问我将在自己家中开发的测试。随着老年人数量的增长，以及对听力服务需求的增加，在线测试将变得越来越重要。通过与工程师和欧洲两个领先的听力研究和治疗中心合作，我的长期目标是帮助实现这一目标。

How is our ability to listen in everyday noisy environments shaped by early life experience? Can we use this knowledge to transform how we diagnose and treat a very common childhood disorder? Could a better understanding of the brain help us make phones and hearing aids work better in noisy environments? In the UK alone, 11 million people currently suffer from hearing loss. 80% of children also experience periods of hearing loss during development. In noisy classrooms, children can locate and separate different sounds if they come from different locations, which makes listening to the teacher easier. Hearing loss impairs this important skill and can disrupt normal development. These impairments can persist even if normal hearing returns. Impairments can also occur if a child merely experiences a recurring hearing loss in one ear. This is often caused by 'glue ear', one of the most common diseases in children. Currently, however, we do not know what changes in brain function produce these impairments. We also know very little about how the developing brain is affected by different environmental sounds, particularly in children who may be already vulnerable because of hearing loss.Using virtual reality techniques, I will test ferrets and humans while they detect, locate, or separate sounds coming from different locations. I will ask how performance is affected by a history of recurring hearing loss and correlate behavioural performance with measures of brain function. I will perform these experiments during periods of both hearing loss and normal hearing, and ask: (1) what are the immediate effects of hearing loss? (2) does the brain adapt to hearing loss over time?(3) can hearing loss produce problems that persist even if normal hearing is restored?I will also ask how different environmental sounds shape the developing brain, and whether different types of hearing loss produce different results. In ferrets, I will turn different parts of the brain on and off to see which parts of the brain are important for behaviour. This will tell us whether parts of the brain learn to perform different functions following hearing loss. To assess the relative importance of early experience, I will also test patients who experienced hearing loss as adults or children. I will then ask whether the brain is more vulnerable (or adaptive) during the early years of life. In recent years, artificial intelligence has advanced enormously by building machines that learn through experience. This includes machines that learn to locate sounds in noisy environments. I will ask what happens if I give these machines a recurring hearing loss during their learning phase, and compare the results with ferret and human behaviour. This comparison will highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses of biological systems, which may help us build smarter machines (e.g. phones and voice-activated devices). By understanding how the brain adapts to hearing loss, we may be able to design better hearing aids and implants, and better train people to use them. By identifying changes in brain function that produce impairments, we may also better prevent, detect, and reverse these changes. In young children, it is difficult to identify complex hearing problems, such as separating sounds in space. Detecting changes in brain function might therefore help us identify problems earlier and decide whether a particular child will benefit from surgery.In the future, patients could use the internet to access the tests that I will develop in their own homes. As the number of older adults grows, and the demands on audiological services increase, online tests will become increasingly important. By collaborating with engineers, and two of Europe's leading centres for hearing research and treatment, my long term goal is to help to bring this about.