Auditory-Visual Integration and Age

描述(申请人提供)：日常面对面的交谈经常发生在不利的环境条件下，如背景噪音和/或光线不佳。在视听言语知觉与衰老研究的第二阶段，我们将注意力转向在有利和不利条件下对话语(即扩展的言语表达)的理解。首先，我们建议确定听觉-视觉整合是否是听觉和视觉语音信号编码之后的处理模块，以及是否随着听觉和视觉语音信息水平的降低而出现年龄差异。为此，我们开发了一种新的整合增强指数，该指数在统计上控制单峰语音感知的差异。使用这一指标，我们将评估年轻人和老年人在有利和不利的听和看条件下整合能力的增强。第二，我们计划评估年龄和退化的环境条件对视听话语理解的损害程度。第三，我们将使用听觉和视觉敏锐度、听觉和视觉言语知觉、加工速度、整合增强和工作记忆来确定预测老年人话语理解个体差异的感觉和认知因素。第四，我们将考察一组年龄较大的首次使用助听器的人在18个月期间视听话语理解的纵向变化。在这项最后的研究中，我们的目标是考察成绩是如何变化的，以及感觉和认知变量对视听语篇理解的影响是否随着时间的推移而变化。总体而言，这一项目是一个独特的机会，它将临床听力学研究人员和认知心理学家聚集在一起，以完善的视听话语理解理论模型为基础，为老年人制定听力康复程序。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Everyday face-to-face conversations often occur in the presence of adverse environmental conditions such as background noise and/or poor lighting. In this second stage of our research on audiovisual speech perception and aging, we turn our attention to comprehension of discourse (i.e., extended verbal expression) under both favorable and unfavorable conditions. First, we propose to determine whether auditory-visual integration is a processing module that operates subsequent to the encoding of the auditory and visual speech signals, as current theoretical models assume and whether age differences emerge as the levels of auditory and visual speech information are decreased. To this end, we have developed a novel integration enhancement index that statistically controls for differences in unimodal speech perception. Using this index, we will assess integration enhancement in younger and older adults under both favorable and unfavorable listening and viewing conditions. Second, we plan to assess the extent to which age and degraded environmental conditions impair audiovisual discourse comprehension. Third, we will determine the sensory and cognitive factors that predict individual differences in older adults' discourse comprehension using measures of hearing and visual acuity, auditory and visual speech perception, processing speed, integration enhancement, and working memory. Fourth, we will examine longitudinal changes in audiovisual discourse comprehension in a group of older first-time hearing aid users over a period of 18 months. Our goal in this final study is to examine how performance changes, and whether the influence of sensory and cognitive variables on audiovisual discourse comprehension varies over time. Overall, this project represents a unique opportunity that brings together clinical audiological researchers and cognitive psychologists for the purpose of developing aural rehabilitation procedures for older persons that are grounded in well-developed theoretical models of audiovisual discourse comprehension.