2013 and 2015 Conferences on Implantable Auditory Prostheses

描述(由申请人提供)：本申请寻求对2013年和2015年可植入听觉假体会议(CIAP)的部分支持。2013年CIAP定于2013年7月14日至19日在加利福尼亚州太浩湖Granlibakken会议中心举行。人工耳蜗术是临床上第一个得到广泛应用的神经假体。它为恢复重度聋人的声音感觉和言语理解提供了唯一有效的治疗方法。在过去的20年里，患者使用这些设备的表现得到了戏剧性的改善。目前，植入后语言失聪的成年人的语音理解平均得分为80%-100%。在2岁之前接受CI治疗的先天失聪儿童在植入人工耳蜗后获得了几乎正常的言语和语言发育速度。CI在沟通方面提供了显著的改善，即使是在语言后聋的成年人中也是如此，这些成年人的听力有明显的残留。听觉脑干植入物是一种刺激耳蜗核的人工耳蜗体，可以为没有耳蜗神经的儿童和成年人提供语音理解。从工程学、材料科学和信号处理到语言学和认知学，这些进展大大得益于广泛科学学科的研究人员的集体努力。这种广泛的跨学科协作和合作在很大程度上是通过这一系列两年一次的研究会议来促进的，这些会议始于1983年的戈登会议。这些会议是唯一与人工耳蜗术相关的论坛，其中科学研究问题是唯一的焦点。这一系列会议的长期目标是产生新的研究想法，以改进听觉假体的设计和功能。这项提议的具体目的是(1)提供一个论坛，介绍和讨论关于人工耳蜗和其他听觉假体的最新和最高质量的基础研究；(2)提供一个有利于科学讨论和集思广益的会议场所和氛围；以及(3)为该领域的年轻研究人员提供一个机会，介绍他们的工作和与现有研究人员建立网络。CIAP会议使用戈登研究会议的组织模式，其中包括在计划内有充足的讨论时间，充足的非结构化时间来鼓励自发的非正式讨论和集思广益，以及一个与世隔绝的“静修”地点，这样与会者几乎所有醒着的时间都与其他与会者在一起。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks partial support for the 2013 and 2015 Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses (CIAP). The 2013 CIAP is scheduled to be held at the Granlibakken Conference Center, Lake Tahoe, CA July 14-19, 2013. The cochlear implant (CI) is the first neural prosthesis in widespread clinical application. It provide the only effective therapy for restoring sound sensation and speech understanding to the profoundly deaf. Over the past 20 years dramatic improvements in patients' performance with these devices have been achieved. Currently the average speech understanding score for implanted postlingually deafened adults is 80-100% correct. Congenitally deaf children who receive a CI prior to age 2 are achieving nearly normal rates of speech and language development with cochlear implants. CIs provide significant improvement in communication even in postlingually deafened adults who have significant residual acoustic hearing. The auditory brainstem implant, a variation on the cochlear implant that stimulates the cochlear nucleus, can provide speech understanding in children and adults who have no cochlear nerve. These advances have benefitted substantially from the collective efforts of researchers in a broad array of scientific disciplines, from engineering, materials science, and signal processing, to linguistics and cognition. This broad, interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation has been fostered in large part through this series of biennial research conferences, originating with a 1983 Gordon Conference. These conferences are the only forum related to cochlear implants in which scientific research issues are the sole focus. The long-term goal of this conference series is to generate new research ideas that will improve the design and function of auditory prostheses. The Specific Aims of this proposal are (1) to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest and highest quality basic research on cochlear implants and other auditory prostheses, (2) to provide a meeting venue and atmosphere that is conducive to scientific discussion and brainstorming, and (3) to provide an opportunity for young investigators in the field to present their work and network with established investigators. The CIAP conferences use the Gordon Research Conference model of organization, which includes ample time for discussion within the program, ample unstructured time to encourage spontaneous informal discussions and brainstorming, and an isolated "retreat" location so that participants spend almost all their waking hours in the company of other conference participants.