Cortical Spatial Processing for Solving the Cocktail Party Problem

我们的听觉系统识别混合其他声音中的目标声音的能力是基本的 恢复正常的健康功能和沟通能力。例如，在正常的一天中，我们必须 在存在其他声音的情况下与对话伙伴通信，例如，其他人在说话， 音乐，汽车的声音等。像人类一样，许多动物都能听到单一的声音来源 各种来源的混合体。因此，解决CPP的神经回路可能也存在于动物体内。这项提议， 我将研究听觉皮质如何通过解开皮质回路来帮助解决这个问题 这是使用强大的实验工具处理复杂的声音混合的基础，可在 老鼠。通过提供对有助于在正常情况下解决此问题的皮质机制的新见解 大脑，这项建议可能会影响听力障碍者新治疗策略的发展， 解决这个问题有很大困难的人，改进助听器，例如助听器 还有人工耳蜗术。

The ability of our auditory systems to recognize target sounds in a mixture of other sounds is fundamental to normal healthy function and communication. For example, during the course of a normal day we must communicate with a conversation partner in the presence of other sounds, e.g., other people talking, music, sound of cars etc. Like humans, many animals are capable of listening to a single sound source in a mixture of sources. Thus, neural circuits for solving the CPP also likely exist in animals. This proposal, will investigate how the auditory cortex contributes to solving this problem by unraveling cortical circuitry that underlies the processing of complex sound mixtures, using powerful experimental tools available in mice. By providing new insights into cortical mechanisms that help solve this problem in the normal brain, this proposal may impact the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the hearing impaired, who have great difficulty solving this problem, and improve hearing assistive devices, e.g., hearing aids and cochlear implants.