The Study of cochlear synaptopathy

总结 本研究将探讨噪声耳蜗电生理研究中的以下重要问题： 人类突触病（NICS）：（1）接触噪声的工人是否发生突触病; (2)如果是，如何测量人类耳蜗突触病;（3） 噪声暴露类型和NICS。这将通过以下方式解决： (1)收集大量人类受试者的有据可查的噪声暴露数据 来自不同的工业环境。这将包括以下内容：i）数字记录 完整的移位-单个工人暴露的噪声的长时间波形 在各种重工业中， 每一个特定的噪音环境; iii）使用高频 听力测定和畸变产物光声发射，以确认所选的 受试者具有正常的听阈和正常的耳蜗功能。 (2)三种阈上测量方法检测耳蜗突触病变的实验研究 选定的主题。与人类NICS相关的四种假说及其与NICS的关系 将使用这三种措施来测试噪声暴露类型与NICS之间的关系。 这项拟议中的研究将是第一次对暴露于噪音的人的突触病进行大规模调查。 工人本提案中概述的数据收集和测量技术非常 创新，将有助于我们探索噪声暴露工人的NICS。在拟议的5年期间， 本研究共收集11组受试者，每组100人。 该项目的成功将对理解如何测量突触病极其有用 并将其应用于开发更准确的听力保护协议。

Summary This study will address the following important issues in research of noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy (NICS) in humans: (1) whether synaptopathy occurs in noise-exposed workers; (2) if so, how to measure cochlear synaptopathy in humans; and (3) the association between the type of noise exposure and NICS. This will be addressed as follows: (1) Collecting a large number of human subjects with well-documented noise exposure data from diverse industrial settings. This will consist of the following: i) digitally record complete shift-long temporal waveforms of the noise that individual workers are exposed to (8-hour) in a variety of heavy industries; ii) obtain audiograms from workers exposed to each of the specific noise environments; iii) screen subjects using high-frequency audiometry and Distortion product optoacoustic emission to confirm that the selected subjects have normal hearing thresholds and normal cochlear functions. (2) Conducting three supra-threshold measures for detecting cochlear synaptopathy in selected subjects. Four hypotheses related to NICS in humans and the relationship between the type of noise exposure and NICS will be tested using these three measures. The proposed study will be the first large investigation of synaptopathy in noise-exposed workers. The data collection and measurement techniques outlined in this proposal are very innovative and will help us to explore NICS in noise-exposed workers. Over the proposed 5-year course of this research 11 groups of subjects with 100/group will be collected and investigated. The success of the project will be extremely useful to understand how to measure synaptopathy in humans and apply it to develop a more accurate hearing protection protocol.