Project 3: Efficiency of Language Processing

项目3：项目总结 在听力损失的研究中，结果的可变性是一个长期存在的难题。听力相当的听众会这样做 并不总是在噪音或现实世界中表现得类似。项目3提出，这源于两个相互关联的问题。 首先，临床测试注重准确性。但仅有精确度是不够的。为了应对现实世界的需求，演讲 感知必须是高效和灵活的。其次，并不是所有的变化都是由于听觉外周的原因。认知 能力会随着年龄的增长而下降，这可能会加剧听力损失的影响。然而，研究很大程度上 专注于一般的认知技能，如工作记忆。特定于语言的机制尚未收到 备受关注。项目3将这些问题联系在一起，检验了语言认知机制的假设 处理是听众实现效率和灵活性的方式。我们在单词识别中解决了这个问题，它是 连接音义的语言系统。认知模型表明，听者将语音信号与 通过竞争过程，词典中数以千计的候选单词，以及效率和灵活性的变化 从这场比赛中脱颖而出。这一点通过眼动技术进行了测试，这些技术产生了暂时丰富的 竞争动态的图景。先前的工作表明，竞争CI用户的情况有两种。成功 CI用户表现出较小的延迟，并保持竞争对手可用，以便于在出错后进行修改。相比之下， 苦苦挣扎的听众等着接触候选人，直到听到大部分内容，并显示出竞争减少。 项目3问的是，效率的这些维度是否对结果具有独特的重要性 听觉外周。上一个资金周期的数据支持这一观点，将效率与老龄化、倾听努力、 听力环境和大脑皮层结构。项目3以此为基础，有四个目标。目标1进行了一次大型 对有经验的CI使用者的多模式横断面研究和对新接受者的纵向研究。这些 研究询问了是什么因素导致了效率的差异，无论是在当下还是在适应CI的过程中。 他们调查现实世界实践的作用(使用生态瞬时评估、社会网络 分析和设备日志)、语言技能(使用神经心理测试和新的阅读/眼动 任务)、皮质完整性(使用植入前核磁共振)和听力努力(使用斜视测量法)。他们还会问 效率的差异是否预示着结果的差异，包括跟上FAST的能力 演讲。目标2使用一项新的实验，询问效率的维度如何适应挑战性的听力 句子语境产生对噪音或快速讲话的预期的范例。AIM 3询问是否 效率与CI用户跨耳朵组合信息的方式有关。它使用的是一种二分听力模式 确定信息是否在语音识别之前被组合成复合对象或被集成 后来。这一指标与每只耳朵的听觉编码有关，也与眼睛跟踪效率的指标有关。 总之，这项工作将揭示评估结果(效率)的新标准，以及其他可修改的 提高结果的因素(现实世界的实践、支持双耳整合的调谐)。

PROJECT 3: PROJECT SUMMARY In work on hearing loss, variability in outcomes is a persistent puzzle. Listeners with comparable hearing do not always perform similarly in noise or the real world. Project 3 proposes this derives from two linked issues. First, clinical tests focus on accuracy. But accuracy is not sufficient. To cope with real-world demands, speech perception must be efficient and flexible. Second, not all variation is due to the auditory periphery. Cognitive ability, which declines with age, could exacerbate the effects of hearing loss. However, research has largely focused on general cognitive skills like working memory. Mechanisms specific to language have not received much attention. Project 3 links these issues, testing the hypothesis that the cognitive mechanisms of language processing are how listeners achieve efficiency and flexibility. We address this in word recognition, a hub in the language system linking sound and meaning. Cognitive models suggest listeners match the speech signal to thousands of candidates in the lexicon via a competition process, and that variation in efficiency and flexibility are emergent from this competition. This is tested with eye-movements techniques that yield a temporally rich picture of the dynamics of competition. Prior work suggests two profiles of competition for CI users. Successful CI users show a small delay and keep competitors available to facilitate revisions after a mistake. In contrast, listeners who struggle wait to access candidates until most of the word is heard and show reduced competition. Project 3 asks if these dimensions of efficiency are uniquely important for outcomes over and above the auditory periphery. Data from the last funding cycle support this idea, linking efficiency to aging, listening effort, the listening environment, and cortical structure. Project 3 builds on this with four aims. Aim 1 conducts a large multi-modal cross-sectional study of experienced CI users and a longitudinal study of new recipients. These studies ask what factors drive differences in efficiency, both in the moment and during adaptation to the CI. They investigate the role of real-world practice (using ecological momentary assessment, social network analysis and device logs), language skills (using neuropsychological tests and a new reading/eye-movement task), cortical integrity (using pre-implantation MRI), and listening effort (using pupillometry). They also ask whether differences in efficiency predict differences in outcomes including the ability to keep up with fast speech. Aim 2 asks how the dimensions of efficiency adapt to challenging listening, using a novel experimental paradigm in which sentence contexts create expectations for either noise or rapid speech. Aim 3 asks whether efficiency is related to the way CI users combine information across ears. It uses a dichotic listening paradigm to ascertain whether information is combined into a composite object prior to speech recognition or integrated later. This measure is related to auditory encoding in each ear, and to eye-tracking measure of efficiency. Together, this work will reveal a new standard for assessment outcomes (efficiency), and other modifiable factors (real-world practice, tuning to support binaural integration) to enhance outcomes.