Variability in Speech Recognition for Adults with Cochlear Implants: Bottom-up and Top-down Factors

项目摘要/摘要： 获得性听力损失正变得越来越普遍，特别是随着年龄的增长 人口。对许多人来说，听力损失严重到需要植入人工耳蜗。而当 许多接受人工耳蜗器(CI)的成年人通过他们的设备很好地理解语言， 语音识别结果中存在无法解释的变异性。不幸的是，由于这一无法解释的原因 可变性，临床医生无法预测一个人在CI中的表现，来解释为什么 有较差的语音识别与CI，或设计适当的康复策略，以帮助 表现不佳的个人。目前，这种结果的可变性只有一半可以解释， 那些已被发现可以解释变异性的因素主要局限于“自下而上”的听觉。 敏感度过程与CI本身或外周听觉系统的状况有关。然而，它 可能是“自上而下”的认知和语言因素帮助CI用户识别语音。这些因素 应该可以解释CI结果的额外变异性，但它们以前并不是 成人CI用户。该项目充分利用了调查人员、导师和顾问的专业知识 有研究自下而上和自上而下流程的丰富经验。项目的总体目标是 确定成人CI用户的自上而下技能如何与语音识别相关，这些技能如何与 自下而上的过程，以及听觉剥夺的经历如何影响自上而下的能力。目标1将 考察自下而上的听觉敏感度和自上而下的语言知识对 语音材料的识别。目标2将考察自上而下的认知技能对句子的影响 承认。目标3将比较成年CI使用者和年龄之间自上而下的认知和语言技能。 匹配的听力正常的同龄人，这将揭示听觉剥夺对这些自上而下的 超能力。这一研究项目的发现将具有重要的理论意义，因为它们 将阐明听力受损的成年人识别语言的过程及其影响 在相关的自上而下技能上的听觉剥夺。建议的调查结果和培训 职业发展奖将加强私人投资总监作为未来独立调查员的前景，寻求 改善CI用户的结果。结果将为未来的研究奠定基础，包括 针对成年人的个性化康复方案，以优化他们的语音识别性能。

Project Summary/Abstract: Acquired hearing loss is becoming increasingly common, especially with the growth of the aging population. For many individuals, hearing loss is severe enough to warrant cochlear implantation. While many adults with cochlear implants (CIs) understand speech well through their devices, enormous unexplained variability exists in speech recognition outcomes. Unfortunately, because of this unexplained variability, clinicians are unable to predict how an individual will perform with a CI, to explain why someone has poor speech recognition with a CI, or to design appropriate rehabilitation strategies to help an individual with poor performance. Currently, only half of this outcome variability can be explained, and those factors that have been found to explain variability are limited primarily to “bottom-up” auditory sensitivity processes related to the CI itself, or the condition of the peripheral auditory system. However, it is likely that “top-down” cognitive and linguistic factors assist CI users to recognize speech. These factors should explain additional variability in CI outcomes, but they have not previously been a research focus in adult CI users. This project capitalizes on the expertise of investigators, mentors, and consultants with broad experience studying bottom-up and top-down processes. The overall project objective is to determine how top-down skills relate to speech recognition for adult CI users, how these skills interact with bottom-up processes, and how the experience of auditory deprivation affects top-down abilities. Aim 1 will examine the contributions of bottom-up auditory sensitivity and top-down linguistic knowledge on recognition of speech materials. Aim 2 will investigate the effects of top-down cognitive skills on sentence recognition. Aim 3 will compare top-down cognitive and linguistic skills between adult CI users and age- matched normal-hearing peers, which will reveal the effects of auditory deprivation on these top-down abilities. The findings from this research project will have important theoretical implications because they will shed light on the processes used by adults with hearing loss to recognize speech, as well as the effects of auditory deprivation on relevant top-down skills. The findings and training provided by the proposed career development award will enhance the PIs prospects as a future independent investigator seeking to improve outcomes for CI users. Results will lay the groundwork for future studies incorporating individualized rehabilitation protocols for adults with CIs to optimize their speech recognition performance.