Dual Sensory Loss: Impact of Vision and Hearing Impairment on Spatial Localization

双重感觉丧失(DSL)是视力和听力损失的并存现象。DSL的普及率上升 随着年龄的增长而急剧增加，预计随着美国人口的老龄化，这一数字将会增加。患有DSL的人增加了 日常运作困难，因为许多现实生活中的任务都需要视觉和听力。尽管广泛 分别关注视力和听力损失的康复，对 DSL患者面临的具体挑战。候选人的长期目标是提高生活质量和 通过优化对DSL患者剩余视力和听力的利用来提高他们的独立性。海流 研究主要集中在它们的空间定位上。空间定位指的是确定声音的方向和 环境中的可视对象，对于安全移动和有效的社交互动非常重要。 在K99阶段，候选人的目标是调查视力和听力障碍的影响，两者都 单独和结合，对DSL人群的空间定位，并建立一个空间 “视野”是用来描述这些影响的。在受控实验室环境中(目标1)，候选人计划 测量患有DSL的受试者在视觉、听觉和视听中的定位视野 条件。然后，候选人将在两个模拟的现实生活任务中测量受试者的本地化能力(目标2)： 理解一群人中的演讲者，并定位即将在停车场行驶的汽车。 目标1中的发现将在目标2的这些生态相关的社会和流动环境中得到验证。 在R00阶段，候选人的目标是开发和评估能够改进 DSL患者的空间定位能力。应聘者提出需要量身定做培训计划 基于对个体空间定位能力的评价。开发了两种培训方法， 重新校准视觉和听觉空间知觉，改善听觉和视觉空间 本地化能力，并促进视听结合，最大限度地利用剩余视力和听力。 K99阶段将在明尼苏达大学举行，候选人将在那里接受联合指导 由专门从事低视力研究的Gordon Legge博士，专门从事听力损失研究的Peggy Nelson博士 研究，以及专门从事计算视觉科学的丹·克斯滕博士。候选人还将收到 安德鲁·奥克纳姆博士在听觉方面的出色建议，埃里克·范·奎克博士在眼科方面的出色建议 伊夫林·戴维斯-维恩博士的听力学。培训计划是将候选人的知识扩展到 翻译视觉和听觉科学，多感官建模技术，视觉和听觉的病理学 听力障碍，以及当代评估和康复战略。有了成功的训练， 候选人将在R00阶段独立进行研究。候选人的职业目标是领导一个 研究团队致力于提高DSL患者的生活质量和独立性。

Dual Sensory Loss (DSL) is the co-occurrence of vision and hearing loss. The prevalence of DSL rises steeply with age and is expected to increase as the American population ages. People with DSL have increased difficulties in daily functioning, because many real-life tasks require both vision and hearing. Despite extensive attention to the rehabilitation for vision and hearing loss separately, very little attention has been paid to the specific challenges faced by people with DSL. The candidate’s long term goal is to improve the quality of life and independence of people with DSL by optimizing the utilization of their residual vision and hearing. The current study focuses on their spatial localization. Spatial localization refers to determining the direction of sounds and visual objects in the environment, and it is important for safe mobility and effective social interaction. In the K99 phase, the candidate’s goal is to investigate the impacts of vision and hearing deficits, both individually and in combination, on the spatial localization of people with DSL, and to establish a spatial “perimetry” measure to characterize these effects. In a controlled laboratory context (Aim 1), the candidate plans to measure the localization perimetry of subjects with DSL, in each of the visual, auditory, and audiovisual conditions. The candidate will then measure subjects’ localization ability in two simulated real-life tasks (Aim 2): understanding a speaker among a group of people, and localizing a car that is about to move in a parking lot. The findings in Aim 1 will be verified in these ecologically relevant social and mobility contexts in Aim 2. In the R00 phase, the candidate’s goal is to develop and evaluate training methods that can improve the spatial localization ability of people with DSL. The candidate proposes that a training plan needs to be tailored based on the evaluation of the individual’s spatial localization ability. Two training methods are developed with the purposes of recalibrating the visual and auditory space perception, improving auditory and visual spatial localization ability, and facilitating audiovisual combination to maximize the use of residual vision and hearing. The K99 phase will take place in the University of Minnesota, where the candidate will be jointly mentored by Dr. Gordon Legge who specializes in low-vision research, Dr. Peggy Nelson who specializes in hearing-loss research, and Dr. Dan Kersten who specializes in computational vision science. The candidate will also receive excellent advice in auditory perception from Dr. Andrew Oxenham, in ophthalmology from Dr. Erik van Kuijk and in audiology from Dr. Evelyn Davies-Venn. The training plan is to extend the candidate’s knowledge in translational vision and hearing science, the techniques of multisensory modelling, the pathology of vision and hearing impairment, and the contemporary strategies of assessment and rehabilitation. With successful training, the candidate will independently conduct the studies in the R00 phase. The candidate’s career goal is to lead a research team to improve the life quality and independence of people with DSL.