Determining the mechanisms of spoken language processing delay for children with cochlear implants

项目摘要 虽然人工耳蜗植入物（CI）使患有严重听力损失的儿童能够通过电 信号时，它们传输的语音信号会以阻碍语音感知的方式降级。这些困难 与言语知觉可能有下游的发展后果，因为儿童与CI更多 与NH患者相比，可能表现出言语、语言和识字能力的延迟。但目前尚不清楚 语音感知中的CI特定限制如何导致口语处理中观察到的延迟。 该项目的长期目标是更好地了解降级的CI信号如何影响 从而使设计更有针对性和有效性 对这一人群的干预。这项研究的具体目标是利用心理语言学 研究由CI传输的频谱退化语音信号如何延迟口语的方法 识别和访问词汇中语义相关的词的网络，这两者都是至关重要的 有效的口语理解的组件。目标1将调查潜在的 观察到CI儿童的口语识别延迟。具体而言，拟议的实验将 确定频谱退化信号的感知是否导致扩展和效率降低 词汇竞争或采取一般的观望听力策略。申请人将使用眼睛- 跟踪测量竞争，从相似的发音的话，而儿童与CI（实验1）和 NH儿童听噪声声码语音（实验2）感知口语单词。实验3将 使用脑电图（EEG）来测量语音相似词的语义处理， 语音识别目标2将研究在使用中观察到的延迟的可能机制。 语义上下文的儿童与CI，以促进口头语言处理。小组将决定 CI儿童的词汇通达是否涉及从语音到语音的级联激活 语义网络或相反作为更串行的过程发生。实验四将使用脑电图测量 发音相似的单词及其语义关联在口语单词识别过程中是如何被激活的。 培训目标侧重于学习使用脑电方法进行心理语言学研究， 语音刺激，以及时间序列数据的高级统计分析。此外，培训将培养技能 需要独立开展创新和临床适用的研究， 认知神经科学领域，并与临床教师和当地临床医生合作。 拟议项目的结果将有助于更详细地了解 观察到CI儿童口语处理延迟的机制。处理 在口语单词识别中产生个体差异的机制也有可能成为 对有语言发育落后风险的CI儿童进行言语-语言干预。

Project Summary While cochlear implants (CIs) have enabled children with profound hearing loss to hear via an electrical signal, the speech signal they transmit is degraded in ways that hinder speech perception. These difficulties with speech perception likely have downstream consequences on development, as children with CIs are more likely to show delays in speech, language, and literacy abilities relative to peers with NH. However, it is unclear how CI-specific limitations in speech perception contribute to observed delays in spoken language processing. The long-term objective of this project is to better understand how the degraded CI signal impacts spoken language development in children with CIs in order to design more targeted and efficacious intervention for this population. The specific objective of the proposed research is to utilize psycholinguistic methods to investigate how the spectrally degraded speech signal transmitted by CIs delays spoken word recognition and the access of networks of semantically related words in the lexicon, which are both vital components for efficient spoken language comprehension. Aim 1 will investigate the potential sources of observed delays in spoken word recognition by children with CIs. Specifically, the proposed experiments will determine whether perception of a spectrally degraded signal leads to expanded and less efficient lexical competition or adoption of a general wait-and-see listening strategy. The applicant will use eye- tracking to measure competition from similar-sounding words while children with CIs (Experiment 1) and children with NH listening to noise-vocoded speech (Experiment 2) perceive spoken words. Experiment 3 will use electroencephalography (EEG) to measure semantic processing of phonologically similar words during spoken word recognition. Aim 2 will investigate the possible mechanisms underlying observed delays in use of semantic context by children with CIs to facilitate spoken language processing. The team will determine whether lexical access by children with CIs involves cascading activation from phonological to semantic networks or instead occurs as a more serial process. Experiment 4 will use EEG to measure how similar-sounding words and their semantic associates are activated during spoken word recognition. Training goals focus on learning to use EEG methods for psycholinguistic research, manipulation of speech stimuli, and advanced statistical analysis of time series data. In addition, training will foster skills needed to independently carry out innovative and clinically applicable research by incorporating findings from the field of cognitive neuroscience and collaborating with clinical faculty and local clinicians. The findings from the proposed project will contribute to a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms behind observed delays in spoken language processing by children with CIs. Processing mechanisms yielding individual differences in spoken word recognition also have the potential to be targets of speech-language intervention for children with CIs who are at-risk of falling behind in language development.