Development and plasticity in normal and impaired ears

描述（由申请人提供）：长期目标是更好地了解使我们能够在背景噪音中听到的听觉过程，以及早期听力损失对这些过程的影响。目标1将调查的假设，儿童需要一个更大的水平的时间细节的语音识别比成人。本研究的目的还将探讨感觉神经性听力损失对听障儿童在噪声中言语加工的影响。这些研究将评估这一假设，即听力受损儿童可能处于特别不利的地位，因为言语感知不仅可能受到听力损失因素的阻碍，还可能受到与有限的言语/语言经验有关的因素的阻碍。目的2和3调查单耳和双耳的时间分辨率，分别。目的2探讨儿童单耳时间分辨力的发展。这项工作将测试的假设，儿童可能会表现出一般的发展缺陷，由于时间的刺激信息随着时间的推移，低效率的加权处理。目的3研究双耳频谱分辨率（宽双耳临界频带）可以完全根据以信号频率为中心的左右听觉滤波器的输出来计算的可能性。一个关键的假设是，双耳时间处理钝双耳敏锐度的限制，因为噪声带宽的增加和越来越广泛的间隔频谱分量之间的相互作用影响的刺激包络和变化率与双耳差异线索。提出了一系列的实验，这将使我们能够测试这个假设和目前流行的假设之间的宽binarual临界带的结果从变化的可用性的跨通道线索在掩蔽带宽的增加。心理声学研究将使用标准的自适应测试技术，语音将使用自适应和固定块方法的组合。该项目的所有阶段都将包括年龄匹配的控制监听器。将使用方差分析和相关程序分析数据。拟议的工作与公共卫生有关的方式有两种：1）听力损失研究的数据将提供有关早期听力损失对言语感知发展的影响的信息; 2）对听力正常儿童和成人听力的研究将提供有关人类在噪声中听到信号的能力的信息，这是听力损失患者最常见的问题。该项目与公共卫生直接相关，因为它调查了患有感觉神经性听力损失的儿童可能的听力残疾形式。该项目还研究了在背景噪音中听到信号的能力所依赖的听觉过程。这与公共卫生有关，因为在背景噪声中听力差是感觉神经性听力损失患者最常见的主诉。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term aim is a better understanding of the auditory processes that allow us to hear in background noise, and the effect of early hearing loss on those processes. Aim 1 will investigate the hypothesis that children require a greater level of temporal detail for speech identification than adults. The aim will also investigate the effect of sensori-neural hearing loss on the processing of speech in noise by hearing-impaired children. These studies will evaluate the hypothesis that hearing-impaired children may be at particular disadvantage because speech perception may be impeded not only by hearing loss factors, but also by factors related to limited speech/language experience. Aims 2 and 3 investigate monaural and binaural temporal resolution, respectively. Aim 2 will investigate the development of monaural temporal resolution in children. This work will test the hypothesis that children may exhibit a general developmental deficit in temporal processing due to inefficient weighting of stimulus information over time. Aim 3 investigates the possibility that binaural spectral resolution (the wide binaural critical band) can be acounted entirely in terms of the outputs of the left and right auditory filters centered on the signal frequency. A key hypothesis is that limitations on binaural temporal processing blunt binaural acuity as the noise bandwidth increases and interactions among increasingly widely spaced spectral components influence the stimulus envelope and the rate of change associated with binaural difference cues. A series of experiments is proposed that will allow us to test between this hypothesis and the currently popular hypothesis that the wide binarual critical band results from changes in the availability of across-channel cues with increases in masker bandwidth. Psychoacoustic studies will use standard, adaptive testing techniques, and speech will use a combination of adaptive and fixed block methods. All phases of the project will include age-matched control listeners. Data will be analyzed using analysis of variance and correlation procedures. There are two ways in which the proposed work relates to public health: 1) the data from the studies on hearing loss will provide information about the effect of early hearing loss on the development of speech perception; 2) the studies on hearing abilities in normal-hearing children and adults will provide information about human abilities to hear signals in noise, the most common problem experienced by patients having hearing losses.This project is directly relevant to public health in that it investigates possible forms of hearing disability in children who have sensori-neural hearing loss. The project also investigates hearing processes that underlie the ability to hear signals in background noise. This is relevant to public health because poor hearing in background noise is the most common complaint of patients with sensori-neural hearing loss.