Spectral Resolution and Language in Children with Hearing LossILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS

即使进行早期识别和干预，30%-40%的听力损失(HL)儿童仍未获得 符合其发展潜力的语言和学术技能。了解以下内容中的可变性 结果可能会帮助我们预测谁有持续语言延迟的风险，即使在适应听力之后也是如此 爱滋病。目前对儿童的听力评估缺乏预测结果的听觉指标。识别 预测儿童语言技能的基于听觉的任务对利益相关者来说非常有价值 引导儿童霍奇金淋巴瘤的期望和干预。测量光谱分辨率的任务，例如 光谱波纹检测(SRD)任务可以预测语言结果。光谱分辨率允许 听者能够区分语音频谱中的变化，以区分语音。SRD任务可能 在测量HL儿童的心理声学技能方面具有临床实用价值，因为一些儿童表现出 即使在通过助听器改善了可听性之后，频谱分辨率也降低了，使得一些可听的 声音是难以理解的，大声的声音是扭曲的；然而，对 儿童语言结果的波谱检测与个体差异的关系 听力正常(CNH)或戴助听器的儿童(CHA)。目前的提案将检查光谱 波纹检测作为学龄儿童CNH和CHA语言结果的预测因子。这项建议旨在 验证中心假设，即SRD较差的儿童在使用声学提示时会有更大的困难 对语音进行编码，导致语言能力下降。在目标1中，我们将把SRD作为一个 CNH中语言的预测者。我们将根据SRD和口语的测量来评估不同年龄的CNH 语言(即形态句法、词汇)。我们假设一个孩子成熟的SRD能力会部分地 随着年龄的增长，他们的语言能力也有所提高。在目标2中，我们将研究SRD作为预测 茶里的语言。除了目标1中的任务外，我们还将考虑听力损失的影响(即， 通过助听器可听)这些关系。我们假设可听度和SRD性能将 预测语言结果。这项拟议的研究结果将阐明听力和 语言发育正常的儿童和使用助听器的听力减退的儿童。这些 结果将改进用于区分受益于助听器的儿童和可能受益的儿童的工具 需要对其设备进行更改(例如，是否有资格植入人工耳蜗)。

Even with early identification and intervention, 30-40% of children with hearing loss (HL) do not acquire language and academic skills that meet their developmental potential. Understanding this variability in outcomes may help us predict who is at risk for persistent language delays even after being fit with hearing aids. Current audiologic assessment of children lacks auditory measures that predict outcomes. Identifying an auditory-based task that is predictive of a child’s language skills is of great value to stakeholders to guide expectations and intervention of children with HL. Tasks measuring spectral resolution, such as spectral ripple detection (SRD) tasks, may be predictive of language outcomes. Spectral resolution allows listeners to differentiate variations in the speech spectrum that distinguish speech sounds. SRD tasks may have clinical utility in measuring psychoacoustic skills in children with HL because some children show reduced spectral resolution even after audibility is improved via hearing aids, such that some audible sounds are unintelligible and loud sounds are distorted; however, there is limited research examining the relationship between spectral ripple detection and individual differences in language outcomes in children with normal hearing (CNH) or children with hearing aids (CHA). The current proposal will examine spectral ripple detection as a predictor of language outcomes in school-age CNH and CHA. This proposal seeks to test the central hypothesis that children with poorer SRD will have greater difficulty using the acoustic cues that encode speech, resulting in reduced language abilities. In Aim 1, we will investigate SRD as a predictor of language in CNH. We will assess CNH of a variety of ages on measures of SRD and spoken language (i.e., morphosyntax, vocabulary). We hypothesize a child’s maturing SRD abilities will partially account their improved language abilities as they age. In Aim 2, we will investigate SRD as a predictor of language in CHA. In addition to the tasks in Aim 1, we will consider the impact of hearing loss (i.e., audibility via hearing aids) on these relationships. We hypothesize that audibility and SRD performance will predict language outcomes. Results of the proposed study will elucidate the link between hearing and language in typical development and in children with reduced audibility who use hearing aids. These results will improve tools used to distinguish children who benefit from hearing aids from those who may need changes to their devices (e.g., candidacy for cochlear implantation).