Steacie Supplement: Cognitive factors that facilitate understanding of speech in noise by normally hearing listeners

不受其他来源的干扰，跟随并理解一个特定的谈话者，是我们每天都在完成的壮举。对于大多数听力正常的年轻听众来说，这项任务似乎毫不费力。然而，为了分析由许多不同声源（及其回声）组成的复杂听觉信号，必须进行许多复杂的处理操作，以便能够识别、跟踪和理解特定的一个声源（即声音）。虽然声音的质量无疑是重要的，但在嘈杂的听力环境中，人们也广泛地依靠知识和经验来感知和理解语音。随着年龄的增长，尽管受到其他来源的干扰，但跟随和理解一个特定说话者的能力会下降，这可能会使人衰弱。为了开发知识和干预措施，最大限度地减少与年龄相关的噪音语音理解能力下降对老年人日常生活和社会功能的影响，我们需要更详细地描述影响语音感知的认知因素以及支持其影响的功能和神经机制，无论是在年轻还是老年听众中。本文提出的工作将使用行为和功能脑成像方法在听力正常的年轻人和老年人中研究基于知识的信息如何与听力一起提供准确的言语理解，以及感知和认知过程之间的相互作用如何随着年龄的增长而变化。由该奖项资助的学员将在多学科和协作环境中工作，并将学习在学术和研究环境以及工作中高度重视的技能。

Following and understanding one particular talker, despite interference from other sources, is a feat we all accomplish every day. For most normally hearing young listeners, this task appears effortless. However many complex processing operations must be required in order to analyze a complex auditory signal, consisting of many different sources of sound (and their echoes), so that one source in particular (ie a voice) can be identified, tracked, and understood. Although the quality of the sound is undoubtedly important, people also rely extensively on knowledge and experience in order to perceive and comprehend speech in noisy listening environments. The ability to follow and understand one particular talker despite interference from other sources declines with age, and this can be debilitating. In order to develop knowledge and interventions that will minimize the impact of age-related decrements in speech-in-noise understanding on the daily life and social functioning of older people, we require a more detailed account of the cognitive factors that influence speech perception and the functional and neural mechanisms that support their effects, in both young and older listeners. The work proposed here will use behavioural and functional brain imaging methods in normally hearing young and older listeners to study how knowledge-based information works with hearing to provide accurate speech understanding, and how the interaction between perceptual and cognitive processes changes with age. Trainees funded by this award will work in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment, and will learn skills that are highly valued in academic and research settings and in the workforce.