Individual differences across the lifespan in auditory perception

为什么要进行这项研究？ 听觉感知能力在整个生命周期中都会发生变化，这些变化是由于环境和先天因素造成的。 一般来说，听力能力随着年龄的增长而下降，听力困难是老年人最常见的健康问题之一。 本研究提案的主要目标是确定环境（例如，噪声暴露、音乐训练等）和天生的（例如，遗传、个性、认知能力等）因素相互作用，以在整个生命周期中增强或降低听力能力。 优点： 通过确定出生和环境因素如何相互关联，以及这些相互作用的神经机制，未来的转化研究将为老年人和听力困难的人制定个性化的听觉康复计划。 有待完成的工作： 第一项研究将考察接触新的音乐系统是否以及如何影响听觉和认知能力。 大多数非音乐家都在潜移默化地学习他们文化音乐系统的规则。 这一系列研究的目标是确定被动音乐学习的神经生理学发展背后的神经机制，以及学习新的音乐规则是否对其他认知领域有任何好处。第二项研究将研究短期音乐类型训练如何影响听觉和认知能力。音乐训练作为一种改善老年人听力和认知能力的潜在工具正在迅速获得关注。 这一系列研究的目标是了解音乐训练的哪些具体组成部分会带来这些听觉和认知方面的好处。 最后一项调查将研究先天遗传特征如何调节噪声暴露对中枢听觉系统的影响。 这项工作的目标是确定一组与老年人听力相关的基因。 这些基因可以用来识别最有可能患上与年龄有关的疾病的人，这样他们就可以采取适当的预防措施来保护他们的听力。

Why this research? Auditory perceptual abilities change across the lifespan, and these changes are due to both environmental and in-born factors. In general, hearing abilities decline with age, and hearing difficulties are one of the most commonly reported health issues for older adults. The main goal of this research proposal is to identify how environmental (e.g., noise exposure, music training, etc) and in-born (e.g., genetics, personality, cognitive abilities, etc) factors interact to enhance or reduce hearing abilities across the lifespan. Benefits: By identifying how in-born and environmental factors relate, and the neural mechanisms that underlie these interactions, future translational research will develop individualized auditory rehabilitation programs for older adults and those with hearing difficulties. Work to be done: The first line of research will examine if and how exposure to novel musical systems impacts auditory and cognitive abilities. Most non-musicians implicitly learn the rules of their cultural music system. The goal of this line of research is to identify the neural mechanisms that underlie the neurophysiological development of passive musical learning, and if learning new musical rules has any benefit to other cognitive domains. The second line of research will examine how short-term music-type training impacts auditory and cognitive abilities. Music training is quickly gaining traction as a potential tool to improve hearing and cognitive abilities in older adults. The goal of this line of research is to understand what specific components of music training give rise to these auditory and cognitive benefits. The last line of inquiry will examine how in-born genetic traits moderate the impact of noise exposure on the central auditory system. The goal of this work is to identify a set of genes that are related to hearing abilities in older adults. These genes could be used to identify people most at risk for age-related difficulties so that they can take proper precautions to preserve their hearing as they age.