NEURAL REPRESENTATION OF SPEECH IN THE ELDERLY

老年人言语的神经表征

基本信息

批准号：
6197704
负责人：
Kelly Tremblay
金额：
$ 7.37万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2000
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2000-07-15 至 2002-06-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6197704
关键词：
age difference aging auditory pathways clinical research evoked potentials hearing aids human old age (65+) human subject psychoacoustics sensorineural hearing loss speech speech recognition

项目摘要

The purpose of this investigation is to characterize the effects of aging and age-related hearing loss on the central auditory representation of speech. Whereas much is known about the effects of age and hearing loss on the peripheral auditory system (ear), less is known about the effects of age and hearing loss on the central auditory system (brain) where sounds are integrated into meaningful events. Hearing aids and cochlear implants help compensate for disorders of the ear, but successful rehabilitation also depends on the brain's ability to learn and retain new acoustic cues representing auditory information. The present study compares neural representation of voice-onset-time (VOT) in young and elderly listeners, with and without hearing loss, using neurophysiological as well as behavioral measures. Comparing neural representation of speech in young and elderly listeners will help determine if "older" auditory systems are capable of representing fine-grained temporal speech cues as well as "younger" auditory systems. If a link between perception and neurophysiology can be made, then this research may help explain of why many aging adults do not always receive benefit from hearing aids or cochlear implants. It is hypothesized that aging and hearing loss may differentially alter the neural representation of speech cues in the central auditory system, which may in turn contribute to performance variability. The N1-P2 complex and mismatch negativity (MMN) are passively elicited event-related potentials (ERPs) that will be used to reflect neural representation of VOT in the central auditory system. Both the Nl-P2 complex and MMN have been shown to reflect both acoustic and phonemic representation of speech- sounds. Specifically, this study will determine whether aging, cochlear hearing loss and their interaction influence event- related-potentials (ERPs) elicited by changes in voice-onset-time (VOT). Also, the relationship between each subject's ERPs and each subject's ability to discriminate speech sounds on the basis of VOT will be examined.

这项调查的目的是表征衰老和与年龄相关的听力损失对言语中枢听觉表征的影响。尽管人们对年龄和听力损失对周围听觉系统（耳朵）的影响了解甚多，但对年龄和听力损失对中枢听觉系统（大脑）的影响知之甚少，在中枢听觉系统中，声音被整合成有意义的事件。助听器和人工耳蜗有助于补偿耳朵疾病，但成功的康复还取决于大脑学习和保留代表听觉信息的新声学线索的能力。本研究使用神经生理学和行为测量，比较了年轻和老年听众（有或没有听力损失）的发声时间（VOT）的神经表征。比较年轻和老年听众的语音神经表征将有助于确定“老年”听觉系统是否能够像“年轻”听觉系统一样代表细粒度的时间语音线索。如果可以在感知和神经生理学之间建立联系，那么这项研究可能有助于解释为什么许多老年人并不总是从助听器或人工耳蜗中受益。据推测，衰老和听力损失可能会不同程度地改变中枢听觉系统中语音线索的神经表征，这反过来又可能导致表现变异。 N1-P2 复合体和失配负性 (MMN) 是被动诱发的事件相关电位 (ERP)，将用于反映中枢听觉系统中 VOT 的神经表征。 N1-P2复合体和MMN都已被证明反映语音的声学和音素表示。具体来说，本研究将确定衰老、耳蜗听力损失及其相互作用是否会影响发声时间（VOT）变化引起的事件相关电位（ERP）。此外，还将检查每个受试者的 ERP 与每个受试者基于 VOT 辨别语音的能力之间的关系。