Seeing through the Ears

透过耳朵看

• 批准号: 7140468
• 负责人: Alvaro Pascual-Leone
• 金额: $ 20.75万
• 依托单位: BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-16 至 2008-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7140468
• 关键词: auditory discrimination; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; blind aid; clinical research; data collection methodology /evaluation; form /pattern perception; functional magnetic resonance imaging; human subject; neural information processing; neural plasticity; performance; sound perception; space perception; training; transcranial magnetic stimulation; vision aid; visual deprivation; visual feedback

This is a revised submission of a proposal to use psychophysics and brain imaging to investigate the brain activity associated with the processing of environmental visual information presented to the auditory system in blind and sighted individuals. Peter Meijer developed the first camera-based auditory display to preserve a significant amount of environmental visual information in sound, while taking into account the major constraints imposed by both the human auditory system and the frequency-time uncertainty relation (The vOICe, U.S. Patent 5,097,326). The vOICe results in a vision substitution tool for the blind providing a means of presenting live image-to-sound converted scenery and permits the study of cross-modal plasticity. Three groups of subjects will be studied: sighted controls, blind, and sighted-blindfolded subjects,. We will compare results across and within groups before and after training in the use of the image-to-sound conversion system. Training will be conducted daily for four weeks and will combine formal instruction using controlled exercises and more naturalistic, immersive use of the vOICe by the subject while navigating the environment in the laboratory. Three main tasks of decoding and processing visual information by the auditory system will be studied to address: (1) Topographic organization, (2) Mechanisms of object identification, and (3) Object constancy. Behavioral measures, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) will be used. We expect to find significant differences between the groups of subjects in the behavioral measures and brain activity associated with the processing of image-to-sound converted information. This study will provide critical insights into the mechanisms underlying cross-modal plasticity and processing of environmental spatial visual information presented via the auditory system in blind, as well as about metamodal object and space representation. Image-to-sound conversion may eventually become a suitable prosthesis for the blind.

这是一项提案的修订提交，旨在使用心理物理学和脑成像来研究与处理呈现给听觉系统的环境视觉信息相关的大脑活动 在盲人和视力正常的人中。 Peter Meijer 开发了第一个基于摄像头的听觉显示器，以在声音中保留大量环境视觉信息，同时考虑到主要 人类听觉系统和频率-时间不确定性关系所施加的约束（The vOICe，美国专利 5,097,326）。 vOICe 为盲人提供了一种视觉替代工具 呈现实时图像到声音转换场景的方法，并允许研究跨模式可塑性。将研究三组​​受试者：视力正常的对照组、盲人和视力正常的蒙眼受试者。我们将 比较使用图像到声音转换系统的培训前后的组间和组内结果。培训将每天进行，持续四个星期，并将结合使用受控练习的正式指导和受试者在实验室环境中导航时更自然、身临其境地使用 vOICe 的方式。将研究听觉系统解码和处理视觉信息的三个主要任务，以解决：（1）地形组织，（2）物体机制 识别，以及（3）对象恒常性。将使用行为测量、功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 和经颅磁刺激 (TMS)。我们期望发现显着差异 各组受试者之间的行为测量和与图像到声音转换信息的处理相关的大脑活动。这项研究将为该机制提供重要的见解 潜在的跨模态可塑性和通过盲人听觉系统呈现的环境空间视觉信息的处理，以及元模态对象和空间表征。图像到声音的转换最终可能成为盲人合适的假肢。