Behavioral and Cortical Signatures of Reduced Auditory Spatial Tuning with Age

随着年龄的增长听觉空间调谐减少的行为和皮质特征

• 批准号: 8649829
• 负责人: Erol James Ozmeral
• 金额: $ 4.71万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-16 至 2016-12-15
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8649829
• 关键词: Acoustics; Adult; Age; Age-Years; Attention; Auditory; Behavioral; Brain Stem; Cerebral Dominance; Code; Cognitive; Contralateral; Cues; Dementia; Detection; Devices; Diagnostic Procedure; Discrimination; Down-Regulation; Elderly; Electroencephalography; Environment; Evaluation; Exhibits; Fellowship; Frequencies; Future; Goals; Hearing; Human; Impaired cognition; Ipsilateral; Laboratories; Lateral; Left; Link; Location; Mammals; Measures; Mediating; Mentors; Methods; Metric; Modeling; Music; Nature; Neurotransmitters; Noise; Outcome; Pattern; Peripheral; Positioning Attribute; Presbycusis; Prevalence; Process; Psychophysics; Relative (related person); Research; Resources; Risk; Sensory; Sensory Process; Source; Speech; Speed; Staging; Stimulus; Structure; Techniques; Testing; Time; Training; Training Programs; Ultrasonography; Work; age related; base; behavior measurement; binaural hearing; career; clinically significant; design; directed attention; experience; hearing impairment; information processing; neurophysiology; neurotransmission; normal aging; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; remediation; research study; response; selective attention; sound; tool; young adult

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The prevalence of clinically-significant hearing loss is ~63% in adults over 70 years of age (Lin et al., 2011). Moreover, untreated hearing loss in older adults has been linked to more rapid cognitive declines and greater risk of dementia (Lin et al., 2013). Difficulty following conversations in noisy settings is the most common hearing-related complaint, regardless of whether audibility is compensated by amplification. The remarkable ability humans have to focus on a desired sound source (e.g., speech, music, environmental sounds) in the presence of competing sounds depends to a large extent on spatial hearing. It is known that many aspects of spatial hearing decline with normal aging but the mechanisms responsible for that decline are not known. Likewise, it is known that top-down control of sensory processing, including focused attention, declines with age but age-related changes in selective auditory spatial attention have not been well documented and are poorly understood. The goal of this project is to investigate the processes involved in auditory spatial tuning in oldr listeners, leveraging simultaneous electroencephalography and behavioral measurements. Experiments have been designed to evaluate specific hypotheses associated with potential changes in the opponent- channel (OC) mechanisms underlying spatial processing. The experiments focus on low-frequency stimuli, since spatial cues below ~1500 Hz are dominated by interaural time differences, and timing deficits are a hallmark of presbycusis. A goal of Aim 1 is to determine whether or not older listeners (with normal hearing sensitivity) exhibit altered spatial tuning relative to younger listeners. A second goal is to use measures of spatial tuning to evaluate the potential mechanisms underlying the OC model and the potential influence of either age-related down-regulation of inhibition and/or temporal precision on spatial processing deficits. In Aim 2, parallel experiments are used to probe the possibility that, with advancing age, broadened spatial attention further limits spatial advantages available to older listeners. In addition, long-term goals of this work are to identify appropriate diagnostic methods and remediation targets, to evaluate and possibly alter the way hearing enhancement devices and auditory training methods may be used to ameliorate existing deficits, and to develop outcome metrics useful should treatments that slow or reverse age-related hearing loss be discovered. The training program outlined provides a strong mentoring environment both from an immediate laboratory setting as well as the institutional setting. The fellowship applicant is determined to work towards establishing the tools and experience necessary to transition in the future to an independent academic research career.

描述（由申请人提供）：70岁以上的成年人的临床意义听力损失的患病率约为63％（Lin等，2011）。此外，老年人未经治疗的听力损失与更快的认知下降和更大的痴呆风险有关（Lin等，2013）。在嘈杂的环境中进行对话之后的困难是与听力相关的最常见的投诉，无论是否通过放大来弥补听觉性。在竞争声音的存在下，人类必须专注于所需的声源（例如语音，音乐，环境声音），这在很大程度上取决于空间听力。众所周知，空间听力下降的许多方面随着正常衰老而下降，但导致这种下降的机制尚不清楚。同样，众所周知，对感官处理的自上而下的控制（包括集中注意力）随着年龄的增长而下降，但是选择性听觉空间关注的年龄变化尚未得到充分记录，也没有理解。该项目的目的是研究Oldr听众中听觉空间调整的过程，利用同时进行脑电图和行为测量。实验旨在评估与对手通道（OC）机制潜在变化相关的特定假设。该实验的重点是低频刺激，因为低于1500 Hz的空间提示主要由时间间的时间差异，而时序缺陷是长期cusisis的标志。目标1的目标是确定年长的听众（正常听力灵敏度）是否表现出相对于年轻听众的空间调整。第二个目标是使用空间调整的度量 评估OC模型基础的潜在机制以及任何与年龄相关的抑制和/或时间上的下调对空间处理缺陷的潜在影响。在AIM 2中，使用并行实验来探测随着年龄的增长，扩大空间注意力的可能性进一步限制了老年听众可获得的空间优势。在 此外，这项工作的长期目标是确定适当的诊断方法和补救目标，以评估并可能使用听力增强设备和听觉训练方法的方式来减轻现有的赤字，并开发有用的结果指标，并有用的治疗方法可以缓慢或反向与年龄相关的听力损失。概述的培训计划从直接的实验室环境和机构环境中提供了强大的指导环境。奖学金申请人决心致力于建立未来过渡到独立学术研究职业所必需的工具和经验。