Cortical processing of informational masking

信息掩蔽的皮质处理

• 批准号: 10475086
• 负责人: Barbara Shinn-Cunningham
• 金额: $ 23.8万
• 依托单位: CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-18 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10475086
• 关键词: Acoustic Nerve; Active Listening; Affect; Animal Model; Animals; Auditory; Auditory area; Behavioral; Blood; Brain; Cochlear Implants; Communication; Conductive hearing loss; Data; Development; Employment; Environment; Frequencies; Gerbils; Goals; Hearing; Hearing Aids; Hearing Tests; Human; Individual; Jird; Link; Masks; Measures; Mental Depression; Modeling; Nerve Fibers; Neurons; Performance; Persons; Phenotype; Physiology; Positioning Attribute; Predisposition; Psychophysics; Quality of life; Rehabilitation therapy; Sensory; Social isolation; Speech; Speech Intelligibility; Techniques; Testing; Time; Training; Uncertainty; Variant; Vulnerable Populations; Work; Workplace; auditory deprivation; auditory pathway; auditory processing; behavior prediction; behavioral outcome; brain based; clinically relevant; experimental study; functional near infrared spectroscopy; hearing impairment; hemodynamics; implant design; improved; individual variation; information processing; model organism; neural; normal hearing; predicting response; psychologic; resilience; response; social; sound; speech in noise

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The most pressing issue with hearing aids and cochlear implants is that they function poorly in noisy environments for most users, where even mild hearing loss can make it difficult to ignore background sound. Suppression of unwanted sound is crucial for communication in social settings, such as the workplace. Inability to understand speech in these situations, called masking, can lead to social isolation and reduced employment. Two principal types of masking interfere with optimal function of hearing aids and cochlear implants. The first type, called energetic masking, is well characterized through psychophysics, physiology and modeling. The second type, called informational masking, is currently only defined as a psychological construct and much less understood. Energetic masking occurs when target speech and background sound excite the same auditory nerve fibers at the same time. Even an ideal listener would be mostly unable to recover an energetically masked target. In contrast, informational masking occurs even when target and background sound do not overlap in time and frequency, and when an ideal listener could restore the target information. Informational masking thus holds a key to improved hearing aid and cochlear implant design. Moreover, individual listeners differ dramatically in their ability to suppress informational masking. However, hearing aids and cochlear implants only intend to mitigate energetic masking, ignoring vulnerability to informational masking. Towards improved fitting of hearing aids and cochlear implants, we propose to develop an objective scale of vulnerability to informational masking based on cortical function. We propose to examine cortical mechanisms of informational masking in humans and in an animal model organism of human auditory processing, the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). First, we will test normal-hearing human listeners as well as gerbils under conditions of informational masking and simultaneously record from auditory cortex. In humans, we will record the hemodynamic response of blood oxygenation, using a quick and robust assessment technique with clinical relevance. In gerbils, we will measure neuronal activity in auditory cortex from trained animals. We will use this data to develop an objective metric of an individual’s vulnerability to informational masking. Second, we will examine the neuronal mechanisms of informational masking by introducing rapid unpredictable changes in background sound and assessing if high vulnerability to informational masking is due to predominant reliance on suppressing background activity (as opposed to enhanced responses to the target) in humans and gerbils. Third, using our animal model, we will test how hearing loss affects susceptibility to informational masking. Collectively, this proposal will functionally define informational masking at both perceptual and cortical processing levels. The results are expected to significantly advance our understanding of the origins and scope of this central auditory processing deficit in common everyday situations with background sound.

项目摘要 /摘要 助听器和人工耳蜗的最紧迫的问题是，它们在嘈杂方面的功能很差 大多数用户的环境，即使是轻度听力损失也可能使忽略背景声音很难。 抑制不必要的声音对于在社交环境（例如工作场所）的交流至关重要。无力 在这些情况下了解言语，称为掩盖，可以导致社会隔离并减少就业。 掩盖干扰的两种主要类型具有助听器和人工耳蜗的最佳功能。第一个 通过心理物理学，生理学和建模来很好地表征类型，称为能量掩蔽。这 第二种称为信息掩蔽，目前仅定义为一种心理结构，而少得多 理解齿。当目标语音和背景听起来令人兴奋的同一听觉神经时，就会发生充满活力的掩蔽 同时纤维。即使是理想的听众，大多数人都无法恢复基本的蒙版目标。 相反，即使目标和背景声音不会随时间重叠，也会发生信息掩蔽 频率，以及理想的听众可以恢复目标信息时。因此，信息掩蔽具有 改善助听器和人工耳蜗设计的关键。而且，单个听众在 他们抑制信息掩蔽的能力。但是，助听器和人工耳蜗只打算 减轻能量掩蔽，忽略信息掩盖的脆弱性。朝着改进的安装 助听器和人工耳蜗的焦点，我们建议建立一个客观的信息脆弱性规模 基于皮质功能的掩盖。 我们建议检查人类和动物模型中信息掩盖的皮质机制 人类听觉加工的有机体，蒙古的Gerbil（Meriones unguiculatus）。首先，我们将测试 在信息掩蔽条件下 类似地记录了听觉皮层。在人类中，我们将记录血液动力学反应 使用具有临床相关性的快速且强大的评估技术。在沙鼠中，我们将衡量 受过训练的动物的听觉皮层中的神经元活性。我们将使用这些数据来开发一个客观的指标 个人易受信息掩蔽的脆弱性。其次，我们将检查的神经元机制 信息掩蔽是通过引入背景声音和评估的快速变化的快速变化 信息掩盖的脆弱性是由于抑制背景活动的主要缓解（如 反对在人类和沙鼠中对目标的增强反应。第三，使用我们的动物模型，我们将测试 听力损失如何影响信息掩盖的易感性。 总的来说，该建议在功能上定义了感知和皮质的信息掩盖 处理水平。预计结果将大大提高我们对起源和范围的理解 在每天带有背景声音的常见情况下，这种中央听觉处理不足。