Functional spatial segregation in auditory scene analysis

听觉场景分析中的功能空间隔离

• 批准号: 10659664
• 负责人: Erol James Ozmeral
• 金额: $ 49.69万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-03 至 2028-02-29
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10659664
• 关键词: Acoustics; Address; Affect; Age; Aging; Algorithms; Area; Auditory; Auditory system; Behavioral; Bilateral; Binaural; Brain; Communication; Complex; Cost Analysis; Costs and Benefits; Cues; Devices; Ear; Electrophysiology (science); Environment; Face; Goals; Healthcare; Hearing; Hearing Aids; Impaired cognition; Individual; Individual Differences; Intervention; Measures; Mental Health; Methods; Modeling; Nature; Noise; Outcome; Pain; Perception; Performance; Play; Population; Positioning Attribute; Presbycusis; Probability; Process; Productivity; Psychophysics; Research; Resolution; Role; Series; Social isolation; Source; Speech; Stimulus; Stream; Technology; Testing; Translating; age effect; age related; aging population; cost; experimental study; hearing impairment; improved; individual variation; innovation; instrument; microphone; neural; neural circuit; neural patterning; neuromechanism; normal hearing; novel; novel strategies; response; segregation; sound; speech in noise; tool

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The goal of this research is to address the critical barriers to communication that older and hearing-impaired listeners face in complex acoustic scenes, in which multiple competing sounds impede speech understanding. Our approach includes simultaneous behavioral and electrophysiological measures of auditory stream segregation, and importantly, we also determine the costs and benefits of hearing instruments on segregating multiple speech sources. Our research has uncovered neural mechanisms associated with age-related declines in auditory temporal processing that play a critical role in binaural and spatial hearing. Our current tools, however, lack the precision necessary to gain deeper understanding of this age-related deficit. In the present study, we propose a series of innovative approaches that aim to determine the functional boundaries of spatial hearing in listeners with age-related hearing loss (ARHL). In Aim 1, we use a well-established paradigm of auditory scene analysis to define functional, ecologically relevant boundaries of perception as they relate to individual binaural cues, and measure how these boundaries are affected by ARHL at the neural level. Aim 2 introduces novel behavioral and electrophysiological tasks that precisely measure functional boundaries between segregation and integration of competing speech. Aim 3 evaluates the costs and benefits of directional microphone technology to hearing-impaired listeners as a function of their individual spatial segregation boundaries. The present study draws from a long line of research on auditory scene analysis and introduces a novel approach to cortical tracking of speech envelope in complex scenes. This project pushes the field forward in how we measure mechanisms of stream segregation in older and hearing-impaired listeners. The results of these experiments will: (1) precisely characterize individual binaural and spatial segregation boundaries; (2) provide evidence of the neural circuitry and patterns of activity underlying the influence of spatial cues on stream segregation; (3) discover evidence for the relationship between binaural segregation boundaries, individual differences, and the effects of hearing loss and aging; and (4) investigate a relationship between individual suprathreshold hearing abilities and specific hearing aid processing technology. Whereas hearing devices currently have remarkable benefits to specific users, the present research should inspire a new push for innovative ways to address hearing challenges of an aging population. Our team is well- positioned to execute behavioral and electrophysiological measures sensitive to auditory function and intervention outcomes, and critically, to bridge these to shift the field toward individualized hearing health care.

项目概要/摘要 这项研究的目的是解决老年人和听力障碍人士沟通的关键障碍 听众面临着复杂的声学场景，其中多种竞争的声音阻碍了语音理解。 我们的方法包括听觉流的同步行为和电生理测量 隔离，重要的是，我们还确定助听器在隔离方面的成本和收益 多个语音源。我们的研究揭示了与年龄相关的神经机制 听觉时间处理能力下降，而听觉时间处理能力在双耳和空间听力中起着至关重要的作用。我们目前的 然而，工具缺乏深入了解这种与年龄相关的缺陷所需的精确度。在 在本研究中，我们提出了一系列创新方法，旨在确定功能边界 年龄相关性听力损失 (ARHL) 听众的空间听力。在目标 1 中，我们使用一个成熟的 听觉场景分析范式来定义功能性的、生态相关的感知边界 与个体双耳线索相关，并测量这些边界如何在神经水平上受到 ARHL 的影响。 目标 2 引入了新的行为和电生理学任务，可精确测量功能边界 竞争性言语的分离与整合之间的关系。目标 3 评估成本和收益 定向麦克风技术为听障听众提供了根据其个人空间的功能 分离边界。本研究源自对听觉场景分析和 介绍了一种在复杂场景中对语音包络进行皮层跟踪的新方法。这个项目推 我们如何衡量老年人和听力障碍者的水流隔离机制的前沿领域 听众。这些实验的结果将：（1）精确表征个体双耳和空间特征 分离边界； (2) 提供神经回路和活动模式的证据 空间线索对河流分离的影响； (3) 发现双耳之间关系的证据 隔离边界、个体差异以及听力损失和衰老的影响； (4) 调查 个体超阈听力能力与特定助听器处理技术之间的关系。 尽管听力设备目前对特定用户具有显着的好处，但目前的研究应该 激发新的推动创新方法来解决人口老龄化带来的听力挑战。我们的团队很好—— 定位于执行对听觉功能敏感的行为和电生理测量，以及 干预结果，最重要的是，弥合这些结果，将领域转向个性化听力保健。