People with sensorineural hearing loss experience difficulties understanding speech in noisy environments, and may have difficulty separating a target voice from among many talkers, and localizing sounds in space. All of these deficits may be attributed to the functional effects of damage to cochlear structures, which include a loss of auditory sensitivity, alterations in loudness perception, and impairments of spectral and temporal processing in the auditory system. In this program of research, behavioral psychoacoustic methodologies and electrophysiological methods are used to study the deficits associated with frequency and time analysis in the impaired cochlea, and the impact of those deficits on the clear understanding of speech and the ability to enjoy music. For the next grant period, the focus of this research will be the study of temporal processing of complex sounds by people with hearing loss. Included are studies of complex pitch produced by harmonic and inharmonic complexes and aperiodic rippled noises, and studies of the ability to perceive the fine structure and envelopes in temporal waveforms. In addition, experiments will include measurement of evoked responses to stimuli with various temporal characteristics. The studies have as their goal the evaluation of the representation of temporal information in the higher auditory centers within the brain, when the inputs to those centers come from an impaired peripheral auditory system. It is hoped that an understanding of the manner in which the temporal information is distorted or lost, as determined by these studies, will help in understanding the functional deficits experienced by hearing-impaired people in their everyday lives.

Public Health Relevance

People who suffer from hearing loss often find that their ability to perceive pitch, to separate a target voice from other voices, and to localize sounds in space is impaired. The studies in this program of research investigate the underlying impaired functions of the inner ear that produce these deficits, with the goal of contributing to new hearing aid processing techniques or other rehabilitative treatments.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
7R01DC000626-27
Application #
8745222
Study Section
Auditory System Study Section (AUD)
Program Officer
Miller, Roger
Project Start
2013-09-02
Project End
2014-06-30
Budget Start
2013-09-02
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
27
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$203,075
Indirect Cost
$55,919
Name
Loma Linda Veterans Assn Research & Education
Department
Type
DUNS #
606630762
City
Redlands
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92373
Mertes, Ian B; Wilbanks, Erin C; Leek, Marjorie R (2018) Olivocochlear Efferent Activity Is Associated With the Slope of the Psychometric Function of Speech Recognition in Noise. Ear Hear 39:583-593
Shearer, Daniel E; Molis, Michelle R; Bennett, Keri O et al. (2018) Auditory stream segregation of iterated rippled noises by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 143:378
Mertes, Ian B; Leek, Marjorie R (2016) Concurrent measures of contralateral suppression of transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions and of auditory steady-state responses. J Acoust Soc Am 140:2027
Molis, Michelle R; Diedesch, Anna; Gallun, Frederick et al. (2013) Vowel identification by amplitude and phase contrast. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 14:125-37
Bennett, Keri O'Connell; Billings, Curtis J; Molis, Michelle R et al. (2012) Neural encoding and perception of speech signals in informational masking. Ear Hear 33:231-8
Billings, Curtis J; Bennett, Keri O; Molis, Michelle R et al. (2011) Cortical encoding of signals in noise: effects of stimulus type and recording paradigm. Ear Hear 32:53-60
Molis, Michelle R; Leek, Marjorie R (2011) Vowel identification by listeners with hearing impairment in response to variation in formant frequencies. J Speech Lang Hear Res 54:1211-23
Lauer, Amanda M; Dooling, Robert J; Leek, Marjorie R (2009) Psychophysical evidence of damaged active processing mechanisms in Belgian Waterslager Canaries. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 195:193-202
Lauer, Amanda M; Molis, Michelle; Leek, Marjorie R (2009) Discrimination of time-reversed harmonic complexes by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 10:609-19
Lauer, Amanda M; Dooling, Robert J; Leek, Marjorie R et al. (2007) Detection and discrimination of simple and complex sounds by hearing-impaired Belgian Waterslager canaries. J Acoust Soc Am 122:3615-27

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