COCHLEAR NONLINEARITY AND AUDITORY FUNCTION IN HUMANS This program of research includes studies that will: (1) provide insights into basic cochlear processes by describing the relationships among frequency, level and latency and between tuning and cochlear-amplifier gain, (2) evaluate the extent to which these insights improve our understanding of the consequences of cochlear damage, (3) determine whether behavioral response growth in subjects with both normal and impaired hearing can be predicted either from sensitivity loss or the relationship between acoustical and behavioral measurements of response growth, and (4) determine whether these relationships can be used to select individually customized signal-processing strategies that result in improved speech perception and/or are preferred by patients with hearing loss. This proposal is characterized by several new and innovative components. It will evaluate fundamental cochlear processes in humans using a newly described metric (gain-bandwidth product) to assess cochlear invariance with respect to gain and tuning, and it will describe changes in this new metric as a consequence of hearing loss. It also includes innovative translational research that will evaluate relationships between hearing loss, behavioral response growth, and DPOAE response growth, all of which have implications for the selection of signal-processing strategies to ameliorate the consequences of cochlear damage. Finally, studies performed as part of this program of research will go beyond describing the relationships between different estimates of response growth by determining which signal-processing strategy, selected on the bases of several different behavioral and acoustical measurements, improve speech perception and/or are preferred by patients with hearing loss. This translational research will have important implications for all patients with hearing loss, especially infants and young children who cannot describe their percepts of loudness.

Public Health Relevance

COCHLEAR NONLINEARITY AND AUDITORY FUNCTION IN HUMANS This program of research is clinically relevant because it will result in improvements in treatments for hearing loss in infants, young children and patients with developmental disabilities. These patients typically lack the speech, language, and/or cognitive skills to describe their hearing problems. This research program will develop objective techniques that will lead to be treatment options in these patients.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC002251-19
Application #
8490332
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-B (02))
Program Officer
Donahue, Amy
Project Start
1995-01-01
Project End
2014-06-30
Budget Start
2013-07-01
Budget End
2014-06-30
Support Year
19
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$400,678
Indirect Cost
$126,241
Name
Father Flanagan's Boys' Home
Department
Type
DUNS #
073136806
City
Boys Town
State
NE
Country
United States
Zip Code
68010
Lewis, James D; Kopun, Judy; Neely, Stephen T et al. (2015) Tone-burst auditory brainstem response wave V latencies in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired ears. J Acoust Soc Am 138:3210-9
McCreery, Ryan W; Kaminski, Jan; Beauchaine, Kathryn et al. (2015) The impact of degree of hearing loss on auditory brainstem response predictions of behavioral thresholds. Ear Hear 36:309-19
Rasetshwane, Daniel M; Trevino, Andrea C; Gombert, Jessa N et al. (2015) Categorical loudness scaling and equal-loudness contours in listeners with normal hearing and hearing loss. J Acoust Soc Am 137:1899-913
Rasetshwane, Daniel M; Gorga, Michael P; Neely, Stephen T (2014) Signal-processing strategy for restoration of cross-channel suppression in hearing-impaired listeners. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 61:64-75
Rasetshwane, Daniel M; Neely, Stephen T; Kopun, Judy G et al. (2013) Relation of distortion-product otoacoustic emission input-output functions to loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 134:369-83
Rasetshwane, Daniel M; Argenyi, Michael; Neely, Stephen T et al. (2013) Latency of tone-burst-evoked auditory brain stem responses and otoacoustic emissions: level, frequency, and rise-time effects. J Acoust Soc Am 133:2803-17
Reuven, Michal L; Neely, Stephen T; Kopun, Judy G et al. (2013) Effect of calibration method on distortion-product otoacoustic emission measurements at and around 4 kHz. Ear Hear 34:779-88
Gruhlke, Alyson; Birkholz, Cori; Neely, Stephen T et al. (2012) Distortion-product otoacoustic emission suppression tuning curves in hearing-impaired humans. J Acoust Soc Am 132:3292-304
Birkholz, Cori; Gruhlke, Alyson; Neely, Stephen T et al. (2012) Growth of suppression using distortion-product otoacoustic emission measurements in hearing-impaired humans. J Acoust Soc Am 132:3305-18
Thorson, Megan J; Kopun, Judy G; Neely, Stephen T et al. (2012) Reliability of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions and their relation to loudness. J Acoust Soc Am 131:1282-95

Showing the most recent 10 out of 54 publications