Support is requested for four lines of research, each of which extends previous studies of human listeners' abilities to process the acoustic details of complex sounds. (1) The limits of normal listeners' ability to discriminate nonspeech patterns will be further investigated, in tests of the Dimension Specific Capacity hypothesis, and in studies of the plasticity of listener's characteristics distribution of auditory attention. (2) Corresponding limits will be studied for speech stimuli, using natural and synthetic vowels. Listeners' abilities to resolve phoneme-relevant acoustic details will be determined for isolated vowels and vowels in sequences, under various levels of stimulus uncertainty. (3) Limits of spectral-temporal resolving power will be determined for hearing-impaired listeners, for speech and nonspeech complex stimuli. An effort will also be made to measure cross-modality (auditory, visual, tactile) temporal processing capabilities, and to determine whether those capabilities may explain differences in speech processing among audiometrically similar listeners. (4) Corresponding limits of processing will be determined for language-disordered children and young adults.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01NS020606-06
Application #
3401048
Study Section
Hearing Research Study Section (HAR)
Project Start
1983-08-01
Project End
1992-11-30
Budget Start
1987-12-01
Budget End
1988-11-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
1988
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Indiana University Bloomington
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
006046700
City
Bloomington
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
47402
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Watson, C S (1991) Auditory perceptual learning and the cochlear implant. Am J Otol 12 Suppl:73-9
Kewley-Port, D; Atal, B S (1989) Perceptual differences between vowels located in a limited phonetic space. J Acoust Soc Am 85:1726-40
Humes, L E; Espinoza-Varas, B; Watson, C S (1988) Modeling sensorineural hearing loss. I. Model and retrospective evaluation. J Acoust Soc Am 83:188-202
Watson, B U; Goldgar, D E (1988) Evaluation of a typology of reading disability. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 10:432-50
Kewley-Port, D; Watson, C S; Foyle, D C (1988) Auditory temporal acuity in relation to category boundaries;speech and nonspeech stimuli. J Acoust Soc Am 83:1133-45
Watson, C S; Kewley-Port, D (1988) Some remarks on Pastore (1988). J Acoust Soc Am 84:2266-70
Humes, L E; Boney, S; Loven, F (1987) Further validation of the Speech Transmission Index (STI). J Speech Hear Res 30:403-10