The long-term goal of this project is to examine neural plasticity and auditory-perceptual learning in school-aged children with auditory-based learning disabilities. It is estimated that 5-9 percent of school-aged children in the United States have some kind of diagnosed learning disorder, and that an additional 3-5 percent have a diagnosed attention deficit disorder. Furthermore, it is common for children to qualify for both diagnoses. Previous research has established that many of these children exhibit perceptual deficits in response to auditory stimuli, suggesting that an auditory-perceptual deficit may underlie their learning disabilities. A separate line of research has focused on developing effective computer-based procedures for training the perception of difficult foreign language contrasts by monolingual adults. This work has identified several general principles of perceptual learning that are critical for achieving enhanced sensitivity to perceptually difficult acoustic-phonetic contrasts, the most important of which is exposure to a range of stimulus variability in the training set. In view of the fact that second-language learners and children with auditory-based learning disabilities both display diminished sensitivity to certain speech sounds, successful training approaches for one population may hold great promise for the other. Accordingly, this study will draw on findings from these two lines of research in an attempt to develop laboratory-based training procedures for children with auditory-based learning disorders. An important aspect of the design of the proposed study is that the battery of tests used to assess performance before and after training incorporates a wide range of auditory-perceptual tasks, ranging from a non-speech auditory discrimination task using simple tones and noise to ore complex spoken word recognition tasks. Thus, data from the proposed study will provide important information regarding the relationships between performance on a variety of auditory and speech perception tasks within individual subjects, as well as providing the means for investigating the effects of various training paradigms on performance on a range of relevant tasks. Further, using well-established electrophtsiologic techniques, we will examine the neurophysiologic changes that underlie auditory-perceptual learning. In this manner, we hope to shed light of the underlying sensory-perceptual deficit, as well as make advances towards the development of training procedures of these children.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
5R03DC003762-03
Application #
6176639
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDC1-SRB-F (15))
Program Officer
Luethke, Lynn E
Project Start
1998-05-01
Project End
2003-04-30
Budget Start
2000-05-01
Budget End
2003-04-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$51,800
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Evanston
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60201
Bent, Tessa; Bradlow, Ann R; Smith, Bruce L (2008) Production and perception of temporal patterns in native and non-native speech. Phonetica 65:131-47
Bradlow, Ann R; Bent, Tessa (2008) Perceptual adaptation to non-native speech. Cognition 106:707-29
Bent, Tessa; Bradlow, Ann R; Wright, Beverly A (2006) The influence of linguistic experience on the cognitive processing of pitch in speech and nonspeech sounds. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 32:97-103
Bent, Tessa; Bradlow, Ann R (2003) The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit. J Acoust Soc Am 114:1600-10
Bradlow, Ann R; Kraus, Nina; Hayes, Erin (2003) Speaking clearly for children with learning disabilities: sentence perception in noise. J Speech Lang Hear Res 46:80-97
Bradlow, Ann R; Bent, Tessa (2002) The clear speech effect for non-native listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 112:272-84
Koch, D B; McGee, T J; Bradlow, A R et al. (1999) Acoustic-phonetic approach toward understanding neural processes and speech perception. J Am Acad Audiol 10:304-18
Bradlow, A R; Kraus, N; Nicol, T G et al. (1999) Effects of lengthened formant transition duration on discrimination and neural representation of synthetic CV syllables by normal and learning-disabled children. J Acoust Soc Am 106:2086-96