The goal of this research is to understand how young children are able to function in complex acoustic environments, where multiple sources are often present. This includes identifying the location of sound sources, especially in noisy environments, and extracting the content meaningful sounds, such as understanding speech. This work will focus on children ages 4-7. We will measure binaural abilities using two paradigms. The first will evaluate children's ability to locate sounds, in quiet, in the presence of simulated echoes (precedence effect), and in the presence of """"""""real world"""""""" competing sounds that are either spatially near or far from the target source. The second will focus on the children's ability to understand speech in the presence of competing speech and noise, and the extent to which they demonstrate a benefit from spatial separation of the speech and competing sounds (spatial release from masking). In adults, sound localization and spatial release from masking are known to be facilitated by the binaural system, however, surprisingly little is known about these abilities in young children. Previous work has shown that basic binaural processes are rudimentary at birth, and undergo many developmental changes during early childhood; however, the impact of these changes on children's abilities to cope with realistic complex environments remains to be understood. The long-term goal of this work is to extend our measures of auditory abilities to populations of children with sensori-neural hearing loss and with cognitive disabilities, including attention deficit disorders and autism.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
5R21DC005469-02
Application #
6626292
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDC1-SRB-A (32))
Program Officer
Donahue, Amy
Project Start
2002-04-01
Project End
2005-03-31
Budget Start
2003-04-01
Budget End
2005-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$72,750
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Pediatrics
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Litovsky, Ruth Y; Goupell, Matthew J; Godar, Shelly et al. (2012) Studies on bilateral cochlear implants at the University of Wisconsin's Binaural Hearing and Speech Laboratory. J Am Acad Audiol 23:476-94
Garadat, Soha N; Litovsky, Ruth Y (2007) Speech intelligibility in free field: spatial unmasking in preschool children. J Acoust Soc Am 121:1047-55
Johnstone, Patti M; Litovsky, Ruth Y (2006) Effect of masker type and age on speech intelligibility and spatial release from masking in children and adults. J Acoust Soc Am 120:2177-89
Litovsky, Ruth Y; Parkinson, Aaron; Arcaroli, Jennifer et al. (2004) Bilateral cochlear implants in adults and children. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 130:648-55