Valeriy Shafiro, Ph.D. - US grants

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The study will investigate the perception of the sources of familiar environmental sounds processed through a simulated cochlear implant with a varying number of frequency channels. Familiar sounds include human and animal vocalizations (e.g., baby cry, dog bark), nature sounds (e.g., rain, wind), mechanical sounds (e.g., engines, footsteps), and electronic sounds (e.g., alarms, telephones). Results will be used to (1) establish the minimal number of channels needed for source identification for a large number of environmental sounds, (2) to determine variability among individual environmental sounds in the minimal number of channels needed for source identification, (3) to differentiate and classify individual environmental sounds based on the number of channels needed for source identification, (4) to investigate how listeners' perceptual dimensions change as a function of varying number of channels as revealed by Multidimensional scaling. Stimuli will be obtained by processing original environmental sound recordings through a simulated cochlear implant with different numbers of frequency channels, and presented to normally hearing listeners for source identification. The findings of the study will be relevant to cochlear implant design, and will provide an empirical basis for a theory of environmental sound perception. [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of this project is to develop a training protocol to improve cochlear implant (CI) patients'abilities to perceive environmental sounds and improve speech perception. The secondary goal is to increase our understanding of the association between environmental sound perception and speech in CI patients. Specifically, based on earlier findings, we hypothesize that environmental sound training will lead to a generalizable improvement environmental sound perception as well as speech;while speech training will lead to an improvement in speech, but not in environmental sound perception. In both cases, training-related improvements are expected to be significantly greater than improvements due to passive learning through exposure. We further hypothesize that CI patients'ability to perceive speech and environmental sounds are closely related, and that this relationship is mediated largely by patients'general "higher-level" cognitive abilities and to a smaller extent by patients'basic sensory auditory abilities. These hypotheses will be tested using a pretest-posttest design and examining the differences in patient speech and environmental sound performance with and without training. In addition to environmental sounds and speech tests, patients will be administered tests of cognitive and basic auditory abilities that have been previously associated with speech and environmental sound performance in order to examine the involvement of these abilities in mediating the relationship between speech and environmental sounds. Perception of environmental sounds by CI patients has received little research attention despite its functional importance in patients'daily lives and patients'general enthusiasm about it. While most CI patients consider improved environmental sound perception an important benefit of implantation, their environmental sound performance remains considerably reduced despite extensive implant experience. Although environmental sound training has been recommended and is regularly used during early rehabilitation stages, this practice is not based on any empirical evidence that demonstrates the benefits of active environmental sound training. This proposal will address this limitation and provide a research-based foundation for developing effective and efficient rehabilitation strategies for CI patients that can increase implant benefits. Furthermore, if environmental sound abilities are closely associated with speech perception abilities, environmental sounds can be used for diagnostic and rehabilitation purposes with patients regardless of their familiarity with a specific language. Thus, the results of this study are expected to have important clinical impact. Relevance: This project will provide a framework for developing effective training methods to improve cochlear implant patients'abilities to perceive environmental sounds and improve speech. The use of environmental sounds as ecologically-relevant language-independent materials for diagnostic and rehabilitative purposes with cochlear implant patients will have important clinical implications for cochlear implant patients world-wide.

Project summary The goal of this application is to obtain funding for the Fifth International Meeting on Internet & Audiology, to be held at Rush University on May 3-4, 2021. The meeting will bring together researchers and clinicians from around the world to discuss research needs, design, and implementation in the area of internet-based audiology and to identify opportunities and challenges of internet-based hearing care in order to advance audiology and patient care in the future. The meeting is important because the internet has become an integral part of modern medicine, transforming health care practice and delivery in many specialty areas. In the practice of audiology, the internet has provided tremendous opportunities for access to hearing health care across large and often underserved geographic areas, potentially lowering the costs and improving quality of care. Internet-based research and internet-based health applications, known as eHealth, can be used effectively to promote public and personalized hearing health through (i) rapid data collection, storage and analysis, (ii) enhanced opportunities for hearing assessment, education, counselling and rehabilitation, (iii) remote programming of hearing aids and cochlear implants, and (iv) new tools for self-management and family-centered care. As internet use becomes further integrated into many audiologic practices, consumer health care decisions may be increasingly influenced by information available online, including through social media. More research and continued discussion is needed to keep pace with fast-changing technology in order to most effectively leverage the opportunities afforded by the internet in affordability and access, while ensuring the delivery of high quality patient-centered care. The proposed 2-day conference will focus on four themes that will each be introduced by a keynote speaker: 1. Patient-centered care and eHealth, 2. Social media and hearing care, 3. Online audiologic rehabilitation, and 4. Implementation science: barriers and facilitators to implementation in teleaudiology. The specific aims of the meeting are, first, to provide an opportunity for researchers and clinicians across the globe to exchange ideas, discuss current research and practices and develop collaborations in internet-based audiology care; second, to support the development of future research and clinical practices in eHealth and teleaudiology through podium and poster presentations, panel discussions, theme-based breakout sessions, a student-mentor lunch, a meet the scientist lunch, and through the provision of early-career investigator and graduate student travel awards; and third, to disseminate findings from the conference by publishing articles from selected presentations and four white papers, based on the conference themes, in a special issue of the American Journal of Audiology, and by making available recordings of podium presentations and poster materials on the conference website, as additional methods to promote further research and clinical practice.