Improving Music Appreciation For People With Prosthetic Hearing Devices By Enhancing Auditory Stream Segregation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$266,560.00
Summary
Music perception is one of the most often-cited problems for people with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Part of the problem is related to the reduced ability to hear different instruments or melodic lines separately. This ability is based on perceptual differences between auditory streams. Psychophysics experiments will be performed to understand the effect of different acoustic parameters on auditory streaming. An innovative approach to restore music appreciation will be tested on people wi ....Music perception is one of the most often-cited problems for people with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Part of the problem is related to the reduced ability to hear different instruments or melodic lines separately. This ability is based on perceptual differences between auditory streams. Psychophysics experiments will be performed to understand the effect of different acoustic parameters on auditory streaming. An innovative approach to restore music appreciation will be tested on people with impaired hearing.Read moreRead less
Cochlear Type II Neurons In Contralateral Suppression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$459,434.00
Summary
Sound in one ear affects hearing in the other ear. This contralateral suppression is important for hearing attention and protection from noise damage. We will test the hypothesis that cochlear type II sensory neurons provide the sensory input for this process using models where neuronal development is altered, or the neurons are removed. The study addresses hearing disability in society, facilitating cochlear prosthesis development and the understanding of hearing loss.
Early Indicators Of Noise Injury: Are Decreased Auditory Processing Skills Evident In Noise-exposed Adults Prior To Diagnosis Of Hearing Loss?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,605.00
Summary
Recent research indicates that noise-exposed individuals with similar hearing thresholds to non-noise exposed counterparts are more likely to have diminished temporal and spectral auditory processing abilities. This research aims to determine the relationship between noise exposure levels and auditory processing difficulties; the influence of musical training in ameliorating these difficulties; and a neurological model of causation, operation and possible remediation of these difficulties.
The research will investigate the mechanisms by which our brains are able to listen selectively to sounds of interest in competing background noise. This will be investigated in normal hearing subjects, those with partial deafness and in profoundly deaf patients who use a cochlear implant. If deaf patients can learn to use cues to enhance detection of sounds of interest this could have an impact on the effectiveness of hearing aids and cochlear implants in noisy listening situations