A comparison of bottom-up and top-down training approaches: Brain responses as objective outcome measures of auditory training for improving speech perception in noise.

• Applicant: Dr. Annette Schumann, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Otolaryngology, Phoniatrics and Audiology
• Term: from 2017 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 397807552

The proposed project investigates the effectiveness of auditory training approaches for improving speech-in-noise understanding in people with hearing loss by gaining knowledge about neuronal processes underlying speech perception and its changes in ageing and after hearing loss. In recent years, several studies proved the efficacy of auditory training programs to improve speech understanding in noise in the hearing impaired. However, the individual benefit varies among the listeners, and still it is not clear which training method is the most effective. Research in hearing science identified multiple causes of speech-in-noise deficits at the auditory periphery, the stages of sound processing along the auditory pathway, cortical processes of perception and the cognitive brain. As different training approaches interact with processing at different levels, one aim in further research is to document and analyze these processes in speech perception and the training-related changes in the human brain. One opportunity is to disentangle the multi modal bottom-up and top-down neural mechanism contributing to changes in the auditory cortex. The key objective is to record brain responses with MEG in parallel to a training intervention to inform at which level the training to improve speech recognition in noise is effective. In the controlled randomized pre- to posttraining paradigm two training groups are conducted. Participants will be healthy older adults (age range 60 to 80 years) who experience normal aging related decline in hearing and speech-in-noise understanding, and however are not using hearing aids. Both groups will train over a period of 6 weeks with two different training programs (a bottom-up and a top-down). Evaluation of training outcome based on behavioral measures and auditory evoked responses before and at the end of the training as well as more than 2 months after the end of the training. As being part of fundamental research in auditory neuroscience, the study will generate important information to optimize individual care in the clinical auditory rehabilitation process.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Canada
• Host: Dr. Bernhard Roß