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Neural Bases of Age-Related Hearing Loss

Project: "Neural Bases of Age-related Hearing Loss [NIH P01]"
Eligibility: Adults 18 years and older with or without hearing loss
Goal: Understand how hearing, speech perception, and listening in noise change with age. We are also investigating how the brain changes with different auditory inputs and the possibility of a hormonal correlation with hearing loss.
Contact Info: Auditory & Speech Sciences Laboratory; Email: assl@usf.edu; Phone: 813.974.4148; Mention the "P01 Aging Study."

Learn more... This research is part of a larger Program Project [P01] award from NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) titled "Aging auditory system: Presbycusis and its neural bases" and consisting of four major projects.  Project 1 is focused on investigation of age-related changes in spatial hearing or the brain's ability to represent auditory space.  We use spatial hearing to locate sound sources, to separate one sound from another, and to reduce the negative effects of background noise. A second major focus of Project 1 is to understand how the perception of essential acoustic features (spectral, temporal, and spectro-temporal features) changes with age.  These acoustic features form the basis for speech and music perception.  Our goal is to identify remediation targets and to begin to develop methods to overcome any age-related declines in auditory processing. To do this, we need volunteers who are young, middle-aged, and older (18 to 85 years old) with and without hearing loss. Participants listen to speech in the presence of background sounds or artificial sounds with special acoustic features to help us answer those questions. To better understand the neural basis of perception, we also use EEG recordings that involve listening to sounds while we record activity from the brain. Each of the aims have different inclusion criteria, see below.

  • Aim 1: Exploring the relationship between the hormone, aldosterone, and age related hearing loss. Participants for Aim 1 are between the ages of 58-76 years and have no more than a moderate high frequency sensorineural hearing loss. Aim 1 will require one or two visits per year for four years. Each visit will include a blood draw, several hearing tests including tones and speech-in-noise, as well as electrode recordings that involve listening to sounds while we record activity from the brain.
  • Aim 2: Examining changes in how the brain processes sound after wearing a sound generator. Participants for Aim 2 are within the ages of 18-38 years with normal hearing, or between the ages of 60-80 years with no more than a moderate high frequency sensorineural hearing loss. This study will require several 2-hour sessions over days or weeks. You will be fit with a sound generating device. Each visit will include several different hearing tests with speech and tones, listening tasks to answer key questions about auditory perception, and electrode recordings that involve listening to sounds while we record activity from the brain.
  • Aim 3: Determining how the hearing system changes after wearing an earplug in one ear for a short period of time. Participants for Aim 3 have normal hearing and are within the ages of 18-38 years, 43-57 years, or 65-80 years. This study will require several 2-hour sessions over days or weeks. You will be fit with an earplug. Each visit will include several different hearing tests with speech and tones, listening tasks to answer key questions about auditory perception, and electrode recordings that involve listening to sounds while we record activity from the brain.

Listening sessions will span several 2-hour sessions over days or weeks. We will evaluate your hearing status using conventional audiometry and engage you in several listening tasks to answer key questions about auditory perception. You will be compensated with an hourly payment for your participation.

Please contact us to participate!