Title: Bigger is not better: Neural mechanisms of hearing loss and training in older adults
Speaker: Samira Anderson
Date: April 17, 2013; 12-1 PM
Room: LeFrak Hall Room 0135
Abstract:
Aging is accompanied by a loss of sensory function, and hearing impairment in particular can be especially devastating due to reduced communication ability. Improving audibility through amplification provides only a partial remedy; impaired speech processing may limit the benefits of increased auditory input. In addition to perceptual effects arising from damaged cochlear hair cells, there may also be secondary effects from sensory deprivation. Both animal and human models of sensorineural hearing loss demonstrate exaggerated neural encoding of the stimulus envelope – their responses to sound are actually bigger than responses in animals/humans with normal hearing. This effect may partly explain why older adults often report that speech, especially in noisy backgrounds, can be uncomfortably loud yet still unclear. Fortunately, auditory training seems to offset some of the deprivation effects of hearing loss – restoring response amplitudes to levels in line with those of normally hearing individuals.
