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Neuro-rehabilitation Approach for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Published on: January 25, 2016
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Speech Coding in the Midbrain: Effects of Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Laurel H Carney1, Duck O Kim2, Shigeyuki Kuwada2
1Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA. Laurel.Carney@Rochester.edu.
Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
|April 16, 2016
Summary
Hearing loss disrupts auditory nerve (AN) responses to speech. Computational models show how impaired ears reduce the contrast in AN F0-synchronized rates across best frequencies (BF), impacting speech processing.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Speech Processing
- Computational Auditory Neuroscience
Background:
- Auditory-nerve (AN) fibers phase-lock to speech sound harmonics and fundamental frequency (F0).
- In healthy ears, nonlinearities create distinct frequency channel dominance (harmonic vs. F0).
- This results in a robust F0-synchronized rate pattern across best frequencies (BF), transformed in the midbrain (IC).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how sensorineural hearing loss affects F0-synchronized rate profiles in the auditory nerve.
- To model the impact of hearing impairment on neural coding of speech sounds.
- To understand the transformation of temporal coding to rate coding in the inferior colliculus (IC) under impaired conditions.
Main Methods:
- Utilized computational models of auditory-nerve (AN) and inferior colliculus (IC) neurons.
- Simulated responses to voiced speech sounds in both healthy and impaired ear models.
- Analyzed F0-synchronized rate profiles across best frequencies (BF) under different hearing loss conditions.
Main Results:
- Sensorineural hearing loss generally reduces the contrast in AN F0-synchronized rates across BF.
- Reduced synchrony capture and wider peripheral tuning diminish harmonic dominance and F0 amplitude.
- Elevated thresholds can increase F0-synchrony by reducing rate saturation effects.
Conclusions:
- Hearing impairment significantly alters the F0-synchronized rate profiles established by the auditory nerve.
- Computational models effectively illustrate the mechanisms by which hearing loss impacts neural coding of speech.
- Understanding these alterations is crucial for developing better hearing loss interventions and speech processing strategies.
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