Objective Assessment of Auditory Pathway Integrity and Functional Hearing Abilities
Abstract
In preparation for imminent hair cell regeneration clinical trials, it is essential to develop a systematic approach to assess the degree of functional hearing restoration as the regeneration of hair cells, the reintegration of these cells and their associated neural pathways within the auditory system, and the reorganization of the auditory cortex to newly restored sound inputs progresses over time. Therefore, the purpose of developing a functional assessment battery is to provide multiple opportunities to demonstrate success, from early physical reintegration of the cochlea through the thalamus-cortical pathway (such as tests of outer and inner hair cell, brainstem, and efferent system activity), to simple and more complex sound discrimination, such as frequency, duration, modulation discrimination crucial for understanding speech in noisy environments. To demonstrate the utility of this behavioral and physiological assessment battery, listeners with a wide range of hearing loss from normal hearing to moderate-to-severe hearing loss will be evaluated to establish expected values for different degrees of hearing damage. To validate the repeatability of the proposed assessment battery, a subset of listeners with varying degrees of hearing loss will be tested on two occasions separated by roughly one month. Finally, the extent to which simple and complex pre-attentive discrimination abilities, as well as cochlear reintegration measures, can predict complex speech in noise performance will be evaluated.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1154964
Entities
People
- Kenneth W. Grant
Organizations
- Geneva Foundation