Computer-Based Auditory Rehabilitation

Neurological Treatment to Improve the Hearing in Noise Abilities of Older Adults With Hearing Impairments.

Hearing in noisy environments is a perceptual problem that is ubiquitous in modern industrialized societies. This particular listening context offers a particular challenge to individuals living with hearing impairment (30 million in US alone) even after treatment with hearing aids or cochlear implants. The ability of the brain to extract regularities from the environment and suppress distracting information can be improved with intensive cognitive training. The investigators will test whether the hearing in noise abilities of adults living with hearing impairment can be improved with a cognitive training paradigm.

Hearing impairment (HI) represents the most common cause of moderate to severe disability in the world, with an estimated prevalence of 636 million individuals (30 million in the US alone). Amplification devices (i.e., hearing aids) are commonly used to compensate for HI stemming from acoustic trauma, ototoxic insult, normal aging or other sources of cochlear degeneration. The chief complaint of individuals with HI is hearing in the types of noisy environments that characterize most work, educational, and social situations. Unfortunately, hearing aids do not completely address the perceptual impairments in these situations. That is because the difficulties that individuals with HI have hearing in noise result from the reduced salience of cues that are used to sort out auditory scenes. Making sounds louder improves audibility, but does not afford adaptation of the brain to the abnormal coding of sensory information by the damaged cochlea. The investigators will test whether the hearing in noise abilities of adults living with hearing impairment can be improved with a cognitive training paradigm.

Presbycusis, Hearing In Noise, Hearing Impairment, Hearing Loss, Aging, Plasticity, Video Games, Perceptual Learning

Participants will report words spoken by a target speaker while several speakers serve as distractors.

Inclusion Criteria: Binaural sensorineural hearing impairment Use of binaural hearing aids Native English Speaker Exclusion Criteria: Significant cognitive impairment Significant motor impairment History of neurological disease/head trauma Use of psychotropic and thyroid medications

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