BRAIN WAVES FOR HEARING
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Measuring brain waves to better understand how we process and understand speech
IRAS ID
325402
Contact name
Anne Keitel
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Dundee
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
There are currently 430 million people worldwide with debilitating hearing loss (WHO) and this number will increase drastically over the next decades, due to the ageing population. Difficulties in conversations are experienced even with mild age-related hearing loss, which can lead to severe mental health problems. However, while some individuals require hearing aids early on, others deal surprisingly well with hearing loss, likely through compensatory cortical processes. Hence, even with the same objectively measured hearing loss, some individuals can understand speech better than others. In this project, we will discover why some individuals with hearing loss can understand speech better than others, even though they might present similar hearing abilities. We will comprehensively model brain rhythms involved in speech comprehension with different levels of hearing loss. Brain rhythms are rhythmic patterns of brain activation that have a role in all behavioural, perceptual, and cognitive processes. Individual brain rhythm profiles will be measured in resting-state electroencephalography recordings using our previously developed spectral fingerprinting approach. Speech comprehension will be measured in three listening situations that can be encountered in every day life, and that have been shown to be affected by hearing loss (namely noisy, rapid, and interrupted speech). Hearing levels will be measured using state-of-art, efficient machine learning procedures. This will be done in a large sample of the population, spanning all ages and backgrounds. The innovative combination of comprehensive electrophysiological analyses and detailed psycho-physical testing will lead to the most comprehensive picture to date about the role of intrinsic brain rhythms in speech perception in the typical population with varying levels of hearing loss.
REC name
London - Bromley Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/PR/1501
Date of REC Opinion
17 Jan 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion