ALT · Adaptation, learning and training for spatial hearing in complex environments

Adaptation, learning and training for spatial hearing in complex environments

In everyday listening, humans are exposed to multiple concurrent auditory and speech stimuli in complex, continuously changing environments. To correctly extract relevant information, they adapt their processing to reflect the specifics of the current scene, they learn from previous experience and generalize across new settings. The current project advanced our understanding of the mechanisms that the brain uses to achieve adaptation and learning in complex listening environments. The main objectives of this research program were to 1) combine behavioral experiments, neural imaging, and computational modeling to study neural adaptation to reverberation for speech processing, sound localization and attentional processing in multi-talker environments, 2) develop a brain training computer game module that can enhance the listening capabilities of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners, and 3) organize workshops for students and young researchers to provide them with cognitive neuroscience training related to the consortium research activities. The main goal of the exchanges was to develop a program of collaborative research, clinical applications, workshops, and training activities that allowed the groups to combine the specific local expertise, special experimental equipment, and technical and methodological expertise available to only one of the groups. Also, the early-stage researchers of the collaborating groups were trained and familiarized with the equipment, methods, and facilities available to only one of the groups, resulting in establishing long-term collaborations among the groups. The results of the grant allow us to better understand the mechanisms underlying adaptation and learning in complex auditory environments. They are important advancements in the basic auditory neuroscience, but they also help us to better address the needs of special populations, including more effective brain training applications for the rehabilitation of people with auditory processing deficits, development of new prosthetic devices and new virtual reality technologies. Finally, the workshops, training and exchanges of expertise are resulting in the strengthening of the European Research Area and in the establishment of new long-term collaborations between EU and US researchers.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union