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Study looks at how brains process sound By Barbara Ruben When older adults have trouble hearing, there is often more at play than just not being able to hear the sounds of a conversation. “It’s not just how you hear, in terms of when you hear a beep and raise your hand on that kind of hearing test,” said Samira Anderson, an assistant professor in the
University of Maryland’s Dept. of Hearing and Speech Sciences. “Your ears could be fine, but something’s going on in the way the brain is processing sound, how fast it is traveling to your brain. That’s why people start to have trouble hearing with background noise, we think,” Anderson said.
She and her colleagues are now trying to learn more about how the brain responds to sound in order to eventually find new ways to help people hear better.
Volunteers 60+ needed The study is currently seeking volunteers between 60 and 75 years of age for a study on auditory processing. For now, the study is recruiting those who have normal hearing in both ears and have no history of neurological or middle ear disorders. However, this fall Anderson said she will add participants who have hearing loss, but who are not yet wearing hearing aids. Those participating in the study will visit the University of Maryland’s hearing lab for three hours. There they will have both hearing and cognition tests. “We do cognitive testing because there are certain things that relate to how well you hear a noise,” Anderson said. “If you have a higher vocabulary, you can better fill in the context of things you’re hearing, or if you have a better memory, then you can remember the first part of the conversation and fill in the gaps.” To measure how sound is perceived by the
brain, electrodes will be placed several places on the skin, and participants will also wear a cap with electrodes as they listen to sounds. Auditory processing will be recorded. “The nice thing about it is, the [processing results] can be obtained without the participant having to do anything. So it’s a passive test. In fact, participants watch a movie with subtitles to pass the time. We just advise them not to pick a musical,” Anderson said.
Compensation for your time In addition to the initial three hours of testing, participants can choose to come back for an additional eight to nine hours. Participants are paid $10 per hour. The researchers plan to use the information obtained from the study to plan treatment programs, including brain training methods to help one’s brain process sound more quickly. Another outcome might be improved hearing aids. “Hearing aids improve hearing so you can actually hear what is being said, but they aren’t so great at helping you process what is being said,” Anderson said. For more information, call (301) 4054224 or email hearingbrainlab@gmail.com.
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