The objective of the study is to elucidate the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying naturalistic spatial hearing in ecologically valid listening scenes in normally hearing listeners.
ID
Source
Brief title
Condition
- Other condition
Synonym
Health condition
no condition, healthy volunteers
Research involving
Sponsors and support
Intervention
Outcome measures
Primary outcome
• Functional brain scans: Recording neural responses to naturalistic, spatial
sounds while participants perform a simple one-back memory task to ensure
attentive listening.
• Behavioural sound localisation task: Accuracy.
Secondary outcome
• Recording of spatial cues: Measurements of the head-related impulse response
(HRIR12,13).
• Structural brain scans: Map of brain anatomy in order to associate neural
responses to sound as measured with the functional brain scans to anatomical
locations in the brain.
• Hearing test: Hearing thresholds for pure tones.
Background summary
Our knowledge of the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying naturalistic
spatial hearing in humans is limited. This is a consequence of the complexity
and high-dimensional nature of spatial, naturalistic acoustic scenes, as well
as the technological difficulty of obtaining measurements of neural sound
processing in the small auditory nuclei in the human brainstem. Although recent
developments in the field of artificial intelligence show that deep neural
network models (DNNs) are highly successful at solving complex and
high-dimensional problems, they have not yet been applied as neurobiological
models of naturalistic spatial hearing. Furthermore, while technological
advances in the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) enable
unprecendented functional measurements of neural sound encoding in small
brainstem nuclei, these advances have yet to be used to study sound location
encoding. In the present project, we therefore combine deep neural network
models with ultra high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging (UHF fMRI, 7
Tesla) of the complete ascending auditory pathway from brainstem to cortex.
Study objective
The objective of the study is to elucidate the neurocomputational mechanisms
underlying naturalistic spatial hearing in ecologically valid listening scenes
in normally hearing listeners.
Study design
The present study is an observational study to assess sound location encoding
in the human auditory pathway. The study consists of five session. In Session
1, we measure the participant*s hearing thresholds (audiogram) and record the
participant*s spatial sound cues. Afterwards, participants perform a behavioral
sound localisation test. In Session 2 - 5, we make structural and functional
MRI brain scans. Participants listen to naturalistic sounds and perform a
simple one-back memory task while the functional MRI scans are made.
Study burden and risks
Participants visit the laboratory sites five times during the course of the
experiment. The experimental measures as well as the magnetic resonance imaging
implicate minimal burden and risk to the participants. Participants can
withdraw from the study at any moment. Participants do not benefit directly
from their participation in the experiment. However, the research outcomes
provide valuable knowledge about neural location encoding of real-life sounds
in real-world listening environments, thereby paving the way for future studies
involving hearing impaired listeners to guide the development of medical
interventions and assistive hearing technology.
Thomas van Aquinostraat 4
Nijmegen 6525 GD
NL
Thomas van Aquinostraat 4
Nijmegen 6525 GD
NL
Listed location countries
Age
Inclusion criteria
• 18 - 50 years old.
• Normal hearing as assessed with the hearing threshold measurement in Session
1 (that is, hearing thresholds > -20 dB).
Exclusion criteria
• A history of neurological and/or psychiatric disorders.
• Participants that do not meet the MRI safety criteria will be excluded from
the study:
- Epilepsy.
- Heart rhythm disorder.
- Diabetic.
- Large and/or ferromagnetic parts in the head (except for a dental wire).
- Active implant (e.g. pacemaker, neurostimulator, insulin pump, ossicle
prosthesis, or residual
leads).
o Claustrophobia.
o Pregnancy.
Design
Recruitment
Followed up by the following (possibly more current) registration
No registrations found.
Other (possibly less up-to-date) registrations in this register
No registrations found.
In other registers
| Register | ID |
|---|---|
| CCMO | NL86698.091.24 |