Research on the clinical pathology of auditory attention mechanisms

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H03831
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56050:Otorhinolaryngology-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Kawase Tetsuaki 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 大学院非常勤講師 (50169728)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 菅野 彰剛 東北大学, 工学研究科, 特任教授 (20578968) ; 坂本 修一 東北大学, 電気通信研究所, 教授 (60332524)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 聴覚的注意 / 脳磁図 / 眼球計測 / inattentional deafness

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Regarding the visualization of the pathology of the attentional mechanism and the elucidation of its mechanism, the following findings were obtained: 1) it is suggested that the informational masking mechanisms may be involved in the masking effects observed in patients with listening difficulties (LiD); 2) the use of steady-state noise (e.g. white noise and/or speech noise etc.) as a masker for speech intelligibility testing may underestimate the degree of listening problems of patients with LiD, 3) the use of everyday environmental sounds such as music and speech as a masker is recommended to visualize the symptoms of speech intelligibility in LiD patients, 4) there is a synergistic effect between auditory and visual stimuli that interfere the attention, 5) there is a strong correlation between listening ability in noisy environment and the selective attention ability.

Free Research Field

聴覚医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

Listening difficulties患者の聞き取り困難症状においては、選択的注意の問題が関連したinformational maskingメカニズムの関与の重要であることが明確に示されたが、本知見は、本症の注意障害に起因する聞き取り障害に対する臨床診断法の確立、治療アプローチの提言のための重要、かつ新規的な基礎的知見となる。
今回得られた知見の社会実装展開などにより、Listening difficultiesや、耳鳴などの注意メカニズムが関連した聴覚病理に対する診断、治療両面での新規的なアプローチが期待される。