Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Why this research? Auditory perceptual abilities change across the lifespan, and these changes are due to both environmental and in-born factors. In general, hearing abilities decline with age, and hearing difficulties are one of the most commonly reported health issues for older adults. The main goal of this research proposal is to identify how environmental (e.g., noise exposure, music training, etc.) and in-born (e.g., genetics, personality, cognitive abilities, etc.) factors interact to enhance or reduce hearing abilities across the lifespan. Benefits: By identifying how in-born and environmental factors relate, and the neural mechanisms that underlie these interactions, future translational research will develop individualized auditory rehabilitation programs for older adults and those with hearing difficulties. Work to be done: The first line of research will examine if and how exposure to novel musical systems impacts auditory and cognitive abilities. Most non-musicians implicitly learn the rules of their cultural music system. The goal of this line of research is to identify the neural mechanisms that underlie the neurophysiological development of passive musical learning, and if learning new musical rules has any benefit to other cognitive domains. The second line of research will examine how short-term music-type training impacts auditory and cognitive abilities. Music training is quickly gaining traction as a potential tool to improve hearing and cognitive abilities in older adults. The goal of this line of research is to understand what specific components of music training give rise to these auditory and cognitive benefits. The last line of inquiry will examine how in-born genetic traits moderate the impact of noise exposure on the central auditory system. The goal of this work is to identify a set of genes that are related to hearing abilities in older adults. These genes could be used to identify people most at risk for age-related difficulties so that they can take proper precautions to preserve their hearing as they age.