Listening, Learning and the Brain

 


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The Listening, Learning, and the Brain project, an ongoing project in the Auditory Neuroscience Lab, is a combined effort of experts in speech perception, learning disabilities and neurophysiology.   Our goal is to understand normal and impaired auditory function in order to help children read and communicate better.  Specifically, we are looking at how the brain responds to speech and how this relates to reading and learning.

An important aspect of the project is relating the brain's activity to how children consciously hear speech. Children participate in a variety of tests to address this relationship.   Speech perception tests simulate a real world situation such as a noisy classroom.  Neurophysiologic testing reflects how the brain responds to speech.  For these tests, sensors are placed on the  head and a computer  records the  brain's activity while the child hears speech sounds.

Children enjoy participating in the Listening, Learning, and the Brain project. During the neurophysiologic part, children watch their favorite videos while they listen to speech sounds. Throughout testing, researchers talk to the children about the brain and are happy to answer questions.

More than 1000 children have participated in the project so far, which is located on the Evanston Campus of Northwestern University. The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and is administered by the departments of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology & Physiology, and Linguistics.

Children who are 8-12 years old are invited to participate in the Listening, Learning, and the Brain project. Children who are typical readers or have reading disabilities are eligible.  Test sessions can last anywhere from 2-3 hours and a complete data set consists of 5 test sessions. We offer after-school appointments Monday through Friday as well as some appointments on Saturdays during the school year. Appointments are avilable throughout the day during the summer. Scheduling is flexible. Children are paid $10/hour in cash at the end of each test session for their participation and receive a T-shirt at the completion of the entire data set. Please be aware that these measures are experimental and cannot be interpreted as any type of formal diagnosis.

If you and your child are interested in becoming a part of this research, please call (847) 491-2457.

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Click for information on BioMAP (Biological Marker of Auditory Processing) - Clinical Technology

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Supported by NIH NIDCD R01 DC01510-10