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Current Projects:

• Developmental psychoacoustics
• Central Auditory Processing Disorders in Children
• The Impact of Noise on Auditory Processing and Learning Skills in Children

Developmental psychoacoustics

Research conducted in the Child Hearing Research Laboratory is directed at improving understanding of how young preschool and school aged children use their hearing to understand their auditory world. Many of the models of adult auditory processing are applied and tested within a developmental framework. Several findings consistently emerge from these studies.

First, children generally perform more poorly than adults on auditory detection, discrimination, and encoding tasks. Second, the variability between children of the same age is often very large. Third, maturation for children as a group is gradual over several years yet individual maturation appears to be quite rapid but occurs at very different times for different children. Our work seeks to understand the normal developmental processes so that when children with auditory processing difficulties are evaluated we can separate immaturity from dysfunction and determine what may be the most significant auditory processes for normal development of communication skills. [Funding is provided by an individual research grant to P. Allen from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada]

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Central Auditory Processing Disorders in Children

A child's ability to not only hear sounds, but to understand what is heard, is likely important to academic and social development. For some children, such as those diagnosed with central auditory processing disorders, the understanding of sounds may be compromised. This research will attempt to improve audiologic assessment of children with suspected auditory processing disorders.

Studies will address the relationship between auditory and non-auditory skills, such as attention; the description of the time course of auditory perceptual development for both individual and age-related groups of children; improved audiologic assessment of children with auditory processing difficulties with a focus on auditory perceptual learning; and exploration of the biological substrates of auditory perception. Funding is provided by a project grant from the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network.

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The Impact of Noise on Auditory Processing and Learning Skills in Children

Children are often asked to learn in rooms that exceed recommended noise levels. The impact of these high noise levels on academic performance and learning has not been well documented. Our laboratory will initiate a new series of studies measuring the impact of noise on measurements of academic ability, learning, and achievement.

Because children's perceived difficulty working in noise may also affect their attitudes toward learning and independent work in the classroom, the qualitative effects of noise will also be evaluated.

These studies will suggest how noise impacts on the measurement of current skill levels and the learning of new skills, both of which have implications for long term achievement. Funding is provided by a project grant from the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network.

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Other NCA labs include

Anechoic Chamber | Assistive Devices | Child Amplification |
Child Hearing Research | Digital Signal Processing | Speech Communication | Electrophysiology | Hearing Research Clinic | Hearing Science  | Robert B. Johnston Aural Rehabilitations