Help UMD with a two-hour hearing study
Photo by Kaboompics.com on Pexels
As we get older, loud restaurants, stadium games and other background noises can interfere with our hearing. It may become harder to understand certain accents. Or perhaps you’re just not catching every word in a sentence.
If we get a standard hearing test, though, the audiogram may appear normal. What then?
The Hearing Brain Lab at the University of Maryland in College Park hopes to invent a new diagnostic tool that can detect subtle hearing changes that may not be revealed by an audiogram.
“What we’re trying to do is find a tool that can be used in the clinic,” said Samira Brake Anderson, Au.D., Ph.D., director and founder of the Hearing Brain Lab at the University of Maryland. “In order for you to understand speech, the sound has to go beyond the ears to the brain. You actually hear with your brain, so that’s why I call the lab the Hearing Brain Lab.”
The lab, which Anderson founded in 2013, is dedicated to researching how the brain processes auditory input throughout our lifespan.
Normal or hearing-impaired welcome
The lab is seeking volunteers ages 55 to 70 to help with its new study, known as the brain response study. You can have normal hearing or hearing loss to enroll. (Native English speakers only.)
The brain response study requires just two hours at the Hearing Brain Lab, and volunteers will be compensated afterward.
During the visit, participants will take a traditional hearing test, then a test that includes background noise. They’ll fill out a questionnaire on their hearing. Then the fun begins. Researchers will affix five electrodes on their forehead, ears and head and give them a recording of sounds, played with and without background noise.
All the while, Anderson said, “They relax and watch a movie [while] the test measures how well the brain is responding to the sound.”
So far people seem to enjoy the study, she said.
“People don’t usually mind participating in the study because it’s not a lot of work. They can pick a movie they like and relax. People forget about the sound — they just focus on the movie,” she said, which is muted and has subtitles.
“We tried to design the study so it’s easy,” Anderson said.
For more information or to enroll, call (301) 405-8362 or email hearingbrainlab@gmail.com and mention the brain response study.
