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 2008 New Investigator Award

Patti Johnstone, PhD
University of Tennessee
Title: Sound Source Identification Ability and Minimum Audible Angel Thresholds in Children with Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss: The Effect of Amplification
Mentor: Anna Nabelek, PhD, University of Tennessee

Abstract: Little is known about how unilateral hearing loss affects spatial hearing in children and virtually nothing is known about how a hearing aid in the impaired ear might affect performance. Accurate sound localization (sound source identification) is a complex perceptual process that requires the integration of interaural disparities in intensity and time. A child who has been deprived of interaural cues, due to a unilateral hearing loss, might be expected to have difficulty localizing sounds. The proposed study will investigate the effect of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss on sound source identification abilities and minimum audible angle (MAA) thresholds in children. In addition, it will study the effect of using a hearing aid in the impaired ear on sound source identification and MAA in the horizontal plane in children with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Performance will also be compared to age –matched controls with normal hearing.

Acknowledgement: Special thanks to Dr. Anna K. Nabelek, emeritus research professor in the Audiology and Speech Pathology Department at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, who graciously and enthusiastically agreed to serve as my mentor on this project. I’m forever indebted to my doctoral studies advisor and research mentor, Dr. Ruth Y. Litovsky, associate professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and director of the Binaural Hearing and Speech Laboratory in the Waisman Center. She labored patiently to change a seasoned clinician into a budding scientist, and in the process of methods used in this research project. Thank you to Dr. Jack Katz, emeritus professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences at the University of Buffalo (SUNY) who recognized my research potential more than a decade before I could see it myself. He also instilled in me a love for clinical audiology and for all things “north of the cochlea.”

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