Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Rochester received a $192,672 Project Grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), effective April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2030. This grant funds translational research investigating audiovisual spatial attention mechanisms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who experience auditory processing difficulties in noisy environments. The research combines electrophysiology (EEG), virtual reality (VR) technology, and neuropsychological assessment to identify neural mechanisms underlying speech-in-noise perception challenges and to inform the development of targeted interventions.

The project deliverables include: (1) neural signature characterization comparing audiovisual integration and spatial attention across typically developing children and those with ADHD-only, ASD-only, and comorbid ASD+ADHD diagnoses; (2) deep phenotypic profiling across cognitive, attentional, and sensory domains with neural-phenotypic correlation analysis to explain clinical heterogeneity; and (3) development of a prototype VR-based intervention leveraging identified spatial attention deficits as a mechanism-targeted treatment approach. This translational research addresses critical gaps in evidence-based interventions for communication disorders by disambiguating the respective contributions of audiovisual integration and spatial attention deficits to auditory processing impairment in neurodevelopmental populations.