Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) awarded the University of Pittsburgh a $643,170 Project Grant effective July 1, 2026, through April 30, 2031, under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173). The project investigates integrated neural, behavioral, and computational approaches to understand how temporal fine structure (TFS)—rapid sound fluctuations encoded through precise neural timing—influences speech perception in noisy, multi-talker environments. The research addresses significant clinical gaps, as current cochlear implants omit these cues, hearing aid algorithms can distort them, and adults with normal hearing thresholds often experience speech-in-noise difficulties due to altered TFS sensitivity.

The project delivers research findings through three coordinated objectives: (1) determining how variability in neural TFS coding predicts perceptual deficits using electroencephalography-based measures, machine learning models of auditory listening, pupillometry, and reaction time assessments in normal-hearing adults; (2) establishing causal links between degraded TFS cues and perceptual deficits through systematic manipulation of TFS in critical frequency bands; and (3) validating findings through computational modeling. Deliverables include empirical data on the relationship between neural TFS encoding and listening effort, mechanistic insights into speech perception in challenging acoustic environments, and evidence-based guidance for optimizing cochlear implant design and hearing aid signal processing algorithms to better preserve or restore TFS cues.