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Characterizing the recovery of spectral, temporal, and phonemic speech information from visual cues

Award Number: R01DC020717
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 02/14/2023
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 01/31/2028

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Characterizing the recovery of spectral, temporal, and phonemic speech information from visual cues - Project Summary Auditory speech perception is essential for social, vocational, and emotional health in hearing individuals. However, the reliability of auditory signals varies widely in everyday settings (e.g., at a crowded party), requiring supplemental processes to enable accurate speech perception. The principle mechanisms that support the perception of degraded auditory speech signals are auditory-visual (crossmodal) interactions, which can perceptually restore speech content using visual cues provided by lipreading, rhythmic articulatory movements, and the natural correlations present between oral resonance and mouth shape. Moreover, receptive speech processes can be limited through a variety of causes, including intrinsic brain tumor, stroke, cochlear implant usage, and age-related hearing loss, making compensatory crossmodal mechanisms necessary for one to continue working and maintaining healthy social interactions. However, the physiological processes that enable vision to facilitate speech perception remain poorly understood and no integrative model exists for how these multiple visual dimensions combine to enhance auditory speech perception. In the auditory domain, distributed populations of neurons encode spectro-temporal information about acoustic cues that are then transcoded into phonemes. We propose a dual-route perceptual model through which visual signals integrate with phoneme- coded neurons. First, a direct path through which viseme-to-phoneme conversions generate semi-overlapping distributions of activity in the superior temporal gyrus, leading to improved hearing through improved auditory phoneme tuning functions. Second, an indirect path through which visual features restore spectral information about speech frequencies and alter phoneme-response timing, resulting in improved auditory spectro-temporal profiles (which in turn are transcoded into phonemes with greater precision). Finally, we will examine the hypothesis that our perceptual system optimizes which of these visual dimensions is prioritized for recovery based on what is missing from the auditory signal. These studies will provide a unified framework for how speech perception benefits from different visual signals. By understanding biological approaches to crossmodally restoring degraded auditory speech information, we can develop better targeted rehabilitation programs and neural prostheses to maximize speech perception recovery after trauma or during healthy aging.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $533,425 )
2026	2026	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	1109 GEDDES AVE STE 3300	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	4	2/10/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$53,342
2026	2026	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	1109 GEDDES AVE STE 3300	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	1/7/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$480,083
														Subtotal = $533,425

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $537,325 )
2025	2025	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	1109 GEDDES AVE STE 3300	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	3	6/3/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$53,732
2025	2025	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	1109 GEDDES AVE, SUITE 3300	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	1/20/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$483,593
														Subtotal = $537,325

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $524,946 )
2024	2024	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	1109 GEDDES AVE, SUITE 3300	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	5/7/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$52,494
2024	2024	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	1109 GEDDES AVE, SUITE 3300	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	1/10/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$472,452
														Subtotal = $524,946

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $550,391 )
2023	2023	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	503 THOMPSON STREET	ANN ARBOR	MI	48109	WASHTENAW	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	2/14/2023	NEW	$550,391
														Subtotal = $550,391

Grand Total All Awards = $2,146,087

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Characterizing the recovery of spectral, temporal, and phonemic speech information from visual cues

Award Number: R01DC020717

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 02/14/2023

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 01/31/2028

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