CFH1b Career Establishment - Investigating the causes of changes in hearing ability using brain stimulation

Loss of hearing is a highly prevalent health issue which occurs as people age. Age-related hearing-impaired listeners suffer from a weaker acoustic signal entering the auditory system but this is confounded with age-related changes in cognitive abilities and it is therefore difficult to determine to what extent an individual’s listening difficulties can be ascribed to each of these factors. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) temporarily disrupts neuronal activity in selected brain areas and can be used to investigate brain function. Although TMS has not been widely used to study the auditory system, recent research has demonstrated its viability as an approach. This project therefore asks: 1) does the auditory brain respond differently to TMS as a person ages? 2) are the effects of TMS on auditory perception loudness dependent? The ultimate aim of the project is to use TMS on hearing impaired listeners to distinguish cognitive and peripheral sources of hearing loss.