Research

A major theme of the lab’s research is the study of auditory processing disorders, especially tinnitus. Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is often associated with hearing loss, but not everyone with hearing loss develops it. It is estimated that nearly 50 million Americans experience it. Dr. Husain has initiated MRI experiments to understand why some individuals with hearing loss develop tinnitus whereas others do not. The lab continues to study the neural bases of tinnitus using behavioral, modeling, and MRI tools. Using detailed audiological assessments and behavioral studies, we plan to link subjective markers of tinnitus with objective neuroimaging data. Computational modeling is then utilized to account for both the behavioral and imaging datasets. While there is no cure for tinnitus, various management strategies and therapies can alleviate symptoms. The ultimate goal of our research is to contribute to a better evaluation of current therapies and to the development of new treatments.

More information regarding symptoms and clinical management can be found through the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), and the American Tinnitus Association (ATA).

Image credit: Harvard Health Publishing

The lab conducts experiments to delineate the neurological, psychological, and audiological bases of decreased sound tolerance, such as misophonia and hyperacusis. Misophonia is a condition that causes individuals to have an involuntary, negative emotional and physical reaction to specific trigger sounds. Hyperacusis is characterized by an increased sensitivity to everyday environmental sounds that causes significant distress and interferes with daily activities.

Dr. Husain has initiated MRI experiments, including functional and resting-state imaging, to investigate the neural bases of these disorders. Furthermore, detailed audiological and psychological evaluations performed in the lab aid in understanding the acoustic characteristics and psychological impacts of these conditions. This comprehensive profiling will aid in developing computational models to explain their underlying neural mechanisms. This research is proudly supported by a grant from the Misophonia Research Fund.

Image credit: PAC Audiology

Dr. Husain has developed computational models of auditory perception in the cortex and conducted fMRI studies to verify these models (Husain et al., 2004). The model processes simple, non-speech sounds such as tonal sweeps. This framework has been successfully used to investigate the neural bases of the auditory continuity illusion (Husain et al., 2005).

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Categorization sits at the junction of sensory perception and higher-level cognition, enabling us to investigate the stages of processing beyond initial auditory encoding. Dr. Husain has conducted fMRI (Husain et al., 2006a) and functional connectivity studies (Husain et al., 2006b) into how the brain categorizes simple speech tokens (vowels, CV syllables) and non-speech sounds (tones, tonal sweeps). The lab has also investigated the neural mechanisms of categorization regarding sign language and manual gestures in both Deaf signers and hearing non-signers.

Image credit: Arai Laboratory

In the past, Dr. Husain has studied the acquisition of second-language phonemes by adult learners, specifically the acquisition of American English vowels by native Spanish speakers. More recently, the lab has initiated studies to track neural and behavioral shifts during the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones by older adults.

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