Disentangling Bottom-Up and Top-Down Aetiologies of Auditory Processing Disorder
Principle Investigator: Dr. Abin Kuruvilla-Mathew (University of Auckland). Associate Investigators: Prof. Suzanne Purdy (University of Auckland), Prof. Ian Kirk (University of Auckland), Prof. Peter Thorne (University of Auckland), and A/P Wayne Wilson (University of Queensland).
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a complex disorder that is unlikely to be purely from dysfunction of parts of the brain that process auditory information. Networks in the brain that facilitate attention also appear to be involved.
The overall goal of this study is to identify if there are deficits in attention networks that contribute to listening difficulties in APD. Activity in these networks in the brain in response to challenging auditory discrimination tasks will be monitored electrically and using brain imaging techniques (fMRI). Children and adolescents with typical or impaired auditory processing will be tested and the central hypothesis is that the subjects with APD will show reduced activation and connectivity of attentional networks than age-matched control subjects.
This study will help develop an important clinical paradigm to evaluate the interactive and individual roles of attentional or cognitive processes during challenging auditory discrimination tasks and will provide strong foundations for improved diagnosis and treatment of auditory processing difficulties in high risk groups such as children.