Auditory Plasticity Training

Description

The study has two aims:

1. Aim 1 – Speech in noise (SPiN) training: The training group will receive the SPiN training, while the active control group will play a variation of the main Listen game (frequency discrimination) that is not expected to improve speech recognition in noise. Participants will receive a tablet and earphones. The instructions will be explained, and they will practice and work with the experimenter to verify they understand how to run the training at home. Participants will do SPiN and Active Control training at home over 8 days, with up to two, 10 min sessions each day, for a total of 15 training sessions.
2. Aim 2 – Spacial hearing training: Two groups will be tested: training and control, and participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. The training group will receive Spatial Hearing training, which will be compared to no-contract controls. The study team will avoid withholding training from the controls by considering them a waitlist control group, which will then be offered the training after completing the study as a control participant.The training group does the same spatial hearing task on two days, but on every trial they are given feedback about how the location they thought the sound came from differed from the actual sound location.