Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory
Laboratory Focus
The Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Barrow Neurological Institute conducts translational and clinical research focused on maximizing hearing health. The objectives of this groundbreaking research are:
- To improve patients’ overall well-being
- To maximize patients’ health span, which refers to the part of a person’s life during which they are generally in good mental and physical health
Led by the Auditory Neuroscience Lab Research Director Tony Spahr, PhD, MBA, CCC-A, and Chief Surgical Neurotologist Shawn Stevens, MD, FACS, the laboratory strives to integrate auditory neuroscience, neurophysiology, and health-care delivery research to improve the lives of hearing-impaired people.
The breadth of this work spans the varied presentations of hearing loss, tinnitus, cochlear implantation for hearing restoration, and auditory cortical plasticity (how the brain processes hearing). The Lab is also working in collaboration with other Barrow neuroscientists to study the emerging field of auditory neuromodulation, which describes the use of technology to augment hearing, tinnitus, and neural processing. Finally, the Auditory Neuroscience Lab is hard at work in the domain of translational hearing health science and clinical efficiency in hearing health-care delivery.
Scientific Rationale
Standard audiologic assessments provide essential diagnostic information but offer limited insight into how hearing loss affects cognitive effort, stress physiology, communication behavior, and neural organization (how hard a brain has to work to hear). Our research overcomes the limits of traditional hearing testing by combining highly controlled sound delivery with sophisticated neuropsychological, behavioral, and physiologic measurements. This allows us to better characterize the impact of hearing loss and the effectiveness of available treatments.
A central goal of the Lab is to generate data that can inform:
• Clinical candidacy and counseling for hearing technologies
• More advanced evaluations of cochlear implant and hearing aid performance
• Development of novel therapies and care pathways for conditions such as tinnitus
Research Infrastructure
The laboratory is establishing an advanced auditory research environment designed to support studies of complex listening and neural response under ecologically valid conditions.
Core infrastructure includes:
- A fully sound-isolated anechoic chamber with multichannel spatial audio capability
- Programmable visual environments synchronized with acoustic stimuli
- Integrated audio, video, and behavioral monitoring
- Noninvasive neuroimaging
- Speech analysis
Neurophysiology and Multimodal Measurement
The lab employs and develops methods to study how hearing loss and its treatment affect the central nervous system and associated physiological systems.
Approaches include:
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess cortical activation and listening effort during auditory tasks
- Measures of cortical plasticity and reorganization following cochlear implantation
- Facial analysis, motion tracking, eye tracking, and body-worn sensors to quantify effort, stress, attention, and task engagement
- Immersive virtual and augmented environments to study multisensory integration in controlled but realistic contexts
These methods enable longitudinal assessment of neural and behavioral change associated with treatment and rehabilitation.
Active Research Projects
Neural and Functional Impact of Hearing Loss
Ongoing studies examine how untreated and treated hearing loss influences cognitive effort, stress responses, and neural activation during communication tasks. These projects integrate spatial audio testing with physiological and cortical measures to identify markers that are not captured by conventional audiologic testing.
Cortical Plasticity and Cochlear Implant Outcomes
In collaboration with academic universities and industry partners, the Laboratory investigates cortical reorganization following cochlear implantation, including:
• Longitudinal measures of neural response to auditory stimulation
• Direct and indirect cortical recordings in implant users
• Relationships between neural metrics, speech outcomes, and listening effort
This work builds on prior NIH-funded research and contributes to improved understanding of variability in cochlear implant performance.
Real-World Listening, Effort, and Device Evaluation
The Laboratory conducts comparative and feasibility studies of cochlear implant and hearing aid technologies in complex listening environments, including diffuse noise and conversational settings. These studies aim to quantify effort, localization, and communication effectiveness using objective physiological and behavioral metrics.
Clinical Efficiency and Alternative Care Models
Research in this area focuses on identifying inefficiencies in current hearing-care pathways, particularly for cochlear implant candidates and recipients. Active projects include:
• Workflow analysis of referral, evaluation, surgery, and follow-up
• Evaluation of remote services and self-assessment tools
• Measurement of patient burden, clinical utilization, and satisfaction
