As people get older, understanding speech in a noisy environment can become more difficult. The MUSC Hearing Research Program is seeking healthy adults between 25 and 89 years of age to participate in a research study to investigate the connection between listening difficulties and the brain. Payment is provided for participation and scheduling is flexible. The study involves two visits. Participants must be able to complete an MRI. Please contact us if you would like to participate in this research or learn more about our study.

This project examines how to improve speech understanding with cochlear implants (CIs), particularly for older CI recipients. While older individuals benefit from CI technology, performance is poorer than that of younger implanted adults for difficult listening tasks. The mechanisms that contribute to this variability are not well-understood. The current project examines how differences in brain structure and function may contribute to success with a cochlear implant. To compare, we will also be examining how older patients without cochlear implants understand speech in difficult listening situations.

Patients with chronic or episodic recurrent dizziness will track their vestibular symptoms with every episode in the iPhone application, Vertige. They will track their symptoms at the conclusion of every episode for a total of six (6) months. The app has a geolocation software that will pair environmental data (barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.) with symptoms. We will then analyze the data to evaluate for associations.

Older adults typically have trouble identifying the speech they hear, especially in noisy environments. Fortunately, compared to younger adults, older adults are better able to compensate for difficulties identifying the speech they hear by recruiting the visual system. However, the extent to which older adults can benefit from visual input, and how this influence relates to age-related changes in brain structure and function, have not been thoroughly investigated. The general purpose of this study is to determine how age-related changes in brain structure and function affect how well people hear and see. This study seeks participants with normal hearing to mild hearing loss, who also have normal or corrected-to-normal vision.