麻豆社区

Otitis media (OM) is among the most common childhood diseases, affecting up to 60% of children by age seven. While the infection—and its related conductive hearing loss—often resolve, repeated episodes in early life can interfere with the brain’s ability to combine the input from both ears, known as binaural hearing. One crucial cue for binaural hearing that seems to be affected is interaural time differences (ITDs), which reflect the brain’s ability to detect small differences in sound arrival time between the ears—essential for sound localization. Disrupting this ability during key developmental stages may lead to long-lasting difficulties in understanding speech in complex acoustic environments, such as noisy classrooms, which could potentially impact these children’s learning and behavior.

This PhD project uses electroencephalography, psychoacoustic listening tasks, and virtual reality simulations to investigate how early-childhood OM affects binaural hearing. The aim is to identify neural and behavioral markers of ITD sensitivity and evaluate its effect on real-world listening. Ultimately, the results aim to support the development of new diagnostic techniques to detect listening issues in children with a history of early-childhood OM, thereby ensuring that these children receive the necessary audiological support rather than being overlooked.