Cochlear Implants
Dr. Marcia Hay-McCutcheon
The long term goals of Dr. Hay-McCutcheon’s research projects are to identify how potential age-related declines associated with working memory capacity and attention affect perception, and in turn how perception is associated with physiological outcomes in adults who use cochlear implants. In her laboratory frequency discrimination and word understanding tests are used to assess speech perception, digit span, reading span and operational span tests are used to assess working memory capacity and the Coordinated Response Measure is used to assess selective auditory attention. In addition, cortical electrophysiological responses are used to identify the physiological correlates of perception. It is hoped that the information obtained from these assessments will significantly improve our ability to accurately diagnose speech comprehension deficiencies and to provide effective treatment options for older adults who use cochlear implants.