Auditory Cognition
Our ability to hear is not purely audiological, but one that relies on the entire cognitive network dedicated to auditory processing. Much of the focus of research in the Speech and Hearing Sciences has been on finding the source of and treating hearing loss, often overlooking the broader cognitive systems that process the lower-level auditory inputs. While these medical models are successful in detecting and identifying hearing loss, they cannot explain hearing deficits that arise without audiological damage. Similarly, in the broader disciplines of Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience, little attention has been paid to general auditory cognition, with studies favoring the higher-level systems for spoken language. Auditory cognitive abilities undergird a variety of practical hearing domains such as language acquisition, adjusting to new listening environments, adaptability to speech in noise, effective sound localization and navigation. Auditory cognitive abilities may also play an important role in determining the impacts of hearing loss, and may explain why two individuals may have the same medical degree and cause of hearing loss, but show very different patterns of disruption in their lives. Such variability is well known in the field of Audiology, but remains largely unexplained. Comparatively little is known about auditory cognitive processes that lie in between audibility and language, and the goal of this project is to address these research gaps using an integrated cognitive neuroscience approach.
The primary goal of this project is to understand auditory cognition in a large sample of participants. We have developed a battery of tests designed to investigate auditory cognition via computer. These tests tap into auditory specific processes that link with larger cognitive mechanisms. Each test is adaptive, starting out easy, and getting harder over time. The adaptive nature of the tests allow us to study performance at levels well below maximum capacity, and increase difficulty until we reach capacity, and extend beyond to examine the system after it can no longer keep up. We use pupillometry as a measurement of neural resource management in all participants, and will conduct spot checks on 10% of participants using functional near infrared spectroscopy. Using an event-related paradigm, we are able to sample pupil dilation patterns 30 times per second across levels of difficulty for all tasks. Baseline pupil dilation data taken before each test in the battery allow us to compare dilation patterns to baseline for each task, and to track neural resource management as a function of fatigue across the entire experimental session. We will use stratified sampling in 8 decade-bounded age groups (starting at age 18), and will match the demographic information in the State of Minnesota within each age group. We will ask extensive demographic questions in order to understand how functional hearing in the world and other relevant factors influence performance on the test battery. Our overarching goal is to understand how auditory cognition varies across individuals, how this variability is influenced by demographic, educational, career and environmental factors, and how such factors give rise to functional hearing in the real world.
Some recent presentations of this work can be found below.
- Loebach J.L., Hendrickson, M.*, Thomas Rejimon, A,* Geibel, A,* Long, A.* & Petersen, E.* (2026). Assessment of Auditory Cognitive Resource Deployment on the Modified Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task using Pupillometry and fNIRS. Poster presented at the 2026 Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- Loebach, J.L., Sanchez, S.*, Guzman, M.*, Elahi, R.* (March 2023). Modifying the Paced Serial Addition Task to Investigate Auditory Cognition Using Pupillometry. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, San Francisco, CA.
- Sanchez, S.*, Guzman, M.*, Elahi, R.* & Loebach, J.L. (May 2022). A Modified Paced Serial Addition Task to Investigate Auditory Cognition Using Eye Tracking. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Conference, Chicago, IL.
- Almaraz, D.*, Carlson, B.*, Grafelman, E.*, Ingalls, J.*, Quintanilla, Y.*, Vu, T.* & Loebach, J.L. (May 2018). Pupillometry as a Measure of Auditory Cognitive Processes and Listening Effort. Poster presented at the 175th Annual Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Minneapolis, MN.
- Carlson, B.*, Grafelman, E.* & Loebach, J.L. (November, 2017). DIY Pupillometry of Auditory Cognitive Effortful Processing. Poster presented at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience session at the 46th Society for Neuroscience Conference, Washington, D.C.
- Carlson, B.M.*, Coffey, A.C.*, Rodriguez, M.P.*, Ruehlow, A.R.*, & Loebach, J.L. (November, 2016). The Influence of Auditory and Cognitive Factors on Perception in Cochlear Implants. Poster presented at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience session at the 46th Society for Neuroscience Conference, San Diego, CA.
- Riley, J.S.,* Rodriguez, M.P.,* Cash, B.J.,* Saulnier, K.,* & Loebach, J.L. (April, 2016). The influence of auditory and cognitive factors on cochlear implant rehabilitation. Poster presented at the Minnesota Speech and Hearing Association Spring Convention, Minnetonka, MN.