Year of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MIS)

Degree Name

Interdisciplinary Studies

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Experimental Psychology

Department or School/College

Interdisciplinary Studies Program

Committee Chair

Al Yonovitz, Ph.D

Commitee Members

Allen Szalda-Petree, Ph.D., Nancy Dold, Au.D.

Keywords

Backward Masking, Evoked Potentials, Central Auditory Processing Disorders, CAPD

Publisher

University of Montana

Subject Categories

Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Communication Sciences and Disorders | Speech and Hearing Science | Speech Pathology and Audiology

Abstract

Auditory processing disorders (APDs) affect a diverse range of people. These types of disorders impair auditory function, despite the outer, middle and inner ear maintaining proper function and health. APD is not necessarily related to auditory thresholds. When people with APD have difficulty discriminating sounds in connected speech, it may be due in part to an effect called Backward Masking (BM). Masking occurs when one stimulus inhibits another, which can lead to a variety of impairments. The neural locus of APDs is for the most part unknown, including the specific conditions which cause BM. A better understanding of these processes would lead to a greater ability to provide an intervention and therapy for APD. Responses have been well documented in a forward-masking paradigm, but not so under a backward masking condition. The significances of these backward masking responses are yielded through electrode signal input, a large degree of amplification and summation analyses of brain wave data. In this research a latency and amplitude deviance was detected in the early and middle stages of the auditory evoked response.

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© Copyright 2017 Silas Smith