Research & Clinical Trials
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对出生时耳聋的动物模型的研究提供了对影响大脑结构和功能的广泛环境的见解, particularly as related to a child's ability to learn through developmental stages.We have examined the role that deafness plays in changing the connections within the hearing pathway. 我们已经研究了“关键时期”的概念，在此期间，大脑可以利用恢复的听力打开机会之窗，以更好地使用口语. Our results suggest that neural connections appear structurally normal very early in life, then begin deafness-induced changes in the pattern of contact between auditory cells in the brain. 在动物模型中使用人工耳蜗的研究表明，人工耳蜗能够逆转耳聋引起的神经变化，而神经变化对听觉通路的活动引入至关重要.
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The Cochlear Implant Center tracks educational progress of children with a cochlear implant by using an educational resource matrix (ERM). 该矩阵是根据以下观察编制的，即进入主流教室环境往往会在开始时增加对支助服务的需求, such as interpreters and speech-language therapists. 对植入助听器的学龄儿童的随访表明，与听力相近但使用助听器的儿童相比，这些儿童参加主流教育的比例要高得多，需要的支持服务水平也要低得多. 长期跟踪植入儿童的教育成果继续作为人工耳蜗康复评估的一部分.
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对儿童人工耳蜗有效性的评估主要集中在语言感知和标准化测试中的语言表现上. Because the ultimate goal of cochlear implantation is to facilitate the use of spoken language, there is a clear need to evaluate the strategies adopted by implanted children in spontaneous communication. This information can also guide therapy to promote language learning.
To expand on our assessment of the implant experience in young children, 人工耳蜗中心(Cochlear Implant Center)开发了一种视频分析方法，可以评估幼儿的新语言，甚至对标准化测试没有帮助的幼儿也是如此. Results reveal significant gains in language acquisition in implanted children, who have nearly triple the rate of expressive vocabulary growth compared to children using hearing aids.
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早期识别听力损失和获得早期人工耳蜗植入的结合引发了对教育结果的兴趣, economics, emotional development, and cultural effects. The Cochlear Implant Center is studying the emergence of one important aspect of educational success - reading. 我们的研究正在探索一种方法，通过这种方法，新恢复的对单词中包含的所有语音频率的访问可以用来创造机会，获得成为有效读者所需的技能.
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The Cochlear Implant Center leads a large multicenter study of the impact of early cochlear implantation on childhood development. The Childhood Development after Cochlear Implantation (CDaCI) study is funded by the NIH. The goal of this longitudinal study is to determine the predictive value of variables as they relate to communication, behavior and educational outcomes of cochlear implantation in young children. CDaCI的研究解决了在各种操作技能迅速发展的幼儿听力恢复条件下语言发展的复杂性. CDaCI的研究还有助于确定医疗和听力评估工具以及亲子互动对口语水平的影响, speech recognition, selective attention, psychosocial developmental milestones, and quality of life attained with early cochlear implantation.
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In addition to speech, the cochlear implant is capable of transmitting other complex sounds. 人工耳蜗中心参与了与美国国立卫生研究院(NIH)的合作研究，研究人工耳蜗如何传递音乐中包含的复杂信息. By studying patterns of brain activity, 有可能设计改进的声音编码方法和训练策略，以提供对语音和音乐中包含的复杂声音的更充分的欣赏.
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Like hearing, the sense of balance is based in the ear. Children and adults with severe hearing loss occasionally experience dizziness, vertigo or imbalance before or after cochlear implantation. Extended periods of vertigo and imbalance are rare but, when present, are treatable with exercise programs designed to elicit the brain's natural corrective mechanisms. 人工耳蜗中心的研究已经导致了诊断测试和治疗方法的发展，可以限制平衡障碍的风险，并帮助指导选择人工耳蜗植入的耳朵.
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约翰霍普金斯大学的结果研究评估了对整体健康和生活质量的影响，以确定人工耳蜗提供的实际益处. Implant users surveyed before and after their operation report dramatic results. 这些评估表明，人工耳蜗在其对生活质量和成本效益的积极影响方面排名极高. 利用人工耳蜗中心建立的模型对前庭植入进行的前瞻性研究表明，前庭植入也可能具有很高的成本效益.
Laboratories Affiliated with The Cochlear Implant Center
以下研究实验室目前正在进行与影响人工耳蜗中心患者的内耳疾病相关的研究.
Auditory Brainstem Laboratory
The overall goal of the Auditory Brainstem Library is to understand how abnormal auditory input from the ear affects the brainstem, and how the brain in turn affects activity in the ear through efferent feedback loops. Our emphasis is on understanding the effects of different forms of acquired hearing loss (genetic, conductive, noise-induced, age-related, traumatic brain injury-related) and environmental noise. We are particularly interested in plastic changes in the brain that compensate for some aspects of altered auditory input, and how those changes relate to central auditory processing deficits, tinnitus, and hyperacusis. Understanding these changes will help refine therapeutic strategies and identify new targets for treatment. We collaborate with other labs in the Depts. of Otolaryngology, Neuroscience, Neuropathology, the Wilmer Eye Institute, and the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins, in addition to labs outside the university to increase the impact and clinical relevance of our research.
Principal Investigator: Amanda Lauer, Ph.D., M.S.
Bowditch Research Group
Bowditch Research Group conducts research regarding speech discrimination in background noise, cochlear implants and osseointegrated hearing devices.
Principal Investigator: Stephen Bowditch, Au.D., M.S.
Carey Research Group
John Carey’s Research Group conducts research regarding diseases of the inner ear that affect both balance and hearing mechanisms. Key interests include superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS), the normal vestibular reflexes and how they change with age, novel intratympanic treatments (i.e., middle ear injections) for conditions like Menière’s disease and sudden hearing loss, and the mechanisms of vestibular migraine. With Lloyd Minor, Dr. Carey helped develop the operation to repair the superior canal in patients with SCDS using image-guided surgery. Dr. Carey得到了美国国家卫生研究院-国家耳聋和其他交流障碍研究所的资助，研究meni
Principal Investigator: John Carey, M.D.
Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health
The Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health is dedicated to training clinicians, researchers and public health experts to study and address the impact that hearing loss has on older adults and public health. We aim to make measured local, national and global impacts through a macro level (e.g., public policy legislation), micro level (e.g., programs to deliver hearing care to individuals in a particular community), and everywhere in between (e.g., influential research publications, etc.)坚持我们中心的总体使命和愿景，即有效优化老龄化社会的健康和功能，成为听力损失和公共卫生领域开创性研究和培训的首要全球资源.
Principal Investigator: Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Glowatzki Lab
Research in the Glowatzki Lab focuses on the auditory system, with a particular focus on synaptic transmission in the inner ear.
Our lab is using dendritic patch clamp recordings to examine mechanisms of synaptic transmission at this first, critical synapse in the auditory pathway. With this technique, 我们可以以独特的高分辨率诊断递质释放的分子机制(这是每个传入神经元的唯一输入)。, and relate them directly to the rich knowledge base of auditory signaling by single afferent neurons.
We study pre- and post-synaptic mechanisms that determine auditory nerve fiber properties. 这种方法将有助于研究突触传递的一般原理，特别是识别遗传性听神经病变和其他耳蜗功能障碍的分子底物.
Principal Investigator: Elisabeth Glowatzki, Ph.D.
Vestibular NeuroEngineering Lab
Research in the Vestibular NeuroEngineering Lab (VNEL) focuses on restoring inner ear function through “bionic” electrical stimulation, inner ear gene therapy, and enhancing the central nervous system’s ability to learn ways to use sensory input from a damaged inner ear. VNEL research involves basic and applied neurophysiology, biomedical engineering, clinical investigation and population-based epidemiologic studies.
Principal Investigator: Charles Della Santina, M.D., Ph.D.
