Samira Anderson, Ph.D.

Meet the Researcher

Samira Anderson, Ph.D. uses electrophysiology to assess how the brain processes speech signals.

In particular, she is interested in the effects of aging and hearing loss on the brain’s speech processing. She uses her clinical experience as an audiologist to conduct translational work to address the speech understanding difficulties experienced by older adults, and to assess the impact of intervention (hearing aids, cochlear implants, and auditory training) on neural processing and speech understanding. Dr. Anderson is a General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons International award recipient. The Royal Arch Masons support Emerging Research Grants in the area of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD).

The Research

University of Maryland
Neural adaptation in new hearing aid users

Hearing loss is among the top three chronic health conditions of senior citizens, affecting approximately 50% of the population > 65 years. Despite this high prevalence of hearing loss, only 20% of senior citizens with hearing loss use a hearing aid. Why do senior citizens reject hearing aids after trying them, despite available advances in hearing aid technology? One possibility is that current hearing aid fitting practices focus on providing adequate volume but do not take into account what happens to the amplified signal as it travels along the brain’s pathways. Aging and hearing loss can have a detrimental effect on the brain’s sound processing, and at this time, we don’t understand the impact of hearing aid use on sound processing. Furthermore, the brain’s responses to amplified sound may change over the course of time to the extent that hearing aid settings may need to be re-adjusted. This study compares brainstem and cortical-evoked electroencephalographic responses to speech with and without hearing aids in individuals who have never worn hearing aids, and then evaluates changes in the brain’s responses to amplified speech over the course of 6 months. This information should help hearing aid program designers and audiologists to optimize the hearing aid fitting.

Research Area: Auditory Physiology; Central Auditory Processing; Hearing Loss; Hearing Aids

Long-term goal of research: The long-term goals of this project are to improve the hearing aid fitting process through assessment of the brain’s sound processing and to determine how this processing changes with hearing aid use over the course of six months. The use of brainstem and cortical-evoked electroencephalographic responses in the hearing aid fitting may help the clinician to understand why the hearing aid user is having difficulty understanding speech in certain difficult listening environments.