Hari Bharadwaj, Ph.D.
Meet the Researcher
Hari Bharadwaj received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and is currently a Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Prior to that, he received his M.S. and B.Tech., both in Electrical Engineering, from University of Michigan and Indian Institute of Technology, respectively.
The Research
Massachusetts General Hospital
A systems approach to characterization of subcortical and cortical contributions to temporal processing deficits in central auditory processing disorders
Increasingly in the clinic, children report difficulty in understanding speech in the presence of other competing sounds. When these children are able to detect faint tones normally and show no classic signs of other neurological disorders, they are labeled as having Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). Understanding speech in a noisy setting is complex and relies both on the representation of subtle sound features by the auditory system, and the brain’s ability to make use of this information. Thus, difficulty can arise for a variety of reasons. Indeed, difficulty communicating in noisy settings is reported in a wide range of diagnostic categories such as Language Delays, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Dyslexia among others. Yet, robust diagnostics that characterize CAPD – an auditory-specific disorder – as distinct from these other disorders are lacking. Here, we will use otoacoustic emissions and non-invasive brain imaging techniques (Electro/Magnetoencephalography) to passively measure how children’s inner ear, brainstem and cortex capture sound information. By examining the relationship between these measures and listening behavior, we aim to obtain a detailed objective test battery for the assessment of auditory function that would lead to novel clinical diagnostics for CAPD and provide clues for targeted intervention.
Research Area: Central Auditory Processing Disorders
Long-term goal: This line of research seeks to achieve two parallel goals:
To understand the physiological mechanisms that allow us to listen and communicate in noisy settings thereby illuminating why different groups of individuals have difficulty in such settings, and,
To leverage this understanding to develop non-invasive objective tools that can be used in the diagnosis and stratification (“subtyping”) of a diverse yet overlapping set of communication disorders.
