Kenneth Vaden, Ph.D.

Meet the Researcher

Kenneth Vaden, Ph.D. earned his Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of CA, Irvine with dissertation research mentored by Dr. Greg S. Hickok, and his postdoctoral research was mentored by Dr. Mark A. Eckert at the Medical University of SC.

As a Research Assistant Professor at the Medical University of SC, Dr. Vaden studies brain systems that support speech communication and how these change with age.

The Research

Medical University of South Carolina
Adaptive control of auditory representations in listeners with central auditory processing disorder

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is typically defined as impairment in the ability to listen and use auditory information because of atypical function within the central auditory system. The current study uses neuroimaging to characterize CAPD in older adults whose impaired auditory processing abilities could be driven by cognitive and hearing-related declines, in addition to differences in central auditory nervous system function. Functional neuroimaging experiments will be used to test the hypothesis that older adults with CAPD fail to benefit from top-down enhancement of auditory cortex representations for speech. In particular, activation of the adaptive control system in cingulo-opercular cortex is predicted to enhance speech representations in auditory cortex for normal listeners, but not to the same extent for older adults with CAPD. This project aims to develop methods to assess the quality of speech representations based on brain activity and characterize top-down control systems that interact with auditory cortex. The results of this study will improve our understanding of a specific top-down control mechanism, and examine when and how adaptive control enhances speech recognition for people with CAPD.

Research area: Speech Recognition; Neural Representations; Adaptive Control; Central Auditory Processing Disorder

Long-term goal: The long-term expected outcome from this line of research is to develop neural endophenotypes and methods to enhance characterization of CAPD. A control system that modulates auditory cortex activity could also provide a brain mechanism to guide future interventions.