Hearing 'Workout' Helps Make Meaning From Noise

When conversations in crowded rooms turn into an unintelligible jumble, the natural assumption might be “there’s something wrong with my ears”—but the real problem might be in the brain.

As we age, paying attention to and understanding speech can become more challenging. Now, University of Maryland neuroscientists working in the KIT-Maryland Magnetoencephalography Center are pioneering methods to train the brain to better interpret the signals traveling from our ears.

In the newest installment of “Enterprise: University of Maryland Research Stories,” Professor Jonathan Simon of the Departments of Biology and Electrical and Computer Engineering and Associate Professor Samira Anderson of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences explain how innovative thinking and advanced technology are combining to make the world a better—and more comprehensible—place.