---
title: "Hearing 'Workout' Helps Make Meaning From Noise"
date: 2023-09-26T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/hearing-workout-helps-make-meaning-from-noise"
section: Articles
---
# Hearing 'Workout' Helps Make Meaning From Noise

*September 26, 2023* — by [Maryland Today Staff](/author/maryland-today-staff)


> UMD Researchers’ Training can Help Older People Retain Social, Family Connections

[Feature Video: Hearing 'Workout' Helps Make Meaning From Noise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20WE4aRq1Z4)



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](https://linguistics.umd.edu/resources-facilities/labs/KIT-Maryland-MEG-Lab) 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](https://biology.umd.edu/) and [Electrical and Computer Engineering](https://ece.umd.edu/) and Associate Professor Samira Anderson of the [Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences](https://hesp.umd.edu/) explain how innovative thinking and advanced technology are combining to make the world a better—and more comprehensible—place.




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Biology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/biology), [Electrical and Computer Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/electrical-and-computer-engineering), [Hearing and Speech Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/hearing-and-speech-sciences), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering), [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences), [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)