Seminars in Hearing Research

Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026

Location: SMTH 208

Time: 12:00-1:00pm

Speaker:Eric R. Rodriguez, Au.D., CCC-A, PhD Candidate.  SLHS

Title: Effects of Neuroticism on Speech-Perception Performance in Adult CI Users

Abstract:Cochlear implants (CIs) are an effective treatment for moderate-to-profound hearing loss, yet outcomes in speech perception vary widely across recipients. While factors like duration of deafness and etiology of hearing loss partially explain this variability, they account for only a small fraction of the variance in outcomes, suggesting the influence of additional patient-specific traits on speech-perception performance. Eric’s work examines the effect of neuroticism—one of five personality traits within the gold-standard “Big Five” personality framework—as a potential predictor of CI speech-perception outcomes. In a variety of medical contexts, neuroticism—a person’s tendency to experience distress—has been shown to predict rehabilitative outcomes in multiple clinical populations. Using a variety of measures including clinical speech-perception testing, systemic physiology augmented functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and testing in simulated realistic conditions using virtual reality, we examine how neuroticism impacts performance. We hypothesized that CI users with lower neuroticism (i.e., individuals that are less likely to experience negative reactions to distress) will outperform those with higher neuroticism traits on demanding speech-perception tasks.

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The working schedule is available here: https://purdue.edu/TPAN/hearing/shrp_schedule

The titles and abstracts of the talks will be added here: https://engineering.purdue.edu/TPAN/hearing/shrp_abstracts