Research/Clinical Interests
Hearing aids
Outcome measures
Pediatric amplification
Courses Taught in the Past Five Years
HESP 700: Hearing Aids I
Research/Clinical Activities
LaGuinn Sherlock is the research coordinator for Dr. Formby's NIH-funded study, "Intervention for Reduced Sound Tolerance," and is responsible for subject recruitment, study design, data collection and data analysis. The purpose of the study is t o establish whether modified Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) can provide a viable intervention for augmenting Loudness Discomfort Level (LDL) thresholds and for remediating the sound tolerance problems suffered by hyperacusic and non-hyperacusic hearing-impaired listeners, thus, enabling these individuals for the first time to become successful hearing aid users.
For the past decade, the University of Maryland Tinnitus & Hyperacusis Center has run a highly successful, but unconventional clinical program for evaluating and treating patients who suffer from tinnitus and supra- threshold hypersensitivity to sound (hyperacusis). The center uses an habituation-based treatment protocol termed Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), which was pioneered and developed in the Division of Otolaryngology at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore . The clinical protocol evolved from a neurophysiological model of tinnitus. TRT involves the use of directive counseling (aimed at neutralizing the negative emotional reaction or annoyance to the tinnitus) combined with external low-level, broadband noise produced by wearable noise sources. In TRT theory, the purpose of enhanced external sound is meant to increase the background level of spontaneous and evoked neuronal activity within the auditory system, thereby interfering with detection of the tinnitus by decreasing the contrast between the neuronal activity that represents the tinnitus signal and the background neuronal activity. It is this reduction in the signal/background contrast that is assumed to facilitate habituation of the tinnitus. The use of low-level external sound in habituation-based TRT differs significantly in both theory and practice from conventional interventions for tinnitus that use much higher intensity external sound as a means to mask or cover up the annoying tinnitus signal. Examination of 10 years of clinical data has revealed that with TRT treatment, the patients' sound tolerance levels (loudness discomfort levels for puretone stimuli) increase, on average by 12-18 dB over the course of the intervention. This is a substantial shift in sound tolerance and creates an enlarged dynamic range for the TRT patient. This has significance for fitting hearing aids on patients with limited dynamic ranges between the hearing thresholds and loudness discomfort levels.
Volunteers with hearing loss are needed for this study. We are recruiting people with hearing loss who are bothered by loud sounds, as well as people who do not have hearing aids, or have hearing aids they are not using. Interested participants will be enrolled in this NIH-sponsored experimental protocol and scheduled for periodic evaluations for up to one year. Participants will be compensated for their time. For more information, please contact the research coordinator, LaGuinn Sherlock, at (410) 328-5947 or by e-mail at gsherlock@smail.umaryland.edu.
Publications/Presentations
Publications
Sherlock, L. P. (2005). An "invisible" disability. FDA Consumer, 39 (3), 40.
Sherlock, L. P. & Formby, C. (2005). Estimates of loudness, loudness discomfort, and the auditory dynamic range: Normative estimates, comparison of procedures, and test-retest reliability. J Amer. Acad. of Audiology, 16, 85-100.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Gold, S. L. (2003). Adaptive plasticity of loudness induced by chronic attenuation and enhancement of the acoustic background. J. Acoust. Soc. Am ., 114, 55-58.
Formby, C., Rutledge, J. C. & Sherlock, L. P. (2002). Exponential processes in human auditory excitation and adaptation. Hearing Research, 164, 215-230.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Ferguson , S. H. (2002). Enhancement of the edges of temporal masking functions by complex patterns of overshoot and undershoot. J. Acoust. Soc. Am ., 107, 2169-2187.
Sherlock, L. P. & Formby, C. (in press, 1999). Hearing aid selection and testing. In D. E. Mattox (Ed.), Diagnostic Tests in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. New York: Igaku-Shoin.
Formby, C., Rutledge, J. C. & Sherlock, L. P. (1999). A model of the component processes in human auditory adaptation. Proceedings of the International Bekesy Centenary Conference, Budapest, Hungary: Hungarian National Academy of Sciences, 59-63.
Formby, C., Rutledge, J. C., Heinz, M. G., Sherlock, L. P. & Aleksandrovsky, I. V. (1998). A descriptive model of under- and over-shoot patterns in the temporal masking function of a narrowband noise, ICA/ASA Proceedings, Woodbury, NY: Acoustical Society of America, 1, 563-564.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Li, S. (1998). Temporal gap detection measured with multiple sinusoidal markers: Effects of marker number, frequency and temporal position. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 104, 984-998.
Formby, C., Gerber, M. J., Sherlock, L. P. & Magder, L. S. (1998). Evidence for an across-frequency two-channel process in asymptotic monaural temporal gap detection. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 103, 3554-3560.
Forrest, T. G., Formby, C. & Sherlock, L. P. (1997). Measurement and modeling of temporal gap detection for normal and Meniere listeners. In W. Jesteadt (Ed.), Modeling Sensorineural Hearing Loss. Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum Inc.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Green, D. M. (1996). Evaluation of a maximum likelihood procedure for measuring puretone thresholds under computer control. J. Am. Acad. Audiol., 7, 125-129.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Li, S. (1996). Auditory temporal acuity and the perceptual organization of complex sounds. In W. Ainsworth & S. Greenberg (Eds.), Auditory Basis of Speech Perception. UK: Keele University.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Forrest, T. G. (1996). An asymmetric roex filter model for describing detection of silent temporal gaps in sinusoidal markers. Aud. Neurosc., 3, 1-20.
Gordon-Salant, S. & Sherlock, L. P. (1992). Performance with an adaptive freqeuncy response hearing aid in a sample of elderly hearing-impaired listeners. Ear and Hearing, 13, 255-262.
Selected Presentations
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Gold, S. L. (2003). Adaptive recalibration of chronic auditory gain. Abstracts of the 26th Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P., Gold, S., Frederick, E. & Palmer, S. (2002). Intervention for restricted dynamic range and reduced sound tolerance. IHCON, International Hearing Aid Research Conference, Lake Tahoe, CA, August 21-25, 2002.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Gold, S. (2002). Plasticity of loudness perception. J. Acoust. Soc. Am ., 111, 2468.
Sherlock, L. P., Formby, C. & Gold, S. L. (2002). Adaptive recalibration of chronic auditory gain. Abstracts of the 14th Annual Convention of the American Academy of Audiology, 73.
Formby, C., Sherlock, L. P. & Gold, S. L. (2002). An experimental study to test the concept of adaptive recalibration of chronic auditory gain: Interim findings. Proceedings of the 7th International Tinnitus Seminar, Freemantle, W.A., Australia, March 8, 2002.
Sherlock, L. P. (2002). Validating your hearing aid fittings. Maryland Academy of Audiology Annual Convention, Linthicum, MD, September 2002.
Sherlock, L. P. (2002). Pediatric hearing aid fitting grand rounds. University of Maryland Last Chance Conference, Baltimore, MD, May 10, 2002.
Sherlock, L. P., Formby, C. C. & Gold, S. (2002). Adaptive recalibration of chronic auditory gain. American Academy of Audiology 14th Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA, April 17-20, 2002.
Sherlock, L. P. (2000). Pediatric hearing aid fitting protocol. University of Maryland Last Chance Conference, Baltimore, MD, April 14, 2000.
Sherlock, L. P., Nelson, P., Gibian, G., Koroljow, W., Shaw, S. & LaRow, A. (2000). Clinical trials of a hybrid beamform hearing aid microphone system for improved speech understanding in noise. American Academy of Audiology Annual Convention, Chicago , IL , March 16-19, 2000.
Heinz, M., Formby, C., Sherlock, L., Ronson, B. & Carney, L. (2000). Strategies for detection of temporal- and spectral-profile cues. Abstracts of the 23rd MidWinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, St. Petersburg, FL, February 10-15, 2000.
Formby, C., Rutledge, J. C. & Sherlock, L. P. (1999). A sum-of-exponentials model for estimating the component processes contributing to temporal masking functions. Abstracts of the 22nd MidWinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 57, 1999.
Formby, C., Rutledge, J. C. & Sherlock, L. P. (1999). A model of the component processes in human auditory adaptation. The International Bekesy Centenary Conference (Perception Research Session). The Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary, June 24-29, 1999.
Gibian, G., Koroljow, W., LaRow, A., Shaw, S., Nelson, P. & Sherlock, L. (1999). A hybrid adaptive beamformer (HAB) for improved speech understanding in noise. American Auditory Society, Annual Meeting, March, 1999.
Formby, C., Rutledge, J. C., Heinz, M. G., Sherlock, L. P. & Aleksandrovsky, I. V. (1998). A descriptive model of under- and over-shoot patterns in the temporal masking function of a narrowband noise. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 103, 2811.
Formby, C., Heinz, M. G., Ferguson , S. H. & Sherlock, L. P. (1998). Temporal over- and under-shoot effects accentuate temporal edges at onset and offset of a narrowband masker, Abstracts of the 21st MidWinter Meeting of the association for Research in Otolaryngology, 172.
Sherlock, L. P. (1997). Probe microphone measures. Maryland Academy of Audiology, Annual Convention, October, 1997.
Formby, C. C., Sherlock, L. P. & Forrest, T. G. (1997). Temporal gap detection thresholds measured for conditions that minimize off-frequency listening. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 101, 3150.
Formby, C. C., Gerber, M. J., Sherlock, L. P. & Magder, L. S. (1997). Evidence from a simple two-channel model for asymptotic gap detection. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 101, 3150.
Palmer, S. P., Sherlock, L. P., Moran, S. F. & Formby, C. C. (1997). Computerized remote-controlled audiometry for pediatric evaluation. American Academy of Audiology, Annual Convention, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
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