METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONSTRUCTING AND/OR USING SALIENTLY PATTERNED SPATIOTEMPORAL INPUTS THAT SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF NEURAL CIRCUITRY CRITICAL TO EFFICIENT LANGUAGE PROCESSING

摘要

The invention provides for the generation and output of a plurality of spatiotemporally organized, patterned sound streams that, while soothing, also address the critical need for infant brains to attend to salient acoustic cues in the environment - even during sleep - to facilitate the formation of neuronal connections which are essential for later efficient language processing. The algorithmic auditory sequences that comprise the sound streams are designed to engage the auditory cortex in a beneficial way that supports both development and maintenance of linguistic brain circuitry. Sound sequences constructed according to the invention also support continued fine-tuning of similar neuronal connections in adults and, in older adults, could reduce the loss of temporal specificity and acoustic tuning characteristic of aging brains which decreases the ability to decode speech; interspersing the passive acoustic environment with attention-recruiting sequences to rescue acoustic maps that have become less effectively tuned could enhance these benefits.