Australian Hearing Hub

AHH seminar: Consequences of Asymmetric Hearing in Development: Evidence ...
2016-10-27 00:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Speaker: Karen Gordon
Date: Thursday 3 November 2016
Time: 3.00pm – 4.30pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Abstract: Our aim is to promote binaural hearing in children which supports listening in most social and academic settings. Studies of children using cochlear implants unilaterally, bilaterally or in combination with hearing aids (bimodally) reveals: 1) delayed access to bilateral hearing results in an aural preference syndrome which deters binaural hearing; and 2) bilateral input with minimal delay supports expected responses from auditory cortices; but also that 3) binaural integration is not yet achieved by two independent auditory prostheses.
Bio: Karen Gordon, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology and a Graduate Faculty Member in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She is Director of Research in Archie’s Cochlear Implant Laboratory and holds the Bastable-Potts Health Clinician Scientist Award in Hearing Impairment and Cochlear Americas Chair of Auditory Development. Karen’s research focuses on auditory development in children who are deaf and use auditory prostheses including cochlear implants. The following questions are asked: 1) What aspects of auditory and vestibular development are arrested in children with hearing loss; 2) What changes in the auditory and vestibular system occur during the period of deafness; 3) To what extent can auditory and vestibular plasticity and development be promoted by cochlear implant use?; and 4) what compensatory mechanisms in development can be exploited to make up for deficits in input from auditory prostheses? To answer these questions, we use both behavioural and electrophysiological measures and are interested in innovations in cochlear implant design and programming which seek to improve the resilience of the device as well as to preserve residual hearing and binaural cues.
Who should come: hearing, speech and language researchers and clinicians, cognitive scientists, psychologists, researchers in aging health and health care professionals.
Network: Learn from one another and see what collaboration opportunities are available.
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public. Please email louise.dodd@mq.edu.au to register by 12.00pm Tuesday 1 November 2016

AHH seminar: Deafblindness Rehabilitation: How to base our practice on ...
2016-10-27 00:00
Speaker: Walter Wittich
Date: Monday 21 November 2016
Time: 1.00pm – 2.30pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Audiology Seminar Room, 1.64
Abstract: This presentation will provide a brief overview of the concept of Knowledge Translation, using the model promoted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and then applies this model to the existing approaches, knowledge and research literature. The talk will review some of the pertinent research findings in the field of deafblindness rehabilitation, and how this knowledge can link to and influence rehabilitation practice for clinicians working with individuals affected by combined vision and hearing loss.
Bio: Dr. Walter Wittich is an Assistant Professor at the School of Optometry at the University of Montreal, in Montreal, Quebec, who currently holds a Junior Career Award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (chercheur boursier junior 1), with specific focus on the rehabilitation of older adults with combined vision and hearing loss. He is a resident researcher at both the MAB-Mackay Rehabilitation Centre and the Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille, and holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the School of Occupational and Physical Therapy at McGill University. Following his Master’s in Psychology (Concordia U) and a PhD in Visual Neuroscience (McGill), he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in audiology at the Centre de recherche institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal. Coming from a background in age related vision loss, he now conducts research in dual sensory impairment and acquired deaf-blindness. His research domains include basic sensory science, as well as medical, psychosocial, and rehabilitation approaches to sensory loss. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry and is Quebec’s first Certified Low Vision Therapist.
Who should come: Hearing, speech and language researchers and clinicians, cognitive scientists, psychologists, researchers in ageing health and health care professionals.
Network: Learn from one another and see what collaboration opportunities are available.
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public. Please email louise.dodd@mq.edu.au to register by 12.00pm Wednesday 16 November 2016

AHH seminar: Bridging the gap between bilateral cochlear implants and ...
2016-10-25 00:00
Speaker: Zachary Smith
Date: Friday 28 October 2016
Time: 2.00pm – 3.30pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 4, NAL seminar room (enter via Australian Hearing Reception, Level 5)
Bio: Zachary Smith is Director of Coding Research at Cochlear Limited’s Research & Technology Labs, based in Denver, Colorado. He investigates basic auditory perception of electrical stimulation and develops new algorithms for better hearing with a cochlear implant. Dr. Smith received his PhD from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Abstract: Listening in complex acoustic environments remains a challenge for recipients of cochlear implants. While bilateral implantation generally improves hearing performance with the addition of a second ear, evidence suggests that much of the benefit can be attributed to monaural effects and little usage of interaural time difference (ITD) cues. A temporally sparse coding strategy, FAST, was developed with the aims of 1) delivering more salient ITD cues and 2) increasing power efficiency. While initial results show success with achieving significantly improved ITD sensitivity and even binaural unmasking in some listeners with the FAST strategy, additional challenges with bilateral cochlear implants will be discussed in the context that multiple sources of binaural cue distortion need to be solved before the promise of true binaural hearing can be fully realized.
Who should come: hearing, speech and language researchers and clinicians, cognitive scientists, psychologists, researchers in aging health and health care professionals.
Network: Learn from one another and see what collaboration opportunities are available.
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public. Please email louise.dodd@mq.edu.au to register by 2.00pm Thursday 27 October 2016

CCD seminar: Differential empathy for psychological and physical pain in ...
2016-09-27 00:00

AHH seminar: Scalp-recorded CAEPs: How can we use a measure ...
2016-09-27 00:00
Speaker: David Jackson Morris
Date: Thursday 20 October 2016
Time: 2.00pm – 3.30pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Bio: David Jackson Morris lectures and does postdoc research (publication list here*) in a combined Speech Pathology and Audiology programme at the ashram, otherwise known as, the Dept of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen. Research that he is pursuing involves CAEPs, uniqueness points in auditory-lexical processing, and telehealth interaction across procedures and media. Morris has also worked in the Danish private sector, and originally hails from Queensland.
Abstract: While cortical responses are commonly termed ‘obligatory’ and ‘pre-attentive,’ their precise dimensions are modulated by the attention state of the subject. This talk will deal with the effect of attention on N1-P2 responses as measured with an intermodal paradigm involving continuous auditory stimulation. It will also review experience with non-canonical CAEP single-trial analysis, including mixed-effects regression and machine classification. Finally, the applicability of scalp-recorded electrical responses will be considered as a means to support speech perception.
Who should come: hearing, speech and language researchers and clinicians, cognitive scientists, psychologists, researchers in ageing health and health care professionals.
Network: Learn from one another and see what collaboration opportunities are available.
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public.
Please email louise.dodd@mq.edu.au to register by 17 October 2016.

Announcing a talk at NAL
2016-09-19 00:00
Announcing a talk at NAL

Presenter
Bram Van Dun, Senior Research Electrophysiologist, NAL

Title
New project: Estimating thresholds at individual cochlear implant (CI) electrodes using cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) recorded with a clinical EEG system (ie. HEARLab)

Date
Tuesday 4 October 2016

Time
10:00am

Description
This talk will first present some background on the need for alternative ways to fit cochlear implants opposed to what is currently being employed in the CI clinic. It will then provide a selected overview on the work that has been conducted already, both at NAL and in the literature re the use of CAEPs for threshold estimation in CI users (and how to deal with inevitable CI artefacts). Finally, a research methodology is proposed to compare between thresholds obtained at individual CI electrodes behaviourally, and those derived from CAEPs using the two-channel clinical HEARLab system. This project is in its conceptual stage, so any feedback on the proposed research methodology is welcome!

Location
Denis Byrne Seminar Room, Level 4 Australian Hearing Hub

Audience
All with an interest in the topic are welcome.

Macquarie Minds Showcase
2016-08-31 00:00
Macquarie University’s Australian Hearing Hub will be hosting four break out sessions:
Tuning In: Understanding Communication Challenges Over The Lifespan
Date: 13 December
Time: 1.00pm – 3.00pm
Tuning In: Using Technology To Fight Back Against Communication Challenges
Date: 13 December
Time: 3.00pm – 5.00pm
Communication access: Captioning, sign language interpreting and hearing loops will be available at the presentations.
The event is free and afternoon tea will be provided.
Breaking Down The Invisible Barriers Between The Deaf And The Hearing
Date: 14 December
Time: 3.00pm – 4.30pm
Building solid foundations for Learning and Life
Date: 14 December
Time: 3.00pm – 4.30pm
To register: please go to Macquarie Minds Showcase event page.

Macquarie Minds Showcase
Bringing together a compelling group of visionaries, researchers and experts across diverse fields, this two-day event showcases the power of research that transcends traditional academic boundaries to shape a more positive future.
By providing our world-leading academics with a platform to showcase their research and teaching expertise, Macquarie Minds will highlight the University’s key strategic priorities and commitment to providing a culture of transformative learning in a research-enriched environment.

Silent disco trivia night
2016-08-15 00:00
A short silent disco research event will be held as part of the usual UBar Trivia Competition.
The focus of the study is people’s sound quality preferences.
We provide the tunes and the headphones!
You just fill in a survey, dance and have fun!
Date: Thursday 25 August 2016
Time: 4.30pm – 6.30pm
Location: UBar, Level 2, The Hub, Macquarie University
For questions or RSVP: rikke.sorensen@nal.gov.au

Hear for You, The Butterfly Effect & Goodfellas
2016-08-12 00:00

Objective measures in normal and cochlear implant listeners
2016-08-04 00:00
Speaker: Hamish Innes-Brown
Date: Friday 12 August 2016
Time: 10:00am – 11:00am
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Abstract:
Hamish will talk about two areas of research currently under way at the Bionics Institute in Melbourne: cochlear implant threshold estimation using cortical potentials, and also touch on very recent work in normal-hearing listener looking at brain responses to changes in inter-aural phase.
Stimulation threshold levels for cochlear implants are currently set by manually adjusting current levels for individual electrodes until the patient reports that they perceive sound. This process is time consuming even in healthy adults, and impossible in young children or others who cannot provide verbal responses or follow instructions. For this reason, objective measures that detect stimulus-induced electrical activity generated in the auditory nerve and brainstem are sometimes used (ECAPs, EABRs) to set cochlear implant threshold levels. However, these measures do not correlate well with actual behavioural thresholds. Cortical activity, which may reflect more perceptually-related activity, is therefore a better candidate for objectively fitting cochlear implants. In this study we found strong correlations between cortical responses and behavioural thresholds (r = 0.93), suggesting that the cortical response may be more useful as an objective programming tool for cochlear implants than the auditory nerve response.
Bio:
Hamish Innes-Brown is an NHMRC Early-Career Research Fellow at the Bionics Institute. He has a life-long interest in sensory aspects of sound, vision, and communication. At the Bionics Institute he is using brainwave recordings and perceptual tests to understand and improve the way that sounds are interpreted by people with hearing loss. Perceiving sounds properly is crucial for communication and function in complex social, education, and work environments.

AHH seminar: Evidence in hearing and ENT; trials and beyond. ...
2016-07-25 00:00
Speaker: Professor Anne Schilder
Date: Tuesday 23 August, 2016
Time: 2.30pm – 4.00pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Bio: Anne is an ENT surgeon and a trialist. She leads evidENT, a multidisciplinary clinical research team that bridges the University College London Ear Institute’s discovery science and the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital’s clinical excellence. Her work spans the translational research pathway. Recent successes include an EU Horizon 2020 award for a phase 1/2 trial of local treatment with a Notch inhibitor aimed at restoring hearing in adults with sensorineural hearing loss. And an NIHR award for a 7-year programme of work to determine best management for patients with chronic sinus disease.
Anne is a Professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the UCL Ear Institute and at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands and practices Paediatric ENT at the UCLH Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. She is the Joint Co-ordinating Editor for Cochrane ENT and National Lead for the NIHR Clinical Research Network ENT Specialty.
Abstract: Based on Anne’s work in otitis media and hearing she will discuss how randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have answered important clinical questions in hearing and ENT and have generated evidence upon which clinical guidelines and health policies are based. Anne will show how beyond generating data on the effects of treatments, RCTs provide a rich source of socio-demographic and biological data for prognostic and etiologic research.
Throughout the research of her evidENT team they work closely with patients and their families to decide what they will be researching and how. Anne will show how through this approach they have developed the National Research Agenda for ENT, Hearing and Balance which will shape UK research in the field for the next decade.
Who should come: hearing, speech and language researchers and clinicians, cognitive scientists, psychologists, researchers in aging health and health care professionals.
Network: Learn from one another and see what collaboration opportunities are available.
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public. Please email louise.dodd@mq.edu.au to register by 16 August 2016.

Speech intelligibility modelling in noisy rooms
2016-07-18 00:00
Speaker: Dr Mathieu Lavandier, University of Lyon, France
Date: Monday 1 August 2016
Time: 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 4, National Acoustic Laboratories, Denis Byrne Room

Abstract
Speech intelligibility in noise is improved by having two normally-functioning ears. These two ears allow for spatial release from masking: a noise source is less masking for speech if the target speaker and the noise source are at different positions. The underlying unmasking mechanisms are unfortunately impaired by reverberation, the sound reflections in the room surrounding the sources and listener. If the “noise” source is a competing voice, the listener can rely on other acoustical cues to segregate it from the target voice. Modulations in the temporal envelope of the competing voice allow for a better understanding of the target, the listener benefiting from the temporal “gaps” in the masker to access the target at a better signal-to-noise ratio. Again, reverberation impairs this mechanism by partly filling in the masker gaps. A difference in fundamental frequency between the competing voices can also be used by the listener to improve segregation. These different perceptual mechanisms involved while listening to speech in noisy rooms will be describe through the presentation of an intelligibility prediction model, which will be systematically confronted with behavioural data. This type of model is an interesting tool to investigate speech understanding in cocktail-party situation. One of our aim is to further develop this tool to take into account the influence of hearing impairment and hearing aids in realistic situations.

Bio
Mathieu Lavandier is a senior researcher at the University of Lyon in France and is a visiting associate in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University until mid-January. He is based at NAL. His research concerns sound perception in rooms, involving psychoacoustics, room acoustics and speech intelligibility modelling. His visit is partly funded by a visiting research fellowship from the Faculty of Human Sciences.

Celebrating Hearing Awareness Week at Macquarie University Open Day
2016-07-18 00:00

Free music lessons for children with hearing loss
2016-07-18 00:00
We are recruiting children aged 7 to 9 years with:
· cochlear implants AND/OR
· hearing aids

What your child will do:
Play musical apps at home (30 minutes a day, 3 times a week).
Face-to-face group music lessons (6 sessions, once a month) and test sessions (4 sessions, 1 hour each) at Macquarie University.
Duration of study:
6 months (commencing September 2016, or April 2017)
Receive $15 at commencement and completion
Contact: Chi Yhun Lo , chi.lo@mq.edu.au, (02) 9850 81
