Australian Hearing Hub

AHH seminar: Expected Value from Listening: Evidence of an Adaptive ...
2018-08-28 00:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Seminar Title: Expected Value from Listening: Evidence of an Adaptive Control Neural System for Speech Recognition

Presenter: Professor Mark Eckert
Date: Friday 21 September (revised date)
Time: 9.30am – 11.00am
Location: AHH, Level 3, Seminar Room, 3.610
Agenda:
9.30am – 9.35am – Welcome
9.35am – 10.20am – Presentation
10.20am – 10.30am – Q & A
10.30am – 11.00am – Networking and Refreshments
Abstract: Speech recognition in difficult listening conditions occurs with increased brain activity throughout cingulo-opercular regions of the frontal cortex. This activity appears to reflect an adaptive control system that optimizes performance when speech recognition is difficult for listeners, but still possible. These findings and the broader decision sciences literature suggest that listeners use and benefit from adaptive control when there is expected value, as determined by the reward from understanding speech relative to the cost of experiencing listening effort. Understanding a listener’s expected value from communication, coupled with their perceptual abilities, has the potential to guide clinical care.
Bio: Mark Eckert, Ph.D. is a Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina and a Neuroscientist with more than 20 years of research experience studying language impairments, which has included a primary focus on age-related declines in hearing and speech recognition. Complementing this research is his development of novel analysis methods and software for data sharing that have been widely adopted by the neuroimaging community. www.eckertlab.org.
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public.
Please register by noon Thursday 20 September 2018 to louise.dodd@mq.edu.au

Hear For You - film festival
2018-08-27 00:00
An invitation to watch a selection of short films directed, filmed and acted by deaf teenagers.

Date: Monday 10 September
Time: 1.00pm – 1.45pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

Expanding the study of linguistic variation through forced alignment. (CLaS-CCD ...
2018-08-22 00:00

Automatic Speech Segmentation Alignment Workshop - Keeping up to date ...
2018-08-22 00:00

Presentation: Improving patient-provider communication
2018-07-30 00:00
Speaker: Dr Nicholas Reed, AuD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine & Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Date: Monday 6 August
Time: 2.00pm – 3.30pm
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Agenda:
2.00pm – 2.05pm – Welcome
2.05pm – 2.45pm – Presentation
2.45pm – 3.00pm – Q & A
3.00pm – 3.30pm – Networking & Refreshments
Abstract:
How do we improve communication with inpatients to improve patient satisfaction, improve patient treatment adherence, reduce confusion and reduce burden of care on hospital staff? Despite the increasing prevalence of hearing loss in the population, the impact of hearing impairment on patient provider communication is often not fully considered. The Engaging Healthcare to Address Communication Environments (ENHANCE) program aims to overcome barriers to effective communication via simple strategies to identify and intervene on hearing loss as well as universally improve communication in the inpatient setting.
Bio:
Dr Nicholas Reed, AuD, CCC-A is an Instructor of Audiology in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He received his clinical doctorate in audiology (AuD) from Towson University and completed his clinical fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital. He holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. He has clinical experience with diagnostic audiology and amplification management across the lifespan (pediatric to older adults).
Dr. Reed’s research is primarily funded by a National Institutes of Health KL2 Mentored Career Development Award through the Johns Hopkins Clinical Research Scholars Program. He is core faculty at the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His research focuses on novel hearing care delivery models, over-the-counter amplification devices, the relationship between hearing loss and patient-provider communication, and the relationship between hearing loss and healthcare utilization patterns.
This presentation is hosted by H:EAR | Hearing Education Application Research
Registration: Entry is free and open to the public.
To register or for further details please email sally.piper@mq.edu.au

Hearing Awareness at Macquarie University Open Day
2018-07-09 00:00
Hearing awareness: How to achieve optimum hearing health
Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm
Located: Room 163, 14 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Avenue
Being able to communicate with others is a fundamental human pursuit. Come and explore the world of hearing by learning about new technology and the best ways to protect your hearing. You’ll also learn about hearing loss prevention and have the opportunity to find out about the Australian Hearing Hub, which is located on campus.
Hearing awareness: Screening test
Time:10.00 am – 4.00 pm
Located: Outside 17 Wally’s Walk
Being able to communicate with others is a fundamental human pursuit. Come and explore the world of hearing by participating in a hearing screening and learn about new technology. You’ll also learn about hearing loss prevention and have the opportunity to find out about the Australian Hearing Hub, which is located on campus.
Tour: Anechoic Chamber, MQ Health Speech and Hearing Clinic and 3D Printing
Time: 10.30 am – 11.00 am, 11.30am – 12.00pm, 12.30pm – 1.00pm
Located: Room 163, 14 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Avenue
Come and explore the world of hearing by touring our anechoic chamber; a room designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves, and which is used in hearing research at Macquarie. You’ll also visit the MQ Health Speech and Hearing Clinic, and learn about 3D printing; all under the one roof in the Australian Hearing Hub.

Public Lecture - Optimizing early reading interventions for at-risk children ...
2018-06-21 00:00

AHH seminar: Translational hearing research through cochlear gene targeting
2018-06-21 00:00
Presenter: Professor Gary Housley
Date: Tuesday 25 September
Time: 10.00am – 11.30am
Location: Level 1, Lecture Theatre, Australian Hearing Hub
Agenda:
10.00am – 10.05am – Welcome
10.05 am – 10.50am – Presentation
10.50am – 11.00am – Q & A
11.00am – 11.30am – Refreshments
Abstract: Targeting gene expression in the cochlea has revealed new features of the regulation of hearing sensitivity and translational opportunities to protect or rescue hearing loss. Three areas of this research program are: (A) Elucidating the sensory drive for contralateral suppression (where sound in one ear inhibits hearing in the opposite ear). This utilized the peripherin knockout mouse model, where loss of the type III intermediate filament peripherin in the type II spiral ganglion neurons disrupted their selective innervation of the outer hair cells and eliminated the olivocochlear efferent-based contralateral suppression. This informs understanding of hearing in noise. (B) Purinergic hearing adaptation. In the P2rx2 knockout mouse, moderately loud noise failed to reduce hearing sensitivity, whereas wildtype littermates exhibited a loss of hearing that was maintained for many hours. This indicates that a substantial component of reversible noise-induced hearing loss arises from ATP release activating cochlear ATP-gated ion channels. People with a loss of function mutation in this (P2RX2) gene exhibit autosomal dominant progressive hearing loss (DFNA41). (C) BaDGE® – Bionic array Directed Gene Electrotransfer. The spiral ganglion afferent innervation of the cochlear hair cells is supported by neurotrophin expression (Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and NT-3). BaDGE® utilising a development of the cochlear implant electrode array has enabled neurotrophin gene augmentation to stimulate spiral ganglion neurite regrowth that closes the neural gap and enhances the neural interface. These programs have been supported by NHMRC and ARC funding.
Bio: Gary Housley is a research Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, where he holds the Chair of Physiology and is Director of the Translational Neuroscience Facility. He has contributed prominently to the understanding of cochlear physiology around noise and age-related hearing loss and molecular neuroscience associated with development, injury, neuroprotection and repair in the nervous system. He has a track record in translational neuroscience with patent filings for drug and devices around neuroprotection and neuro-regenerative medicine applications. He leads a first-in-human DNA therapeutics clinical trial for neurotrophin gene augmentation to enhance cochlear implants, in a multi-centre collaboration with UNSW, Macquarie University, University of Sydney, the Bionics Institute in Melbourne (U. Melbourne), the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre, and industry partner, Cochlear Ltd.
Please register by Tuesday 18 September 2018 to louise.dodd@mq.edu.au

CLaS-CCD Research Colloquium: Language and Vision using Deep Neural Nets ...
2018-05-28 00:00

GP Education Event - Hearing Health
2018-05-24 00:00

Technology and the Mental Health Frontier: Preventing Anxiety, Depression, and ...
2018-04-25 00:00

Audiology Australia National Conference 2018
2018-04-12 00:00

Public Lecture - How grammar creates meaning
2018-04-12 00:00

Language Acquisition Workshop (LAW18)
2018-04-12 00:00

The Australian Eye-tracking Conference 2018
2018-04-06 00:00

CLaS-CCD Public Lecture: Mechanisms of statistical learning in infancy
2018-04-03 00:00

Workshop: Assessment and treatment approaches for children with reading and ...
2018-04-03 00:00

Workshop: How to teach multi-syllabic word reading and spelling
2018-04-03 00:00

Workshop: Noise in classrooms
2018-04-03 00:00

Workshop: Teaching vocabulary to improve reading comprehension
2018-04-03 00:00

Workshop: How to make evidence-based decisions about treatments for poor ...
2018-04-03 00:00

Workshop: Working memory and reading difficulties
2018-04-03 00:00

AHH workshop: Why and How to use MEG to study ...
2018-02-26 00:00
Presenter: Honorary Associate Professor Adrian KC Lee
Date: Friday 23 March 2018
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Location: Level 3, Room 3.610, CCD, Australian Hearing Hub
Agenda:
– 9.30am – 9.30am – Welcome
– 9.40am – 10.45am – Didactic: Why do we use MEG? Topics: What are we measuring (covering basics of MEG, instrumentation, and neurophysiology)? What are the different types of analysis techniques?
– 10.45am – 11.00am – Break
– 11.10am – 12.30pm – Discussion: How do we use MEG? Exploring different experimentation / analysis approaches to answer draw scientific inferences.
Bio: Adrian KC Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences and at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of New South Wales and his doctorate at the Harvard-MIT Division in Health Sciences and Technology. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on developing multimodal imaging techniques to investigate the cortical network involved in auditory scene analysis and attention, especially through designing novel behavioral paradigms that bridge the gap between psychoacoustics and neuroimaging research.
Please register by Monday 19 March 2018 to louise.dodd@mq.edu.au

AHH seminar: Developmental plasticity of the “deaf” brain
2018-02-19 00:00
Speaker: Professor Andrej Kral
Date: Monday 26 March
Time: 9.00am – 10.30am
Location: Level 1, Lecture Theatre, Australian Hearing Hub
Agenda:
9.00am – 9.05am – Welcome
9.05am – 9.45am – Presentation
9.45am – 10.00am – Q & A
10.00am – 10.30am – Networking & Refreshments
Abstract:
The brain develops under the influence of sensory input. During postnatal development, perceptual “attunement” to sensory input takes place while synaptic contacts in the neocortex emerge. This maturation period is characterized by high (juvenile) neuronal plasticity. On one hand, inborn feature sensitivity improves (and forms) during this period, on the other hand in active interaction with the environment the brain learns to categorize sensory features into meaningful sensory objects.
Using a natural model of congenital deafness, the deaf white cat, our team has focused on effects of sensory experience on the structure and function of the auditory system. We use cochlear implants to test the auditory function in deaf animals and provide deaf animals with a portable signal processor and a cochlear implant to initiate hearing experience at different ages.
We could show that total absence of hearing affects auditory maturation extensively, leaving the brain in an intermediate (neither juvenile nor matured), naïve state (1,2). This influences auditory learning (3) and the interaction between the sensory stimulus and corticocortical processing (4). Also interactions between sensory systems are developing with sensory experience. Absence of sensory experience has therefore extensive consequences (3). Not only the above sensory functions cannot be learned, the nervous system also adapts to the situation by developing compensatory strategies to cope with the loss of one sensory system. Cross-modal reorganization is one consequence, with partly supranormal performance in the remaining sensory systems (5). Congenital deafness also affects cognitive functions, including executive functions, attention and working memory, since language and hearing have a shaping influence on cognitive functions (the “connectome model” of hearing loss (6)). A higher interindividual variations in cognitive function has been observed in cochlear-implanted prelingually deaf children that likely result from individual adaptations to deafness and subsequently also to cochlear implants (6).
Supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Exc. 1077)
References:
(1) Kral A & Sharma A, 2012: Developmental neuroplasticity after cochlear implantation. Trends Neurosci 35(2):111-22.
(2) Kral A, Baumhoff P, & Shepherd RK, 2013: Integrative neuronal functions in deafness. In A. Kral, A. N. Popper, & R. R. Fay (Eds.), Deafness. (pp. 151-88). New York, Heidelberg: Springer Verlag.
(3) Kral A, 2013: Auditory critical periods: A review from system’s perspective. Neuroscience 247:117-33.
(4) Yusuf PA, Hubka P, Tillein J, & Kral A, 2017: Induced cortical responses require developmental sensory experience. Brain 140(12):3153-3165.
(5) Lomber SG, Meredith MA, & Kral A, 2010: Cross-modal plasticity in specific auditory cortices underlies visual compensations in the deaf. Nat Neurosci 13(11):1421-7.
(6) Kral A, Kronenberger WG, Pisoi DB, O`Donoghue GM (2016): Neurocognitive factors in sensory restoration of early deafness: a connectome model. Lancet Neurol 15(6): 610-621.
Bio:
Andrej Kral was born in Bratislava, studied general medicine at the Comenius University (MD 1993, PhD 1998). His first research position was at the Institute of Pathological Physiology (1992 – 1995). In collaboration with the Mathematical Institute (Prof. V. Majernik) he worked on computer models of neuronal networks. In 1995, at the Institute of Sensory Physiology, J.W.Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (Head: Prof. R. Klinke) the focus of research moved to cochlear implants. He was appointed associate professor of physiology (“Priv.-Doz.”) at J.W.Goethe University in 2002. 2004-2009 he was Professor of Neurophysiology at the Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Hamburg. Since 2009 he has been Chair and Professor of Auditory Neurophysiology at the Medical University Hannover and the director of research of the ENT clinics. Andrej Kral leads the Dept. of Experimental Otology and the Joint Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology. Since 2004 he has been Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience and Cognition at The University of Texas at Dallas, USA and since 2017 member of the National Academy of Science Leopoldina. The focus of research includes neuroscience of deafness, cochlear implants, auditory development, brain plasticity, cross-modal reorganization and neuroprosthetic stimulation. The research has been published, among others, in New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Lancet Neurology, Nature Neuroscience, Trends in Neuroscience, Brain, Journal of Neuroscience and Cerebral Cortex, he gave more than 150 invited talks at international conferences and research institutions in US and Europe. Together with A.N.Popper and R.R.Fay he edited the volume of the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research on Deafness (vol. 47).
The lab has received funding from German Research Society (DFG), Common Scientific Conference Germany, State of Hamburg and State of Lower Saxony, NIH, EU and cochlear implant industry.
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 register by Monday 19 March 2018 to louise.dodd@mq.edu.au

AHH seminar: Personalized medicine in cochlear implantation: Microanatomical variations ...
2018-02-13 00:00
Speaker: Professor Andrej Kral
Date: Tuesday 27 March
Time: 2.00pm – 3.30pm
Location: Level 1, Talavera Road, Macquarie University
Agenda:
2.00pm – 2.05pm – Welcome
2.05pm – 2.45pm – Presentation
2.45pm – 3.00pm – Q & A
3.00pm – 3.30pm – Networking & Refreshments
Abstract:
Outcomes of cochlear implantation are characterized by extensive variability. Part of this variability may be related to variations in the form of the cochlea. While the cochlear function is related to the biophysical properties of the basilar membrane, the cochlear microanatomy is characterized by extensive variation in size and form (1). This significantly influences the outcome of cochlear implantation, particularly the implantation forces and the resulting intracochlear trauma (2). However, current imaging technologies provide only very rudimentary information on the cochlear form and size. To overcome this difficulty, an analytical model of the cochlea is required that allows to approximate not only the size but also the detailed cochlear form out of the few parameters that can be obtained in human cochlear imaging. We analyzed the 3D cochlear form in 108 corrosion casts and 30 µCTs from human donors at microscopic resolution. Based on these data we developed an analytical 3D model of the human cochlea that can provide the information on the cochlear form out of only 4 measured parameters (3). The result was validated using the “leave one out” cross-validation and showed the high precision well within ±1 mm.
The outcome of this endeavor is not only of critical importance for clinical applications, but also for understanding of the origins of biological form. Our data demonstrate that the cochlear form cannot have an acoustic function, as previously speculated. Rather the individual variations of the form result from spatial constraints in the crowded human temporal bone (3).
Supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Exc. 1077) and Advanced Bionics European Research Center, GmbH.
References
(1) Avci E, Nauwelaers T, Lenarz T, Hamacher V, & Kral A, 2014: Variations in microanatomy of the human cochlea. J Comp Neurol 522:3245-3261.
(2) Avci E, Nauwelaers T, Hamacher V, & Kral A, 2016: Three-Dimensional force profile during cochlear implantation depends on individual geometry and insertion trauma. Ear Hear 38(3):e168-e179.
(3) Pietsch M, Aguirre Dávila L, Erfurt P, Avci E, Lenarz T, & Kral A, 2017: Spiral form of the human cochlea results from spatial constraints. Sci Rep 7(1):7500.
Bio:
Andrej Kral was born in Bratislava, studied general medicine at the Comenius University (MD 1993, PhD 1998). His first research position was at the Institute of Pathological Physiology (1992 – 1995). In collaboration with the Mathematical Institute (Prof. V. Majernik) he worked on computer models of neuronal networks. In 1995, at the Institute of Sensory Physiology, J.W.Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (Head: Prof. R. Klinke) the focus of research moved to cochlear implants. He was appointed associate professor of physiology (“Priv.-Doz.”) at J.W.Goethe University in 2002. 2004-2009 he was Professor of Neurophysiology at the Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Hamburg. Since 2009 he has been Chair and Professor of Auditory Neurophysiology at the Medical University Hannover and the director of research of the ENT clinics. Andrej Kral leads the Dept. of Experimental Otology and the Joint Institute of AudioNeuroTechnology. Since 2004 he has been Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience and Cognition at The University of Texas at Dallas, USA and since 2017 member of the National Academy of Science Leopoldina. The focus of research includes neuroscience of deafness, cochlear implants, auditory development, brain plasticity, cross-modal reorganization and neuroprosthetic stimulation. The research has been published, among others, in New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Lancet Neurology, Nature Neuroscience, Trends in Neuroscience, Brain, Journal of Neuroscience and Cerebral Cortex, he gave more than 150 invited talks at international conferences and research institutions in US and Europe. Together with A.N.Popper and R.R.Fay he edited the volume of the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research on Deafness (vol. 47).
The lab has received funding from German Research Society (DFG), Common Scientific Conference Germany, State of Hamburg and State of Lower Saxony, NIH, EU and cochlear implant industry.

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 register by Monday 19 March 2018 to louise.dodd@mq.edu.au

Seminar: BrainHearing – The ear is a gateway to the brain ...
2018-02-08 00:00
Speaker: Prof. Thomas Lunner, Oticon, Eriksholm Research Center
Date: 28 February 2018
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Location: Denis Byrne Room, Level 4, Australian Hearing Hub
Abstract: The Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL, Eriksholm Workshop) has outlined possible mechanisms for when listening is effortful or not. This talk outlines some studies investigating the impact of hearing loss on processing effort and the benefit of a NR scheme on speech recognition and effort. For example it will be shown that signal processing in hearing instruments and noise reduction schemes counteract the effect of noise and reduce the effort required for speech recognition in both adverse listening situations, but also under not so adverse listening situations. The results emphasize the relevance of measuring processing effort in situations where the traditional speech reception measures fail due to ceiling effects. Furthermore, the effect of increased working memory load on listening effort will be shown, as well as hearing instrument noise reduction to mitigate the increased effort.
Biography: Prof. Lunner is a Senior Scientist, Project leader and Research Area manager at Eriksholm Research Centre, Oticon A/S, Denmark. He is also Professor of Cognitive Hearing Science, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden, since 2009 and Professor in Hearing Systems group, Danish Technical University, Denmark, since 2015. He received the M.Sc. degree in physics and electrical engineering in 1989 and the Ph.D. degree in Technical Audiology in 1997, both from Linkoping University. His research interests include the relationship between hearing and cognition, cognitive control of hearing aids, and the involvement of the internet in audiology service delivery and audiology research. He formulated, in cooperation with Technical Audiology in Linköping and Oticon, the digital signal processing scheme and fitting algorithms for the worlds first fully digitized hearing aid, which was presented in 1995, and received the European Unions prestigious technology prize IST Grand Prize in 1996. He has received various innovation prizes and including being awarded Alumni of the Year 2016, Linköping University. He was also awarded the first Fellow at William Demant, 2017. He has published more than 120 peer reviewed papers, and holds more than 20 patents. H-index 33.
Oticon Medical Neuro CI system and Outlook on future of Cochlear Implant Design & Care
Dr. Søren Riis, Oticon Medical, Research & Technology
This talk will start by a brief introduction to the latest Neuro CI system by Oticon Medical with an emphasis on how this differs from other solutions available on the market today and how we with this system address some of the key challenges in current CI designs and CI care. Through examples from our CI research portfolio, the talk will also illustrate visions for the future of CI design and care.
Biography: Dr. Riis completed his PhD in 1998 at the Technical University of Denmark. He joined Oticon in 2002 and transitioned to Oticon Medical in 2013 where he is heading Research & Technology activities at Oticon Medical across Cochlear Implants and Bone Anchored hearing devices. Dr. Riis is a member of the Oticon Eriksholm Research Board and Chairman of the Health Technology group in the Danish Academy of Technical sciences.
Oticon Medical Neural Stimulation Philosophy: a different paradigm
Dr. Pierre Stahl, Oticon Medical, Clinical Research
The way electrodes are driving electrical current and its impact on human hearing sensations have been widely studied in the cochlear implant (CI) field among the past decades. Although these efforts provided new insights and methodologies for more efficient or more focused stimulations (i.e., stimulation modes: bipolar, tripolar, current steering; regarding waveforms: multiphasic, pseudo-monophasic, ramps, etc.), none or only a limited of these findings are actually used in commercialized CI systems, which keep stimulating with gold-standard electrical parameters. The Oticon Medical neural stimulation paradigm build on fairly different characteristics. Low stimulation rate, loudness coding by pulse-duration, stimulation mode and pulse waveform are all parameters that can be considered Oticon Medical unique in the CI field. This presentation aims to highlight these differences based on literature knowledge, dedicated studies and our intrinsic philosophy.
Biography: Dr. Stahl was born in Marseille, France, on March 31, 1986. He received the M.Sc. degree in 2011 in Physics and Biological sciences, and the Ph.D. degree in Acoustic and Electric Psychoacoustics in 2015 from the Aix-Marseille University, France, under the supervision of Olivier Macherey and Sabine Meunier. He joined the Oticon Medical Neurelec Clinical and Research department in 2015.
If you have any questions, please contact Kelly Miles kelly.miles@nal.gov.au

Current Issues in Child Bilingual Development
2018-02-08 00:00

Perspectives on the diagnosis and remediation of auditory processing disorders. ...
2018-01-30 00:00
Title: Perspectives on the diagnosis and remediation of auditory processing disorders.
Speaker: Harvey Dillon
Date: Tuesday 20 February
Time: 11:00am – 12:15pm
Location: Tutorial room 1.620, Level 1, AHH
This talk will review the problem of correctly diagnosing various forms of auditory processing disorders, including the difficulties involved in separating auditory deficits from attention, memory and language deficits. Successful and unsuccessful examples will be given, and a general solution outlined. The talk will include a description of several lines of potential future research that should materially improve the accuracy of diagnosis and effectiveness of remediation for auditory processing disorders.
Dr Dillon is a Senior Research Scientist at NAL, an Adjunct Professor at Macquarie, and Visiting Professor of Hearing Science at the University of Manchester.
If you have any questions, please contact Pamela.Jackson@nal.gov.au

Beginner's Introduction and Induction to Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
2018-01-29 00:00

AHH seminar: A neurophysiological based coding strategy for cochlear implants ...
2018-01-18 00:00
Speaker: Dr Waikong Lai
Date: Thursday 8 February
Time: 10.00am – 11.30am
Location: Australian Hearing Hub, Level 1, Lecture Theatre
Agenda:
10.00am – 10.05am – Welcome
10.05am – 10.45am – Presentation
10.45am – 11.00am – Q & A
11.00am – 11.30am – Networking & Refreshments
Abstract:
The reduced channel capacity of a cochlear implant necessitates that sound information be efficiently encoded for maximum transmission. With one of the bottlenecks being the capacity of the neural coding, a novel coding strategy based on a model of the excitability state of the target neural population was developed. The algorithm estimates the refractory behavior of the stimulated neural populations to compute the excitability state after the presentation of each stimulus, and uses this excitability state in the selection of the next stimulus. The Excitability Controlled Coding (ECC) strategy’s algorithm was implemented as a Matlab Simulink xPC model, and executed in real-time on a Speedgoat (hardware) system with analog (microphone) input. The output is configured for real-time streaming to Nucleus implants using a Cochlear StimGen RF encoder hardware. ECC was then compared against an ACE implementation on the same hardware system using a spectral ripple test as well as adaptive sentences (OLSA) in noise. Assessments were made by 4 experienced adult CI listeners. Initial testing comparing ACE vs ECC shows marginal improvements with ECC for the spectral ripple test as well as for OLSA sentences in noise. However, these may not be the optimal tests for determining the advantages of ECC and further considerations are needed. ECC is a coding strategy for cochlear implants that attempts to account for the capacity of the neural interface in transmitting encoded information. Initial results are promising, showing marginal improvements over the current ACE strategy even without much optimization and training.
Bio:
Waikong Lai, PhD, is a senior research scientist at the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre (SCIC) which is part of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC). Dr Lai’s extensive experience stems from his previous roles in research and engineering at the CSIRO department of Applied Physics (B.Elec.Eng.), Monash University (M.Eng.Sci.), University of Melbourne (Ph.D) and Zurich University Hospital (Postdoc Research Fellow). Some of these include the development of the NRT Nucleus Response Telemetry system and software now used routinely on a clinical basis for cochlear implant fitting and management, research and development of novel bio-inspired signal coding strategies, as well as development and management of the Swiss Cochlear Implant database.
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 register by Monday 5 February 2018 to louise.dodd@mq.edu.au
