Neurophysiological measures in hearing

The workgroup’s purpose is to explore the use of objective measures such as electrophysiology as well as neuroimaging in the hearing sciences, with an aim towards developing clinical tools and techniques that can be applied to individualised treatments.

Leads:  Jaime Undurraga, Joaquin Valderrama-Valenzula and WaiKong Lai

Dr Jaime Undurraga
Postdoctoral Researcher, Macquarie University
Jamie obtained his PhD in Biomedical sciences in 2013 at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. His research project focused on investigating the polarity sensitivity of the auditory nerve by means of objective measures of peripheral and central neuronal activity in humans with cochlear implants. Afterwards Jamie  moved to the UK and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University College London (UCL) in the project entitled “Advancing Binaural Cochlear Implant Technology (ABCIT)”, a project supported by the European Commission under the Health Theme of 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Here, he had the opportunity to investigate and develop new objective measurements (EEG recordings) of binaural processing in normal listeners as well as in cochlear implant users. The results of this project led him to obtain the “New Investigator Award” at the 8th International Symposium on Objective Measures in Auditory Implants held in Toronto, Canada. Jamie started my second and current postdoctoral position at Macquarie University in 2015 where his research focuses on  basic mechanisms of electrical hearing, binaural hearing and hidden hearing loss.

Dr Joaquin Valderrama-Valenzuela
Research Scientist, National Acoustic Laboratories
Joaquin  received a B.S. degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a B.S. degree in Business Administration and Management from the European University of Madrid, Spain, in 2008. From 2008 to 2009, he was a consultant in Telecommunication, Media and Technology with Deloitte S.L., Madrid, Spain. In 2010, he received the M.S. in Multimedia Technologies from the University of Granada, Spain; and in 2015, a Diploma of Specialization in Audiology by the University of Salamanca, Spain. In 2014, Joaquin received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Granada, Spain. Since March 2015, he is a Research Scientist with the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL), the research division of Hearing Australia.  Joaquin is currently investigating the effect of noise exposure on the integrity of the auditory system; and developing new methods for measuring listening effort.  His main research fields of interest include analysis of auditory evoked responses in different recording conditions, the mechanisms involved in the process of hearing, and signal processing methods for automatic assessment of auditory responses and artifact rejection techniques.

Dr WaiKong Lai
Senior Research Engineer, Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre
WaiKong holds a Bachelor degree in Engineering, a Masters of Engineering Science and a Doctorate in Philosophy, and has been involved in an array of research studies including but not limited to NRT‐based measurement of forward masking tuning curves, single sided deafness, Nucleus 6 (Performance in Noise) and Nucleus Scalability (Clinical Care Innovation) during his previous roles in research and engineering at the CSIRO department of Applied Physics, Monash University, University of Melbourne and Zurich University Hospital.  His fields of interest include speech coding strategy development, psychophysics, electrophysiological measurements and speech and music perception.