Group

Hearing Research at NTU

Unit(s) of assessment: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

School: School of Social Sciences

Hearing Research at NTU undertake research into the psychological, biological and computational basis of hearing, and hearing impairment.

Nine million people in the UK are classified as deaf or hard of hearing. The principal cause of this is damage to the delicate inner ear. Current hearing aids and cochlear implants partly restore our ability to hear. However, they perform poorly when aiding understanding of speech in more challenging circumstances. Understanding speech in noisy environments is a complex task for all of us, and its mechanisms are poorly understood; it involves interplay between the ears and multiple processing centres of the brain.

Our group studies how we perceive and process sound, and how this is affected by factors such as hearing impairment, cognition, age, cochlear implants, and other sensory information. By improving understanding of communication pathways between the ear and the brain, and the factors affecting these pathways, we aim to provide improved strategies for identifying risk factors that lead to reduced hearing and improve diagnosis and treatment strategies for hearing impairment and its related conditions.

News and activities

Position available: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Hearing

We are recruiting for a new member to join the group. Enquires encouraged from all areas of hearing research. See https://vacancies.ntu.ac.uk/vacancies.aspx.

Contact Christian.sumner@ntu.ac.uk

Take part: International Priorities in Hearing (Deadline: 6th May)

Are you a hearing researcher? Tell us what you think the big issues are in your field. A initiative of the UK Acoustics Network Hearing Special Interest Group.

For more information: https://acoustics.ac.uk/international-priorities-in-hearing-survey/

Frontiers for Young Minds Collection: A World of Sound

To celebrate the International Year of Sound, Chris Sumner and several other UKAN members are bringing together a collection of articles about sound, aimed at young people, to appear in the journal Frontiers for Young Minds. This collection will explore the many faceted science of sound: how humankind and other animals perceive it, its many uses, and the problems it can bring to us and the environment.

See the collection: https://kids.frontiersin.org/collection/17985/a-world-of-sound

We have 21 articles in preparation for this special collection, which will cover a wide range of topics across all of acoustics. The first ten are out! More soon.

PhD studentships

We currently have studentships available. Students are welcome to apply for any project within our areas of interest. We also have several staff proposed projects:

Understanding how individual differences in hearing impairment and age impact on audiovisual speech perception. | Nottingham Trent University

Expecting Thunderclaps then Lightning Strikes: How do we integrate sound and light in a complex world? | Nottingham Trent University

Hearing words in a sea of noise: Does musical training and second language learning help? | Nottingham Trent University

Providing multisensory support to improve older adults’ cognitive abilities | Nottingham Trent University

Anyone interested should contact the relevant staff (in the links above – or staff pages below) to discuss options.

The deadline for PhD studentships is on January 12 2023.