Role
Paula is a principal lecturer in NTU Psychology. Her background and expertise broadly fall within the domain of cognitive psychology, and her research interests are in the field of auditory perception, hearing impairment and perceptual learning. Paula teaches on Research Methods modules, she is a first year tutor, and she also supervises final-year project students.
Career overview
Paula has previously worked at the MRC Institute of Hearing Research, and she completed her PhD at the University of York.
Research areas
Paula's main research interests are associated with auditory perception and hearing impairment. Much of her research involves designing training approaches which aim to improve speech perception and quality of life amongst adults who achieve poorer outcomes from cochlear implantation. Some recent and on-going projects include:
- Investigating the effectiveness of computer-based auditory training approaches for use by adults who have cochlear implants.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of auditory training for people who suffer from tinnitus.
- Investigating the importance of audiovisual information for understanding distorted speech in noise.
- Designing audiovisual training approaches to improve the perception of distorted speech in noise.
External activity
Paula has acted as a reviewer for a number of journals including the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Ear and Hearing, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, and the International Journal of Audiology. She has also reviewed grants for a number of organisations including the Medical Research Council and Deafness Research UK.
Sponsors and collaborators
Paula has previously collaborated with Professor Quentin Summerfield from the University of York, and with clinicians at the Nottingham Cochlear Implant Programme and the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service. She is currently collaborating with Dr Chris Sumner at the MRC Institute of Hearing Research and with Dr Padraig Kitterick at the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing. Paula's work has been supported by Deafness Research UK and the Medical Research Council.
Press expertise
- Speech perception with auditory prostheses
- Auditory training
- Audio-visual speech perception