Auditory learning and development
Lead Research Organisation:
MRC Institute of Hearing Research
Abstract
Effective communication in everyday situations often involves hearing and interpreting speech in noisy conditions. Older listeners, people with hearing impairments and children with language-learning difficulties find listening to speech-in-noise particularly difficult. An ultimate goal for our research is to help these populations communicate more successfully, despite their difficulties. We take several approaches towards achieving this goal. Firstly, we are developing better clinical tools to assess and more effectively identify children with listening difficulties. Secondly, to better understand these difficulties, we are investigating how processing of auditory inputs from the brain changes with age. Finally, we are developing more effective training programmes to improve listening abilities.
Our research suggests the benefits of training depend not only on the task or the sounds used for training, but also on the ability of the individual to attend to and remember what they hear.
Our research suggests the benefits of training depend not only on the task or the sounds used for training, but also on the ability of the individual to attend to and remember what they hear.
Technical Summary
Auditory processing is fundamental to effective communication, particularly in challenging listening conditions. However, there is considerable variation in ability to efficiently process and use auditory inputs across the lifespan. Most of this variation is thought to reflect cognitive factors associated with the central auditory system rather than sensory processes located at the periphery of the system. This programme aims to further understand how central and peripheral mechanisms interact to modulate individual listening efficiency across the lifespan. We consider listening efficiency in both typical individuals and individuals with some form of listening difficulty. Ultimately, we hope to translate this learning into clinical benefit by developing more effective assessment tools and auditory training regimes to assess and treat patients with listening difficulties.
Primary outcomes from our work to date are, (i) a new scale (the ECLiPS) to profile children’s listening abilities, (ii) a test of auditory attention (the TAIL) (iii) supra-threshold auditory and cognitive age-norms, and (iv) a delineation of important regimen specific factors modulating auditory learning efficiency. The ECLiPS is proving to offer valuable insight into the nature of listening difficulties in children. Research in auditory training underlines the importance of carefully structured training regimens involving positive not negative feedback. The test of auditory attention is providing insights into the differences between auditory and visual attention.
In other research this year, we showed how training beat perception in older adults resulted not only in improved beat perception but importantly, improved speech-in-noise listening. Interestingly, in this context older adults show greater reliance on cognitive abilities when listening in noise. In children with auditory processing disorder, we demonstrated deficits in auditory specific sustained attention. Moreover, we showed how relative strength in sustained attention acts as a protective factor for supporting normal development of language and listening abilities.
In summary, our research highlights the need for an individualised approach to training and rehabilitation. Our findings provide converging evidence that auditory perceptual abilities in younger and older populations depend on cognitive factors such as attention, working memory and general IQ. Aspects of cognition, and in particular attention appear to be more important than bottom-up channel sharpening to improve perception through training. These findings inform our endeavours to appropriately tailor training programmes to improve speech perception not only in children with auditory and language-learning disorders, but also in older hearing-impaired individuals and cochlear-implant users.
Primary outcomes from our work to date are, (i) a new scale (the ECLiPS) to profile children’s listening abilities, (ii) a test of auditory attention (the TAIL) (iii) supra-threshold auditory and cognitive age-norms, and (iv) a delineation of important regimen specific factors modulating auditory learning efficiency. The ECLiPS is proving to offer valuable insight into the nature of listening difficulties in children. Research in auditory training underlines the importance of carefully structured training regimens involving positive not negative feedback. The test of auditory attention is providing insights into the differences between auditory and visual attention.
In other research this year, we showed how training beat perception in older adults resulted not only in improved beat perception but importantly, improved speech-in-noise listening. Interestingly, in this context older adults show greater reliance on cognitive abilities when listening in noise. In children with auditory processing disorder, we demonstrated deficits in auditory specific sustained attention. Moreover, we showed how relative strength in sustained attention acts as a protective factor for supporting normal development of language and listening abilities.
In summary, our research highlights the need for an individualised approach to training and rehabilitation. Our findings provide converging evidence that auditory perceptual abilities in younger and older populations depend on cognitive factors such as attention, working memory and general IQ. Aspects of cognition, and in particular attention appear to be more important than bottom-up channel sharpening to improve perception through training. These findings inform our endeavours to appropriately tailor training programmes to improve speech perception not only in children with auditory and language-learning disorders, but also in older hearing-impaired individuals and cochlear-implant users.
Organisations
- MRC Institute of Hearing Research, United Kingdom (Lead Research Organisation)
- University College London, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Preston (Collaboration)
- National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Collaboration)
- University of Leuven (Collaboration)
- Laval University, Canada (Collaboration)
- Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham (Collaboration)
- Newcastle University, United Kingdom (Collaboration)
- University of Toronto (Collaboration)
- Linkoping University (Collaboration)
- National Acoustics Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Northwestern University (Collaboration)
- Haifa University, Israel (Collaboration)
- University of Melbourne, Australia (Collaboration)
- University of Nottingham (Collaboration)
- Vanderbilt University, United States (Collaboration)
Publications

Ahmmed AU
(2014)
Assessment of children with suspected auditory processing disorder: a factor analysis study.
in Ear and hearing

Amitay S
(2015)
Feedback valence affects auditory perceptual learning independently of feedback probability.
in PloS one

Amitay S
(2012)
Asymmetric transfer of auditory perceptual learning.
in Frontiers in psychology

Amitay S
(2013)
Human decision making based on variations in internal noise: an EEG study.
in PloS one

Amitay S
(2010)
Motivation and intelligence drive auditory perceptual learning.
in PloS one

Amitay S
(2014)
Perceptual learning: top to bottom.
in Vision research

Badcock NA
(2012)
Co-localisation of abnormal brain structure and function in specific language impairment.
in Brain and language

Banai K
(2015)
The Effects of Stimulus Variability on the Perceptual Learning of Speech and Non-Speech Stimuli
in PLOS ONE

Banai K
(2012)
Stimulus uncertainty in auditory perceptual learning.
in Vision research

Barry JG
(2010)
Making sense of listening: the IMAP test battery.
in Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
Description | Appointed Trustee and Council member of the British Society of Audiology |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a advisory committee |
URL | http://www.thebsa.org.uk/people/dr-christian-fullgrabe/ |
Description | British Society of Audiology Clinical Guidelines on the management of Auditory Processing Disorder |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guidance committee |
Description | British Society of Audiology Special Interest Group in Cognition in Hearing |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in advisory committee |
Description | British Society of Audiology Special Interest Group on Auditory Processing Disorder |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in advisory committee |
Description | International policy on Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Description | A genome-wide association study to discover novel genetic variants influencing hearing and noise-induced hearing loss |
Amount | ÂŁ150,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | G51 |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start |
Description | ARO 2015 travel bursary (DM) |
Amount | ÂŁ400 (GBP) |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2014 |
End | 02/2015 |
Description | ARO 2015 travel bursary (HR) |
Amount | ÂŁ400 (GBP) |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2015 |
End | 02/2015 |
Description | Deafness Research UK Vacation Scholarship |
Amount | ÂŁ1,440 (GBP) |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2012 |
End | 08/2012 |
Description | Development Gap Fund MRCT |
Amount | ÂŁ72,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | MRC-Technology |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2010 |
End | 03/2012 |
Description | EPS (Grindley) Travel Grant 2014 (DM) |
Amount | ÂŁ500 (GBP) |
Organisation | Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2014 |
End | 08/2014 |
Description | Effect of age on temporal fine structure processing |
Amount | ÂŁ20,484 (GBP) |
Organisation | Oticon Hearing Foundation |
Sector | Private |
Country | United States |
Start | 03/2011 |
End | 04/2012 |
Description | Effect of aging on auditory temporal processing |
Amount | ÂŁ5,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Royal National Institute For Deaf People |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2010 |
End | 05/2011 |
Description | Effect of presbycusis on speech intelligibility and comprehension |
Amount | ÂŁ9,349 (GBP) |
Organisation | Archean Technologies |
Sector | Private |
Country | France |
Start | 04/2017 |
End | 05/2018 |
Description | Experimental Psychology Society Travel award |
Amount | ÂŁ500 (GBP) |
Organisation | Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2011 |
End | 05/2011 |
Description | Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary |
Amount | ÂŁ1,440 (GBP) |
Organisation | Nuffield Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2011 |
End | 05/2011 |
Description | Speech segregation in elderly normal-hearing listeners: Effect of cognitive load |
Amount | ÂŁ2,697 (GBP) |
Organisation | British Society of Audiology |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2010 |
End | 06/2012 |
Description | Summer Studentship Award |
Amount | ÂŁ1,600 (GBP) |
Funding ID | SG36 |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2013 |
End | 07/2013 |
Description | Supra-treshold auditory and cognitive contributors to speech perception in normal hearing across the adult lifespan |
Amount | ÂŁ17,241 (GBP) |
Organisation | Oticon Hearing Foundation |
Sector | Private |
Country | United States |
Start | 08/2012 |
End | 12/2014 |
Description | Travel bursary (British Academy Minding the Gaps Workshop) (HR) |
Amount | ÂŁ100 (GBP) |
Organisation | The British Academy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2014 |
End | 09/2014 |
Description | Using automatic speech recognition to predict speech-in-noise perception for simulated age-related hearing loss |
Amount | ÂŁ3,970 (GBP) |
Funding ID | F78 |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2017 |
End | 03/2018 |
Description | Vacation Scholarship |
Amount | ÂŁ1,600 (GBP) |
Organisation | Action on Hearing Loss |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2013 |
End | 08/2013 |
Title | British English Speech Sentences Test (BESST-UK) |
Description | Speech in noise test. Allows users to separate out perception from cognitive abilities. |
Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Still in early stages but we will be setting up a collaboration with clinical colleagues at Mary Hare to develop signal to noise ratios suitable for cochlear implant users. This we hope will become an application for external funding. |
Title | Evaluation of Children's Listening and Processing Skills (ECLIPS) |
Description | Scale to assess suspected of having APD. comprises 5 factors which measure impairment in listening language and social skills. |
Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Released commercially. |
URL | http://www.ihr.mrc.ac.uk/pages/studies/epic-q/index |
Title | STAR computer platform |
Description | presents auditory stimuli and and stores the data for further analysis |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2009 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | publications from MRC IHR and from users in northwestern university |
Title | STAR-distiller |
Description | extracts data collected as part of the STAR computer platform |
Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Improves utility of the STAR computer platform |
Title | STAR-runner |
Description | provides controlled method of presenting auditory tests |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | data collected in Twinsburg. Collaboration on heritability of auditory processing abilities. Soon to be developed into publications |
Title | TAIL |
Description | Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL): A short and easy to run test that measures orienting of auditory attention and conflict resolution under conditions of distraction. This test is suitable for adults and children down to ~5 years old. |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Several research and method papers, as well as several potential collaborations towards the standardisation and validation of the test in impaired populations such as hearing impairment, auditory processing disorder, specific language impairment. |
URL | http://www.ihr.mrc.ac.uk/app/webroot/sites/ncs/TestsTail.php |
Title | Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) |
Description | Development and publication of a new test of auditory attention |
Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | No impact yet. In discussion with MRCT |
Title | pitch assessment for Cochlear Implant users |
Description | a method of assessing pitch discrimination by cochlear implant users |
Type Of Material | Biological samples |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | collaboration with UCL. |
Description | Application of auditory learning |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Department | School of Biomedical Sciences Nottingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Theoretical background of research and other enabling technology (e.g. software) |
Collaborator Contribution | Testing in real environments the effect of training on the ability to hear and listen |
Impact | Presentations at several national and international scientific meetings |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Auditory learning in Israel |
Organisation | University of Haifa |
Department | Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders |
Country | Israel |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Planning and designing experiments Coding experimental tasks data analysis writeup |
Collaborator Contribution | Grant writing: We received an external grant managed through the collaborators' institution to run a study. Data collection. Manuscript writing Publications will be under MRC IHR affiliation. |
Impact | External funding secured to run study. Abstract submitted to the Israeli Society for Neuroscience annual Meeting (Dec 2013) Paper submitted to PLoS ONE (Aug 2014) |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | Honorary appt - NAL |
Organisation | National Acoustics Laboratory |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We have started a long-term collaboration with leading scientists at NAL, Sydney |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise in hearing-aid devices, fitting and services |
Impact | none yet |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Multimodal spatial hearing |
Organisation | Newcastle University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I am leading a collaboration looking at how cross-modal influences affect auditory spatial location. This has resulted in a new MRC programme grant |
Collaborator Contribution | My collaborators' contributions are in expertise of vision, selective attention, and spatial hearing |
Impact | None yet |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Multimodal spatial hearing |
Organisation | Vanderbilt University |
Department | Vanderbilt Medical Center |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I am leading a collaboration looking at how cross-modal influences affect auditory spatial location. This has resulted in a new MRC programme grant |
Collaborator Contribution | My collaborators' contributions are in expertise of vision, selective attention, and spatial hearing |
Impact | None yet |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | NIHR Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit |
Organisation | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Strategic leadership of NHBRU Co-leadership on 3 research areas of NHBRU portfolio Co-supervision of 3 PhD students |
Collaborator Contribution | Strategic involvement with MRC IHR Co-leadership on research areas of NHBRU portfolio Co-supervision of 3 PhD students |
Impact | Co-publications Development of research website Development of new diagnostic tests Development of new hearing intervention |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | NIHR Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Strategic leadership of NHBRU Co-leadership on 3 research areas of NHBRU portfolio Co-supervision of 3 PhD students |
Collaborator Contribution | Strategic involvement with MRC IHR Co-leadership on research areas of NHBRU portfolio Co-supervision of 3 PhD students |
Impact | Co-publications Development of research website Development of new diagnostic tests Development of new hearing intervention |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Neuroimaging of auditory processing disorder |
Organisation | Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center |
Department | Imaging Research Center |
Country | United States |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Strategy planning. Provide behavioural tests for auditory function |
Collaborator Contribution | Awareness of potential mechanisms for and means of studying the neurbiology of auditory processing disorder |
Impact | Named consultant (DRM) on current NIH application |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | Sensitivity of ECLiPS questionnaire to habilitation related changes in listening in children with Otitis Media with Effusion |
Organisation | Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | ECLiPS questionnaire supplied. Database set up and data analysis methods provided |
Collaborator Contribution | Recruitment and testing of children. Provision of habilitation support in the form of hearing aids. |
Impact | joint publications. First submitted for review Oct 2014. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | TAIL |
Organisation | Linkoping University |
Department | Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning |
Country | Sweden |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We developed the Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) which runs on Matlab, and provided it to collaborators for the purpose of data collection. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators will provide us with the anonymised TAIL data for the purpose of validation and standardisation of the TAIL. |
Impact | No outcomes as of yet. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | TAIL |
Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
Department | Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | We developed the Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) which runs on Matlab, and provided it to collaborators for the purpose of data collection. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators will provide us with the anonymised TAIL data for the purpose of validation and standardisation of the TAIL. |
Impact | No outcomes as of yet. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | TAIL |
Organisation | University College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We developed the Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) which runs on Matlab, and provided it to collaborators for the purpose of data collection. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators will provide us with the anonymised TAIL data for the purpose of validation and standardisation of the TAIL. |
Impact | No outcomes as of yet. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | TAIL |
Organisation | University of Laval |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We developed the Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) which runs on Matlab, and provided it to collaborators for the purpose of data collection. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators will provide us with the anonymised TAIL data for the purpose of validation and standardisation of the TAIL. |
Impact | No outcomes as of yet. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | TAIL |
Organisation | University of Toronto |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We developed the Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) which runs on Matlab, and provided it to collaborators for the purpose of data collection. |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaborators will provide us with the anonymised TAIL data for the purpose of validation and standardisation of the TAIL. |
Impact | No outcomes as of yet. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Training intervention for treatment of hearing loss |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Department | School of Education Nottingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Concept of study, detailed design, organizing collaborators, funding application |
Collaborator Contribution | Computational and learning sciences perspective to research on auditory perceptual learning |
Impact | Pilot Study application (current) to LLHW (MRC) scheme |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | Translation of ECLiPS into Dutch |
Organisation | University of Leuven |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Input into design of study |
Collaborator Contribution | Will get translations done and collect data. |
Impact | Co-publications |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Use of ECLiPS in assessment of children referred for auditory processing disorder |
Organisation | Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center |
Country | United States |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Provision of ECLiPS for retrospective study of children referred for auditory processing disorder. Help with data analysis. |
Collaborator Contribution | Data collection and analysis |
Impact | Appplication for funding to NIH for larger research project submitted. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Use of STAR in auditory testing |
Organisation | Northwestern University |
Department | Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provision of test materials |
Collaborator Contribution | Publications |
Impact | Research papers from Kraus lab |
Start Year | 2009 |
Description | Using the ECLIPS to assess cases of children referred for APD |
Organisation | University of Melbourne |
Department | Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Developing a questionnaire called ECLIPS to assess children suspected of having APD. |
Collaborator Contribution | Collecting data on Australian children referred for APD and comparing with other behavioral measures typically used with APD. |
Impact | Paper has been written and submitted. Details of submission as follows: Barry, J. G., Tomlin, D., Moore, D. R., et al. (submitted). Use of questionnaire-based measures in the assessment of listening difficulties. Ear & Hearing. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Title | Questionnaire - Evaluation of Children's Listening and Processing Skills |
Description | Questionnaire to assess listening difficulties in children. |
IP Reference | |
Protection | Copyrighted (e.g. software) |
Year Protection Granted | 2014 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | Significantly raised profile of IHR and has resulted in a number of contacts to talk in different institutions plus collaborations in Belgium, US, Australia as well as requests to be involved in two potential applications for EU research funding. |
Title | System for Testing Auditory Responses |
Description | Software platform for generating auditory sound stimuli for research and applications |
IP Reference | |
Protection | Copyrighted (e.g. software) |
Year Protection Granted | 2010 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | Created several collaborative research opportunities |
Title | Evaluation of Children's listening and processing skills |
Description | development of the tool is complete and it is available for purchase. Currently looking to license to a larger commercial organisation. |
Type | Diagnostic Tool - Non-Imaging |
Current Stage Of Development | Refinement. Clinical |
Year Development Stage Completed | 2012 |
Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
Impact | Better assessment tools urgently needed by paediatric audiologists. this addresses the clinical gap. Not yet available though but huge interest at the Paediatric Audiology Interest Group (British Society of Audiology) during presentation and workshop presentations. |
URL | http://www.ihr.mrc.ac.uk/pages/studies/epic-q/index |
Title | STAR |
Description | Software for testing auditory responses |
Type | Diagnostic Tool - Non-Imaging |
Current Stage Of Development | Small-scale adoption |
Year Development Stage Completed | 2011 |
Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
Impact | Pre-industrial technical development |
Title | TAIL - Test of Attention in Listening |
Description | A test of auditory attention, measuring speed of processing, alerting, orienting and conflict resolution for auditory stimuli. Developed initially as a research tool on core funding, we are now working with MRCT on further development and registering as an invention. Also seeking funding for making the product standalone (currently in Matlab). |
Type | Support Tool - For Fundamental Research |
Current Stage Of Development | Refinement. Non-clinical |
Year Development Stage Completed | 2013 |
Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
Impact | Several national and international collaborations (subject to MTA). |
URL | http://www.ihr.mrc.ac.uk/app/webroot/sites/ncs/TestsTail.php |
Description | APD masterclass |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | ~50 audiologists attended a talk followed by a panel headed discussion Networking with audiologists to find out what the clinical needs are |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | Article on APD assessment for Audacity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Paper Presentation |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | Article submitted for publication in September edition. Held over for a special APD edition due out in December Raises profile of work to develop Questionnare |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | BAA Trent Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk created lots of discussion. Clinicians thought the work was important and were keen to support. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | BSA Lunch and Learn seminar - Questionnaires in assessment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | presented a talk over the internet. Monthly event for British Society of Audiology. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://connect.sonova.com/p5rd5gai14d/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal |
Description | BSA SIG Cognition in Hearing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Joined interim steering committee, establishing the special interests group. The group engages with academics, professionals and industry to promote the importance of cognition in hearing. Meeting were held during the BSA annual meeting, and a 'white paper' on listening effort published. Clinicians surveyed on their understanding of cognitive underpinning of hearing. The group generated interest at the meeting. A 'white paper' on listening effort is being finalised, which will hopefully contribute to understanding in the field. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014 |
Description | Big Bang Science Fair, Birmingham |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Interaction with the general public, interactive demonstrations, engagement with children, raise awareness for hearing and hearing loss personal contacts with the audience |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Bradford Science Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Visitors at the display played auditory games and demonstrations about hearing and hearing loss. xx |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | British Association for Pediatricians in Audiology |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented a talk about research using questionnaires. Some discussions about the problems of assessment |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Broadmarsh stand |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Poster Presentation |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Hundreds of people participated in listening demos and conversations about hearing. Excellent feedback from those attending who found the display informative and fun. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Clinical Section Website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Working on creating a website that will serve as an interface between the IHR - Nottingham Clinical Section and the public. ongoing |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
Description | Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | presented two studies. Introduced the students to the research we did and collected data from them |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Focus group for listening skills difficulties |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
Results and Impact | 10 people joined focus group discussed problems of child. We also ended each session with a discussion of what we had learned from previous sessions and how our research was helping children with difficulties parents formed a self help group. Wrote letters to us to thank us for our interesting sessions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | ISAAR 2013 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | 4th International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Auditory plasticity - Listening with the brain. August 28-30 2013, Hotel Nyborg Strand, Denmark. Amitay, S., Zhang, Y.-X., Jones, P.R., Halliday, L.F., & Moore, D.R. (2013). Auditory learning: Uncorking performance bottlenecks. (invited talk). Amitay, S., Sohoglu, E., Füllgrabe, C., Molloy, K., & Moore D.R. (2013). Effects of training with amplitude modulated (AM) tones on tone-vocoded speech perception. (submitted poster) Excellent feedback from attendees, both academics and audiologists |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://www.isaar.eu/? |
Description | IntoUniversity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | children and parents from an underprivileged area in Nottingham attended and learned about hearing and the brain. Greater understanding of what research is about, with the hope children will be more inclined to enter university education. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.intouniversity.org/ |
Description | Invited speaker - British Society of Audiology |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | 100 academics and health professionals attended the Special meeting. The talk was about research to develop a questionnaire to support child assessment. We distributed leaflets about the final product. We had lots of email contacts afterwards asking for access to the questionnaire |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Invited speaker City University Birmingham |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | gave seminar as part of university seminar programme |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Keynote presentation (Paediatric Audiology Interest Group (British Society of Audiology)) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | Approx 200 participants at talk http://thebsa.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29:paig&catid=19:paig&Itemid=27 The 2012 BSA PAIG Conference 17th May 2012 - Sheffield Hilton "Hearing Function - Functional Hearing" for Audiologists, Therapists, Teachers and Doctors greater profile for work that we are doing. Clinicians approached asking to help in recruiting children to the study. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
URL | http://thebsa.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29:paig&catid=19:paig&Itemid=27 |
Description | LSDC Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Poster and discussion. Met clinical researchers and received invitation for formal talk to clinicians and researchers at Sheffield University subsequent to meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Lecture to 110 hearing-aid technicians on the role of central auditory processing and cognition in speech perception. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Answering questions from the audience during and post presentation. I was asked by the local media (specialist audiology Journal for Spain) to contribute to one of their issues |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Lecture to 70 hearing-aid audiologists on age-related deficits in auditory perception. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Interactive presentation eliciting questions and comments from the audience. The organiser requested permission to put the powerpoint slides on the organisation's website. Possibility to give additional lectures in the future. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | May Fest Nottingham University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Assisted at the IHR stand for the Nottingham University Mayfest |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://nottingham.ac.uk/mayfest/index.aspx |
Description | Mentor for an intern on the Clinical Academic Internship programme |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Acted as a mentor for a clinical academic intern. Organised for him to meet researchers across the Nottingham hearing hub. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | NHS meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk with questions followed up by discussions with some interested participants subsequent to the meeting. Paediatrician requested more information about our work and asked abut use of materials as part of his practice. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | National Speech & Language Therapy Conference in Deafness: Putting the Practical into Practice |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Poster created lots of interest. Clinicians agreed to help in recruiting participants. Invite to give a talk at the BAA Trent meeting in October. Invite to join meeting with clinicians and parents to discuss hearing loss management. Networking with researcher in similar area resulting in an invitation to the researcher to come to Nottingham and give a talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Nottingham University Science Open Day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | demonstrations, and explanations about hearing and hearing research people contacted us about taking part in our studies |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Presentation about assessment of children with listening difficulties |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Presentation to local group of SLTs in the Milton Keynes Area Raised the profile of the work that we are doing among SLTs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Presentation about the use of the ECLiPS in the clinic |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | MRC product (the ECLiPS) has been designed to help clinicians but they do not know how to interpret findings. We had a workshop to look at profiles from the ECLiPS and how to interpret and make decisions about referral. Clinicians were really excited they felt the ECLiPS empowered them in their decisions about onward referral and also about how to manage those children they should be seeing. We discussed what sort of article should be written to help clinicians and also considered what kind of research we could do together going forward. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Presentation of research on APD to audiologists in Essex |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented findings of our work to clinicians who had helped us with recruitment. They were really pleased to see that their help had resulted in better understanding of some issues. They felt motivated to keep helping and asked us about more studies |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Presentations on auditory processing disorder to professional societies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | Have become one of the UK's leading authorities on auditory processing disorder and have participated in numerpous presentations to organisation including the British Academy of Audiology, the British Society of Audiology (BSA) and the American Academy of Audiology Policy formulation for BSA |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010 |
Description | Presenting the EPIC |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | development of a website explaining APD and our work to develop a scale to evaluate it. Approached by overseas researchers looking for collaboration for translating the scale into other languages. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Public-engagement talk at the French National Day of Hearing in Paris, France |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Audience questions were answered after the presentation. General awareness of the topic |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | QMC stand |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Poster Presentation |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Many people, both from the general public and health professional stopped by the stand, listened to the hearing demos and had conversations with the team. Feedback indicated the event was engaging and fun. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Seminar (Sheffield University) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Talk followed by lively discussion. Contacted by clinicians in the audience asking for advice about how to design better studies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Southampton Clinician training day |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk resulted in discussion and some inquiries about accessing the ECLiPS questionnaire. Raised profile of IHR and resulted in more interest in the ECLiPS questionnaire. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Stemnet Discovery day (Chilwell school) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Talk about research in hearing. Some children said a career in research sounded interesting Raised profile of hearing research among schools children. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Summer Scientist Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Tested children as part of the summer scientist. Spoke to parents about the research and why we were doing it. Had a parent ask about difficulties that she observed in her child. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/science/outreach-activity/summer-scientist-week/about-ssw.aspx |
Description | Talk to ENT about research in the Nottingham Clinical Section |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk resulting in discussion. Clinicians keen to help in recruiting to our research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Workshop (Paediatric Audiology Interest Group (British Society of Audiology)) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Health professionals |
Results and Impact | approx 80 participants. Lots of input which broadened my understanding about key issues for clinicians. The 2012 BSA PAIG Conference 17th May 2012 - Sheffield Hilton "Hearing Function - Functional Hearing" for Audiologists, Therapists, Teachers and Doctors http://thebsa.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29:paig&catid=19:paig&Itemid=27 Two groups asked to join the study and help with recruitment. Through them we have accessed more children for the study. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Workshop on APD in Leipzig |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented work that am currently doing. This formed the basis for discussion about establishing research into teenagers with APD in Leipzig. Was invited to collaborate on this project and interest was expressed in translating the ECLiPS into German. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | leaflet |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | a leaflet publicizing our work raised profile of the MRC IHR in the East Midlands area |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | school radio talk show |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | five children interviewed us about life as a scientist and why we became scientists. we were broadcast on radio and received a thank you letter for providing interesting view of science. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010 |
Description | summer scientist event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 300 parents attended event and learned about auditory processing disorder. Hundreds of children each year took part in scientific activities. 50 parent agreed to take part in our study. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 |