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Currently Funded Research
2006/2007 Grant Recipients
Researcher: Tracy L. Stockley, PhD, FCCMG et al.
Institution: Dept. of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
Project: Investigation of GJB2 gene expression in childhood deafness.
Summary: In half of children who are deaf at birth, the cause of the deafness is genetic. The most common genetic cause of deafness is two abnormal changes in the connexin 26 gene. We have previously identified that many deaf children have only one abnormal change in the connexin 26 gene instead of two. We will test 50 deaf children with one abnormal change to see if these patients have a new second type of abnormal change not found by previous genetic tests. This study will allow us to better understand genetic deafness and so lead to improved treatments for deafness.
Researcher: Bernhard Ross, PhD
Institution: Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Project: Auditory cortex activation indicating audiovisual integration during listening and reading speakers’ lips
Summary: In face-to-face communication, we understand better if we can see the speaker's lips moving. We shall investigate the effects of lipreading on auditory evoked and oscillatory cortical activity with whole head magneto-encephalography (MEG). This will develop and improve the methods for recording physiological correlates of speech understanding, leading to an objective tool for assessing functional changes during audiovisual training programs. This may help the hearing impaired who have problems following a conversation in a noisy environment.
Researcher: André M. Marcoux, PhD, et al.
Institution: Department of audiology and speech language pathology, University of Ottawa Project: Maturation of auditory sensitivity related to electrophysiological hearing threshold measurements during infancy
Summary: Current methods to obtain hearing thresholds in newborns and infants do not take into account the maturation of the young auditory system. These methods could lead to failure in identifying children with mild levels of hearing loss who could be at risk for academic difficulties later in life. They could also lead to providing inappropriate amplification levels to infants with hearing impairment. The current study will attempt to quantify this maturational effect during the first 6 months of life and provide corrections in order to reveal accurate hearing threshold values at discrete periods of time during infancy.
Researcher: David W. Purcell, PhD
Institution: National Centre for Audiology, the University of Western Ontario
Project: Contra-lateral suppression of distortion product otoacoustic emissions
Summary: The human ear produces quiet sounds that can be recorded in the ear canal with a sensitive microphone. This has been taken advantage of in a clinical test of the hearing of newborns. The current test is however, unable to tell whether there may be a problem in the brainstem above the inner ear. In the proposed study, the possibility of testing the neural connections between ears will be investigated by providing noise to the opposite ear. If the response can be made to change reliably, then the measurement might be useful as a better clinical test. |
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