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Auditory Research

Auditory research at UNC Health includes studies on the cellular processing of auditory information, techniques for characterizing cochlear health, binaural hearing, auditory development and aging, electrophysiology in human listeners, and outcomes in cochlear implant recipients.

UNC Cochlear Implant Research Lab

Dr. Meg Dillon directs UNC’s Cochlear Implant Research Lab, with her colleagues Drs. Meredith Rooth, Lisa Park, Gretta Richter, and Amanda Davis. Their current research focuses on outcomes of cochlear implantation in children and adults with residual hearing and unilateral hearing loss, procedures for optimizing mapping procedures, and effects of age at implantation on outcomes.

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Speech Perception & Auditory Research at Carolina

Drs. Emily Buss and John Grose oversee research conducted in the SPARC and PEARL laboratories. This team uses behavioral methods and electrophysiology to study hearing in humans across the lifespan. Their research interests include effects of development, aging, speech perception under challenging listening conditions, spatial hearing, and perception of basic aspects of sound. More –>

Manis Lab – Cellular Mechanisms of Auditory Neural Information Processing – UNC Chapel Hill

Dr. Paul Manis maintains a program research evaluating Cellular Mechanisms of Auditory Neural Information Processing. Drs. Michael Kasten and PhD student Reginald Edwards also conduct their research in this lab. This team studies the cochlear nucleus in animals, utilizing a range of electrophysiological and optogenetic stimulation techniques to determine the properties of defined cell types and damage associated with noise or age. More –>

Auditory Physiology Lab

Dr. Doug Fitzpatrick directs the Auditory Physiology Lab, which uses animal models and human studies to understand the neural basis of hearing and hearing loss. Dr. Ken Hutson works in this lab, contributing expertise in imaging and neuroanatomy.