Click on each question to learn more.
1. What is the relationship between hearing and cognitive ability?
A major goal is to understand the relationship between thinking, remembering, and hearing. We are currently exploring the way that hearing loss affects the way we receive and produce language, and what that tells us about cognitive health in aging.
2. How does action and cognition shape listening when we interact with others?
We stay connected to others in many ways, but face-to-face interactions are some of our closest and most important social experiences. Research shows that when we are with another person, our brain activity and mannerisms are quite different compared to when we are alone. We want to understand these behaviours, how they shape our sense of social connection, and what happens to them if a person has hearing loss.
3. How does hearing loss affect perception and cognition in senses other than hearing?
Another goal is to understand how other senses, like vision, adapt to hearing loss, and what changes in the brain support this. Does hearing loss change the way that someone looks at a face when it is speaking?
4. How can we make society more accessible to those with hearing loss and other communication difficulties?
A final goal is to promote research that makes our environment more inclusive to those with varying hearing ability or who face communication barriers. Work on this is just beginning.
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