Explore the current studies our amazing lab team are researching, click on the study titles down below to find out about the methodology, motivations and experimental procedures they use in order to complete their research projects!
- Investigating the Effect of Contact Sports on the Brain’s Responses to Sound
NoSA Researchers and Collaborators: Jessica Andrew and Dr Helen Nuttall.
This PhD project aims to explore how participation in contact sports influences both subcortical and cortical auditory processing, by focusing on key auditory markers. Unlike concussions, which are more readily diagnosed and treated, sub-concussions often go unnoticed and unreported, therefore this PhD research is dedicated to bridging this gap in the literature in order to pave the way for the development of targeted assessments, rehabilitation programs, and preventative strategies to protect athletes from potential long-term auditory and cognitive consequences.
- Sight, Sound and Stumbles – Investigating Multisensory Integration and Balance
NoSA Researchers and Collaborators: Jess Pepper and Dr Nelen Nuttall.
This PhD project will examine how multisensory integration is affected by age-related declines in hearing and vision and the subsequent effect this has on balancing abilities. Research funded by North West Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership at the Economic and Social Research Council.
- Investigating the Neurocognitive Basis of Aberrant Multisensory Experiences
NoSA Researchers and Collaborators: Haydn Farrelly, Dr Helen Nuttall and Dr Jason Braithwaite.
This PhD project explores the concept of cortical hyperexcitability, which can be thought of as the level of ‘background chatter’ going on within neurons which, when in excess, can be attributed to the occurrence of aberrant sensory experiences such as hallucinations that can be debilitating. Therefore this study aims to advance our understanding of how hallucinations occur in the brain, using an adaptation of the Pattern Glare test, and inform future studies on the underlying pathology of conditions where these hallucinations can be debilitating.
- Does the severity of cardiovascular disease in older adults with presbycusis predict neuroplasticity in the auditory cortex when adapting to hearing
aids?
NoSA Researchers and Collaborators: Nez Sharp, Dr Helen Nuttall and Dr Kate Slade.
This PhD research investigates the possible effects of cardiovascular disease, which damages brain tissue, in those over 65 and whether or not it reduces neuroplastic response to hearing aids. The project will measure changes in the amplitude of cortical brain responses to sound both before and after hearing aid initiation in hopes of identifying a possible mechanism behind poor hearing aid acclimatisation, and to provide extra support to those in need of hearing aids.