BME Seminar Series (Zoom): Lessons Learned From Cochlear Implants - Pitch Plasticity, Binaural Fusion and Neural Health

Zoom: https://uci.zoom.us/s/97629106431 Password: 198Sem

Abstract: Cochlear implants are the first successful neural prosthesis and have improved speech perception outcomes for many individuals with hearing loss. In recent years, cochlear implants have also led to new findings about human capabilities for plasticity and change in both the peripheral and central auditory systems. We will first describe the earlier findings on plasticity of pitch perception with cochlear implant electrodes, and abnormal binaural fusion and spectral integration of acoustic and electric hearing. We will end with some preliminary new findings suggesting peripheral changes in neural health after cochlear implantation.

Bio: Lina Reiss is an associate professor of otolaryngology, biomedical engineering, and behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. She received her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Princeton University and her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, with a focus on neurophysiology of sound localization circuits in the auditory brainstem. This was followed by postdoctoral training in cochlear implants and psychoacoustics at the University of Iowa. Her current research focuses on binaural fusion and integration with hearing loss, and on neural health with cochlear implants. Part of what drives her interest in hearing loss and cochlear implants is that she has had severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss since early childhood, and in fact recently received a cochlear implant in 2020. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, son, and two dogs, and enjoys hiking, swimming, cooking, and reading in her free time.