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Clinical Audiology Research Lab
Hannah Cooper
I completed my BSc in Physical Sciences at UCL in 2004. I went on to the Clinical Scientist Training Scheme and as part of that, completed an MSc in Audiology at the University of Southampton. I worked as a paediatric audiologist for several years before undertaking my PhD at the UCL GOS Institute of Child Health with Chris Clark, Lorna Halliday and Doris Bamiou which I finished in 2017. I am now a lecturer in Audiology at the Ear Institute, and I continue to practice as a paediatric audiologist one day a week.
My research is focussed on improving outcomes for children with hearing loss by investigating diagnostic and therapeutic audiology interventions. I am also part of broader clinical audiology research and development projects for adults who are deaf and hard of hearing.
- People
Lida Alampounti (PhD Student)
Project: Assessing and optimising audiovisual integration for listening in a mixture of competing sounds.
Supervisors: Professor Jennifer Bizley and Dr Hannah Cooper.
Funded by: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), University College London Hospitals (UCLH) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Hearing Theme and the UCL Ear Institute.Chloe Tanton (MSc Audiological Science with Clinical Practice Student)
Project: Is hearing aid benefit affected by configuration in mild hearing loss?
My name is Chloe and I completed my undergraduate degree at The University of Manchester in Psychology. After this I worked in an office for a while and realised it wasn't for me. I then saw a job opportunity at Southend Hospital to train as an audiologist whilst working on the job. As part of the job, I applied to study at UCL and complete a masters in Audiological Science with Clinical Placement. I have been completing the course part time whilst working at Southend Hospital over the past 5 years. This year I finally graduate! My research project has been investigating whether adults with a mild sensorineural hearing loss firstly receive benefit from hearing aids and whether the configuration of their mild hearing loss has an effect on the benefit they receive from the hearing aids. Hannah has been my project supervisor over the last 2 years and has been a fantastic mentor, I have really enjoyed working on my project with her.Carla Marques (MSc Advanced Audiology Student)
Project: How does early bilateral cochlear implantation affect speech tracking abilities in children?
My audiology career began in 2011 after completing my BSc In Audiology at Coimbra Health School (Portugal). I moved to the UK in 2014 and worked in the private sector for 4 years. I joined the Audiology Department at Oxford University Hospitals as an adult audiologist in 2018. In my current role I lead a severe-profound clinic that aims to provide an easy transition to the CI program as well as supporting patients that are not keen on cochlear implantation. I also conduct balance assessments as part of the MDT with the ENT Department and the Vestibular Rehabilitation Department. I took the next step in my career in 2020 when I began my MSc in Advanced Audiology at the University College of London. My research project is about the speech tracking abilities of children with bilateral cochlear implants.
Rangeetha Ramamoorthy (MSc Audiological Science with Clinical Practice Student)
Project: What are the experiences of patients with complex needs and their parents who have transitioned to adult hearing aid or Baha audiology services?
I currently work as an ATO at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) in the Audiology department. Completing a Master in Audiological Science (Part time) at UCL, I am working on a project at GOSH on 'Patient and parent experiences of transitioning to adult audiology services, for hearing aid and Baha patients with complex needs'. I have completed an Undergrade in Biomedical Science (BSc). I have always had a passion for Healthcare and working at GOSH has made my passion amplified into the field of Audiology and the beauty of 'Sounds'.
Former MSc Students
- Trisha Halai, MSc Advanced Audiology (2020)
- Haifa Basri, MSc Advanced Audiology (2020)
- Sarah Pirbhai, MSc Advanced Audiology (2019)
- Asiya Ali, MSc Audiological Science with Clinical Practice (2019)
- Dana Mathewson, MSc Audiological Science with Clinical Practice (2018)
- Projects
Baby soundscapes
We want to understand more about the everyday sound environments of deaf babies and toddlers in order to find out whether radio aid technology (which is commonly used with older children) might be helpful for very young children.
Hearing aids and cochlear implants help by amplifying speech sounds in quiet situations but they are less effective when there is background noise or when the sound of interest is at a distance of more than one-two metres. For babies with hearing loss it is hard for them to notice the sounds that are further away from them and so they might miss out on learning about what those sounds mean.
Remote microphone technology might help deaf babies to understand the sounds around them more effectively but we don’t currently know whether this is the case, or how best to use this technology with this age group.
We have developed a series of questionnaires for parents of both deaf and hearing babies to fill in to help us find this out, and we will use the results to develop guidelines to support parents and professionals.
If you’re interested in taking part in our project, find out more about Baby soundscapes.
Publications
Contact us
UCL Ear Institute
332 Gray's Inn Road
London
WC1X 8EE
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 8958