Projet CherISH (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Doctoral Networks
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The loss of inner hair cells in the cochlea causes deafness. Since the first trial of a cochlear implant in 1957, cochlear implants have been developed to the point where they can (re-)restore hearing and speech understanding in a large proportion of patients. Although spatial hearing is central to controlling and directing attention and to enabling speech understanding in noisy environments it has been largely neglected. In current implants, matching of binaural information, a basic prerequisite for spatial hearing, is not yet implemented. Furthermore, intensive rehabilitation programs are lacking. The here proposed interdisciplinary doctoral network in which physicians, psychologists and engineers collaborate, aims at the improvement of spatial hearing in cochlear implant users. In ten different interconnected projects spatial hearing will be improved by (1) applying machine learning algorithms to identify sounds sources and to provide the information to CI users through visual or tactile spatial cues, (2) examining physiological impairments of spatial hearing in CI users and matching the imbalance of the binaural inputs, and by (3) patient-centered training programs that make use of virtual environments. The doctoral training network will provide the next generation of researchers and engineers that will have a good understanding of the multifaceted problems of spatial hearing and that will be equipped with expertise and skills to come up with innovative solutions in this field. The collaboration between academia and the private sector enables the realisation of new solutions for spatial hearing with CIs, thus enabling deaf patients to substantially improve their hearing.

Mots clés : otolaryngology, biomedical engineering, psychology, cochlear implants, spatial hearing, attention control, rehabilitation, plasticity, virtual reality, machine learning, neurophysiology, psychophysics

Participants :
- Académie autrichienne des sciences (Autriche) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 270331.2 €
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 262620.0 €
- Centre de recherche ensciences naturelles (Hongrie) — Partner, associated partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
- Nemo labs nonprofit kft (Hongrie) — Partner, beneficiary, Autres, subvention : 228348.0 €
- Reactify music llp (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Lyon-I université (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 565387.2 €
- Université de Trente (Italie) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 259437.6 €
- Cochlear (Australia) (Belgique) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 262620.0 €
- Université de Vienne (Autriche) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université polytechnique et économique de Budapest (Hongrie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université Eberhard Karl de Tübingen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 781617.6 €