NIHRDataInsights/HRCSData huggingface dataset:
Title: Machine Listening using Sparse Representations
Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Abstract: My aim for this Fellowship is to undertake a concerted programme of research in machine listening, the automatic analysis and understanding of sounds from the world around us. Through this research, and in collaboration with other international researchers, I aim to establish machine listening as a key enabling technology to improve our ability to interact with the world, leading to advances in many areas such as health, security and the creative industries.Human listeners have many capabilities a machine listening system should ideally have: to recognize a wide range of sounds; to segregate one sound source from a mixture of many sound sources; to judge complex attributes of sound such as rhythm and timbre (sound quality). Most human listeners take these abilities for granted, yet it has proved extremely difficult for conventional audio signal processing methods to tackle many of these tasks. Even currently successful tasks, such as automatic speech recognition, have typically led to very specialized techniques which cannot easily be applied to other domains. I propose to introduce new methods for machine listening of general audio scenes.As part of this work, I also will develop new interdisciplinary collaborations with both the machine vision and biological sensory research communities toinvestigate and develop general organizational principles for machine listening. One such principle that currently looks very promising is that of sparse representations. New theoretical advances and practical applications mean that sparse representations has recently emerged as a new and powerful analysis method, based on the principle that observations should be represented by only a few items chosen from a large number of possible items This approach now has great potential for analysis and measurement of audio as well as other sensory signals. I also plan to use sparse representations to explore new biologically-inspired machine listening methods, and in turn to improve our understandingof biological hearing systemsSuccess in this research will open the way for new devices and systems able to process, identify and respond to a wide range of sounds, with diverse applications including: audio searching for the music and video industry; advances in hearing aids and cochlear implants; and incident detection for improved public safety on stations, roads and airports.


Research activity codes: 1.3 CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Health categories: EAR
Title: The impact of new technologies on the reading and phonological skills of deaf primary school children
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The aim of this project is to identify the factors that predict progress in reading and spelling among deaf children in primary school. This project is timely because there have been considerable changes over the last decade both in the identification of hearing loss at birth and in the provision of sophisticated hearing aids - cochlear implants and digital sharing aids - that offer the possibility for deaf children to have greater access to spoken language. These positive changes would be expected to have a significant impact on the development of literacy, both in terms of rates of progress and on the underpinning developmental mechanisms such as use of phonological skills in reading and spelling. In order to understand the impact of these changes, children's performance in a range of reading and spelling tasks will be compared with the performance of children who were assessed ten years ago. We will also carry out observations in the classroom to see the kind of strategies that deaf children are using as they learn to read and spell. The project will focus on development from 6 - 8 years, a period in which children acquire core literacy skills. The specific research questions to be addressed are: How do the reading, spelling and phonological skills of deaf children compare with those of their hearing peers? How do reading, spelling and phonological skills of children in the proposed study compare with those of a comparable sample assessed from 2003-2005? What skills at age 6 predict reading and spelling progress at age 7 and age 8? Are the predictors the same as in the 2003-5 cohort? How are the development of reading and spelling supported by methods used to teach reading? The answers to these questions will show what factors support the development of literacy for deaf children, an area in which many deaf children have traditionally lagged well behind hearing peers.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: EAR
Title: Middle ear cavitation and mesenchymal clearance: links with deafness and otitis media
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Defects in the middle ear lead to a failure in the conduction of sound from the external ear to the inner ear resulting in hearing loss. In this grant we look at the process of cavitation, whereby the middle ear mesenchyme around the ossicles is cleared to create an air-filled space in which the ossicles can vibrate. Defects in cavitation lead to mesenchyme being retained in the middle ear, which in severe cases leads to deafness. In mild cases the retained mesenchyme does not directly affect hearing but is thought to hamper aeration of the middle ear leading to an increased incidence of middle ear infection (otitis media). Otitis media (OM) is a complex multi-factorial disease characterised by persistent inflammation of the middle ear mucosa. Acute episodes of OM in children are associated with middle ear bacterial infections. In a number of cases, acute OM can lead to recurrent episodes or chronic suppurative OM, causing build up of fluid in the middle ear (OM with effusion). This can eventually lead to erosion of the ossicles and temporal bone and hearing loss. The structure of the middle ear and Eustachian tube, the host immune status and innate mucosal defence and pathogen virulence have all been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. Given the number of individuals affected, and the debilitating nature of chronic OM, it is essential that a better understanding of the factors that can influence the onset of OM are addressed. We aim to study how the middle ear undergoes cavitation using mouse and chick embryos as models. We will investigate the mechanisms responsible for loss of the mesenchyme in normal development, and look at what goes wrong in mouse models with retained mesenchyme. The link between retained mesenchyme and otitis media and the formation of middle ear cysts will be addressed. Finally we aim to correct the cavitation defect in mutant mice. This grant aims to increase our understanding of the causes of deafness and middle ear disease, and may lead to new treatments in the future.


Research activity codes: 1.1 NORMAL BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONING;2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS
Health categories: EAR
Title: Perceiving speech in single and multi-talker babble in normal and impaired hearing
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Understanding speech in the presence of masking sounds, such as other voices, is particularly challenging for those with impaired auditory systems A major source of difficulty is a reduction or absence of masking release: unlike normally-hearing (NH) listeners, hearing-impaired (HI) listeners and cochlear implant (CI) users do not show substantially better speech perception with interfering sounds that fluctuate in level, such as speech, than with steady-state maskers. Attempts to identify the source of these deficits have been hindered by the fact that the processes underlying masking release in normal hearing are not completely understood, particularly in the ecologically valid situation where target speech is presented against a background of varying numbers of competing voices (n-talker babble). In NH listeners speech perception varies non-monotonically as the number of competing talkers increases from one to many, reflecting the interaction of different factors that have not been isolated in previous research, including: opportunities to glimpse the target afforded by fluctuations in masker level; difficulties in attending to the target rather than the masking speech; and interference in auditory object formation arising from the presence of multiple fundamental frequency (F0) contours. A major element of the proposed work is the development of novel stimulus configurations to allow independent assessment of the role of such factors in changes in performance with increasing numbers of interfering talkers. It is anticipated that the contribution of different factors will vary across different listener groups. Possible limitations on CI and HI listeners? ability to benefit from glimpsing will be examined with specific investigations of 1) the role of periodicity, including consideration of whether it is cued by temporal fine structure or envelope cues; 2) deficits in the ability to fuse segments of speech information over brief temporal gaps; and 3) effects of overall signal-to-noise ratio on the utility of glimpsing. Other issues to be addressed include effects of the presence of multiple F0 contours in the masker, and the role of masker intelligibility. The latter will be investigated using novel stimuli that allow comparison between intelligible and unintelligible maskers that both incorporate the spectro-temporal complexity of speech. The proposed work will both extend our basic scientific knowledge of speech perception in noise and also have important practical applications in the development of technology to improve outcomes for CI and hearing-aid users, and the enhancement of diagnostic tests probing disabilities such as auditory processing disorder.


Research activity codes: 1.1 NORMAL BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONING;2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS
Health categories: EAR
Title: Over two years for the development of paediatric nanocomposite implants for ear applications, an unmet clinical need.
Funder: Action Medical Research

Abstract: Background There are a number of conditions affecting ear and nose development in children. Microtia, is a rare congenital condition in which children are born with a small or absent ear. It affects around one in 6,000 babies worldwide each year. Current treatment involves surgical reconstruction using cartilage from the child's ribs to create a new ear, which is then implanted. This surgery has many risks for the child, can be very painful and cannot be carried out until the child is six to 10 years old, causing significant social and psychological burden for both the child and their parents. To enable earlier treatment, surgeons have used synthetic materials to create an ear for the child. Unfortunately, currently available ear implants have high infection rates and poor appearance. The situation is similar for children born with nose deformities - using the child's own tissues for repair is painful, can have wound-healing complications and is limited by the availability of suitable tissue. Professor Seifalian's team at University College London has developed a unique synthetic nanocomposite biomaterial that has been extensively tested and found to be safe and well-tolerated when implante5.d in the body. This material has already been used in patients as an adult windpipe, to replace tear ducts and also to replace arteries in the leg. The research project Dr Griffin plans to develop ear and nose implants for children using this unique material to overcome complications with existing surgical techniques and implants. She will design implants based on the actual human ear and nose with a similar structure, stiffness and shape, enabling better outcomes for children. Some of these implants may have the potential to grow with the child creating a natural look and feel, and blending well with their own facial features. It is hoped that the implants will be available within the next four years for children born with all types of ear and nose deformities. In addition, this research may provide the foundation for creating different types of facial implants, helping children born with other head and face deformities in the future. Action Medical Research and the MRC are jointly funding this training fellowship.


Research activity codes: 5.3 MEDICAL DEVICES
Health categories: EAR
Title: Thermo-reversible 'worm' gels for the delivery of human otic neuroprogenitors into the deaf cochlea
Funder: Action on Hearing Loss

Abstract: The successful and safe delivery of otic neuroprogenitors into a deafened human ear requires biomaterials that would support key biological behaviour. Thermo-reversible, ‘worm’ gels are temperature-responsive materials that remain soluble when cold, and will gelify when temperature is raised. PGMA-PHPMA copolymers form gels at 20 Celsius and the re-cooling to 5 Celsius causes rapid de-gelation and the return to a liquid state. The biological activity of this material has been recently tested on undifferentiated human ESCs, showning that cells are viable and, when encased into this matrix, they become quiescent stopping proliferation. Interestingly, healthy cells can be released from the gel by lowering the temperature.These are properties that are ideal when dealing with otic neuroprogenitors to be transplanted in vivo, given their potential contamination with undifferentiated hESCs capable of producing tumors. Therefore, our hypothesis is that worm gels could be used to block division of otic neuroprogenitors (and contaminating hESCs), without interfering with their differentiation into auditory neurons. The encasing into a worm-like lattice should confine the cells to a particular space (limiting the risk of spreading to other tissues) and could shelter them from the immune system but allowing the neuronal fibres to connect with their target structures. Moreover, the reversible nature of the gelation could be exploited for shipping cells as gels at room temperature (removing the expense of the cold chain), liquefying them for injection by cooling, and re-encasing them once at body temperature. This project aims to explore these objectives in vitro and in vivo.


Research activity codes: 5.2 CELLULAR AND GENE THERAPIES
Health categories: EAR
Title: Innovative techniques for precise, atraumatic placement of cochlear implant
Funder: Action on Hearing Loss

Abstract: The research is to investigate new approaches in technology to produce an innovative integrated, automatic CI electrode array feed tool for demonstration in laboratory phantoms. The tool will minimise the level of trauma induced and increase the precision to which the electrode is fully placed within the cochlea. To achieve this, the research will investigate and integrate:_x000D_• A novel sensing scheme using CI electrodes for automatic perception and discrimination of the electrode array behaviour during placement to avoid damage to inner cochlear membrane structures._x000D_• A novel micro-actuation approach for automated insertion of the array based on pulling as opposed to pushing that will achieve precise displacement on required axes without errors induced by electrode flexure._x000D_• An automated strategy for electrode motion during placement to minimise the amplitude of intra-cochlear pressure transients and tissue interaction. Automation is a requirement as in this microsurgical, minimally invasive process precise actuation and perception is beyond the capability of human operators._x000D_The outcome of the project will be will be evaluated and demonstrated in phantom units. The intracochlear disturbances level will be compared between the automated solution and conventional manual approach using the unique third window measurements.


Research activity codes: 5.3 MEDICAL DEVICES
Health categories: EAR
Title: Can we prevent hearing loss by manipulating the stress granule pathway?
Funder: Dunhill Medical Trust

Abstract: Age-related diseases such as neurodegeneration and hearing loss are extremely common so identification of drugs which could delay or prevent their onset would be hugely beneficial. A risk factor for such diseases is cellular stress, which triggers formation of cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs), aggregates of RNA and protein which prioritize specific RNAs for translation to aid cell survival. SG dysregulation has been implicated in age-related/neurodegenerative disease. Our research shows that SGs play an important role in the maintenance of hearing: (i) SGs form in the cochlea in response to ototoxic drugs, noise and with ageing, (ii) genetic deletion of a SG component in the cochlea causes hearing loss, (iii) pharmacological manipulation of SG formation in ex-vivo cochlear explants protects sensory hair cells from ototoxic damage. Here, we propose to test whether the same pharmacological treatment applied in-vivo is able to prevent protect stress induced hearing loss in mice.


Research activity codes: 1.1 NORMAL BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTIONING;2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS
Health categories: EAR
Title: Mechanisms of aminoglycoside ototoxicity and drug-damage repair in sensory hair cells: towards the design of otoprotective strategies
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Aminoglycoside antibiotics are increasingly used in the clinic to combat serious infections but can kill sensory hair cells in the inner ear causing deafness in a significant number of patients. As permeant blockers of the hair cell's mechanoelectrical transduction (MET) channels the aminoglycosides enter and accumulate in hair cells via these channels disrupting apical plasma membrane homeostasis and mitochondrial function. These immediate effects lead to hair-cell death, but can be reversed by a previously-unrecognised damage-repair pathway if drug exposure times are restricted in duration. The aims are to develop strategies for preventing, or reversing, the early effects of aminoglycosides on hair cells. We will (i) fully define the pore properties of the hair cell's MET channel, developing novel, high-affinity blockers of this channel that may prevent aminoglycoside entry into hair cells, (ii) elucidate how aminoglycoside enter mitochondria and disrupt function and (iii) fully characterise the damage-repair process. An interdisclipinary approach combining patch-clamp recording of MET channel activity in mouse cochlear hair cells, chemical biology and drug design, and high-throughput screening of chemical libraries in zebrafish larvae will be used to find novel, potentially oto-protective, MET channel blockers. Characterisation of ion channels present in the mitochondrial inner membrane together with measurements of mitochondrial potential will reveal how aminoglycosides target the mitochondrial matrix and disrupt mitochondrial function. Confocal immunofluorescence and serial section electron microscopy, combined with functional analysis in mouse cochlear cultures and zebrafish lateral line organs using viral constructs, morpholinos and transgenes, will be used to characterise the molecular and cellular basis of the damage-repair mechanism. These studies will provide strategies for preventing the unwanted side effects of a clinically useful class of antibiotic.


Research activity codes: 5.1 PHARMACEUTICALS
Health categories: EAR
Title: DIADS - Diagnostic Instruments for Autism in Deaf Children Study
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Design: Modification of screening and assessment instruments for autism spectrum disorders, followed by translation, and field testing to establish robust validity and reliability, compared to instruments used with hearing children. Setting: National Deaf Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (four main centres and six outreach centres) with strong academic, clinical expert and user partnership involvement. Target Population: Children and young people aged 2-18 who have a permanent bilateral hearing loss of 40 dB or more, who have been referred for an assessment for an autism spectrum disorder, and selected assessment groups. Outcomes: Fully validated and reliable screening and assessment instruments for autism in deaf children. This will be acceptable to users and we will evidence key psychometric properties of these instruments. Sample Size: 195 children and young people for assessment instruments (260 for screening) Milestones Milestone 1: agreement on Delphi Consensus of 80% (75% acceptable). If not met will lead to cessation of grant with further field research being pursued. Milestone 2: futility analysis after 20 deaf children with and 20 without autism recruited. 0.8 under ROC curve (0.75 acceptable). If the area under ROC curve were 0.8, this would correspond to a difference in mean score of 1.2 standard deviations. To detect the existence of a difference between means with power 0.95 if the true difference were 1.2 would require 19 in each group. If we do not detect a significant difference the test will be deemed unsuitable for diagnostic purposes. This will lead to a cessation of the grant with further research into autism in deaf children and a new approach to screening with further grant applications and discussions with MRC. Milestone 3: 60% of target population recruited by 30 months (55% acceptable). Failure to meet this will result in meeting with MRC and steering group and urgent recruitment strategies.


Research activity codes: 4.1 DISCOVERY AND PRECLINICAL TESTING OF MARKERS AND TECHNOLOGIES;4.2 EVALUATION OF MARKERS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Health categories: EAR
Title: The physiological bases and perceptual consequences of 'hidden' noise-induced hearing loss
Funder: Medical Research Council

Abstract: Noise exposure is the main cause of preventable hearing loss worldwide. Dramatic results from recent animal experiments suggest that moderate noise exposure can cause substantial permanent damage to the auditory nerve that is not detected by standard hearing tests. A large number of people, probably millions in the UK alone, are exposed to occupational and recreational noise levels similar to, or greater than, those used in the animal experiments. There is some evidence that people with a history of noise exposure, but with normal hearing as measured by pure tone audiometry, have perceptual deficits that include tasks such as hearing speech in noisy backgrounds. This "hidden" loss may also be associated with tinnitus and hyperacusis. Together, these deficits lead to a reduced quality of life for the individuals concerned. It is vital that we understand the mechanisms and consequences of hidden hearing loss so that we can: 1. Adequately assess hearing ability, and provide appropriate treatments 2. Identify at-risk individuals and provide personalised healthcare advice to prevent further damage 3. Re-evaluate EU noise-exposure regulations Our proposal is far-reaching and multidisciplinary, combining animal histology, neurophysiology, electrophysiology, and psychophysics, with human electrophysiology, psychophysics, and neuroimaging. By using overlapping methodologies across the animal and human experiments, it will be possible to make inferences regarding the physiological bases of noise-induced damage in the human auditory system; information that will be vital for the diagnosis and treatment of hidden hearing loss. The animal noise-exposure experiments will also be invaluable in the determination of safe noise levels for humans. The results will allow us to identify the perceptual effects of hidden damage, and provide a diagnostic test. We will also provide an estimate of the prevalence of this type of loss in young adults, and the risk factors involved.


Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS;2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS
Health categories: EAR