Ian Mertes
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Neuroscience
Between 25 and 44 million U.S. adults struggle to hear in background noise even though a standard hearing test says their hearing is normal.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
Psychology
- Topics
hearing in noise
speech-in-noise recognition
medial olivocochlear reflex
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex strength, measured by contralateral inhibition of otoacoustic emissions, predicts whether normal-hearing adults report difficulty understanding speech in background noise.
- Test whether MOC reflex strength predicts listening effort during word recognition in noise at two signal-to-noise ratios, with effort measured by verbal response time and self-report.
- Explore how afferent drive, the strength of signals sent from ear to brain measured as wave I of the auditory brainstem response, relates to MOC reflex strength in the same adults.
More about the research
These difficulties can harm health and quality of life, yet there is no agreed way to diagnose or treat them. One possible cause involves the medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflex, an ear-brain loop in which the brainstem turns down the inner ear's response to background noise. Past human studies disagree on whether this reflex helps people understand speech in noise, possibly because they rarely included people who actually report trouble.
Why it matters
Millions of adults with normal hearing tests still struggle to follow conversations in noisy places and currently have no standard diagnosis or treatment. By clarifying how the MOC reflex relates to speech-in-noise difficulty and listening effort, this work could contribute to better diagnostic tests and interventions for these listeners.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Srikanta Mishra
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Neuroscience
Examine whether otitis media (OM), common in early childhood, affects the development of spatial listening and of energetic and informational masking after the ear problem resolves, by following children longitudinally.
Lisa Goodrich
Harvard University, MA·Neuroscience
Define how the transcription factor Gata3 controls c-Maf and Mafb through effects on chromatin, using assays of chromatin structure and subtype-specific gene expression in spiral ganglion neurons.
Xiaodong Tan
Northwestern University, IL·Pharmacology
Confirm that honokiol protects hearing and activates sirtuins, enzymes that drive the cell's antioxidant defenses, in tumor-bearing mice receiving cisplatin chemotherapy.
The school
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 41 labs on PI Pages, $907M a year on research, 870 research doctorates a year.
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