Ingrid Yeend
Role: PhD Student/Researcher
Bio
Ingrid is a research audiologist who joined the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) in 2004. Prior to this she worked in various specialist clinical audiology and advisory roles within Australian Hearing. As part of the HEARing Cooperative Research Centre, she is currently working on the Early Indicators of Noise Injury project investigating the effects of noise exposure, auditory skills, and cognitive factors on ‘hidden hearing loss’ in adults. She is also undertaking a PhD part-time on the same topic
Before joining the NAL Hearing Loss Prevention team in 2014 Ingrid worked in Rehabilitation Devices for 10 years focusing on hearing aid projects. She has been a qualified audiologist since 1988, is a full member of the Audiological Society of Australia and holds the Certificate of Clinical Practice.
PhD title
Early Indicators of Noise Injury: Are decreased auditory processing skills evident in noise-exposed adults prior to diagnosis of hearing loss?
PhD Project
Some adults, particularly those with a history of noise exposure, report hearing difficulties especially understanding speech in background noise yet their test results are clinically normal. Recent animal studies have shown that even a small amount of noise exposure damages the synaptic connections between auditory nerve fibers and inner hair cells irreversibly which may explain why these people are presenting with auditory processing problems. So this study is a first attempt to characterise noise damage at this level in humans. It has been suggested that musical training, a complex auditory procedure, may enhance auditory abilities and provide a preventative compensatory effect, such that musically trained noise-exposed people will have fewer problems understanding speech in noise compared to non-musically trained people with similar levels of noise exposure.
The Early Indicators of Noise Injury study involves a comprehensive behavioural test battery designed to investigate the interactive effects of on between noise and music on auditory abilities.
