KEYNOTE SPEAKER
NINA KRAUS, Ph.D.
Nina Kraus, is Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology, and Otolaryngology at Northwestern University. She is a scientist, inventor, and amateur musician who uses hearing as a window into brain health. She began her career measuring responses from single auditory neurons and was one of the first to show that the adult nervous system has the potential for reorganization following learning; these insights in basic biology galvanized her to investigate auditory learning in humans.
Through a series of innovative studies involving thousands of research participants from birth to age 90, her research has found that our lives in sound, for better (musicians, bilinguals) or worse (concussion, aging, hearing loss, language disorders), shape auditory processing. She continues to conduct parallel experiments in animal models to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these phenomena.
Never having accepted a lack of technology as a roadblock to scientific discovery, Kraus has invented new ways to measure the biology of sound processing in humans that provide unprecedented precision and granularity in indexing brain function. With her technological innovations she is now pushing science beyond the traditional laboratory by conducting studies in schools, community centers, and clinics.
Using the principles of neuroscience to improve human communication, she advocates for best practices in education, health, and social policy.
www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu
INVITED SPEAKERS
SHARON KUJAWA, Ph.D.
Sharon G. Kujawa, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Harvard Medical School. She is the Director of Audiology Research and a Senior Scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA. She also serves on the faculty of the Program in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology at Harvard University. Dr. Kujawa is a clinician and an auditory neuroscientist whose research seeks to clarify mechanisms and consequences of common causes of acquired sensorineural hearing loss and to translate that knowledge into improved diagnosis and treatments that benefit people. A major focus of current work is understanding how sound overexposure and aging cause loss of cochlear hair cell – nerve fiber connections/communications (synapses), determining the functional consequences of that loss, and clarifying how the degeneration can be manipulated pharmacologically to reveal mechanisms and provide treatments. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health-National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the Department of Defense and the Office of Naval Research.
MARSHALL CHASIN, AuD
Dr. Chasin is an audiologist and the Director of Auditory Research at the Musicians' Clinics of Canada, Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto (in Linguistics), Associate Professor in the School of Communication Disorders and Sciences at the Western University, and Adjunct Research Assistant Professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. Dr. Chasin received his B.Sc. in mathematics and linguistics at the University of Toronto, his M.Sc. in Audiology and Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and his Doctor of Audiology (AuD) degree from the Arizona School of Health Sciences. He is the author of over 200 articles and 8 books including Musicians and the Prevention of Hearing Loss, and recently, an e-book Music To Your Ears available from HearingHealthMatters.org. He writes a monthly column in Hearing Review called Back to Basics and a weekly blog at www.HearingHealthMatters.org/HearTheMusic. Dr. Chasin has been the recipient of many awards over the years including the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Award for service to Canada. He has developed a new TTS app called Temporary Hearing Loss Test app. This is a tool to help prevent hearing loss.
CORY PORTNUFF, AuD Ph.D.
Dr. Cory Portnuff is a clinical audiologist at the University of Colorado Hospital and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. In the clinic, he works with patients of all ages, with a focus on audiologic rehabilitation, treatment for tinnitus and services for musicians. Dr. Portnuff is board certified in audiology with a specialty certification in pediatric audiology. His research focuses on hearing loss prevention, including noise-induced hearing loss in children and hearing protection for musicians. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, camping, and long walks on Colorado beaches.
ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS
JON BOLEY, Ph.D.
Jon is a senior research scientist and program manager at GN Hearing, where he designs psychoacoustic experiments to push the limits of tiny audio systems (hearing aids). His research involves sensory analysis, experimental design, psychoacoustic & neural modeling, electroacoustics, and signal processing.
MARC FAGELSON, Ph.D.
Dr. Marc Fagelson is Professor of Audiology at East Tennessee State University. He received a BA in English and MS in Audiology from Columbia University, and his PhD in Hearing Science from the University of Texas – Austin. His academic teaching includes courses covering hearing science, audiologic evaluation, pathologies of the auditory system, and tinnitus management. Fagelson co-edited with Dr. David Baguley, two texts published by Plural that center on tinnitus and disorders of sound tolerance. He has more than 35 publications and has made more than 100 conference and workshop presentations. In 2001, he opened the James H. Quillen VAMC Tinnitus Clinic that now enrolls more than 1000 patients. The clinic offers extensive and collaborative counseling for patients, as well as a variety of sound therapy strategies designed to foster a patient’s ability to manage their tinnitus experience and sound tolerance issues. A substantial proportion of the veterans in that clinic experience tinnitus that is complicated by the influence of co-occurring psychological conditions, and in particular posttraumatic stress disorder. This challenging and underserved population is the focus of Dr. Fagelson’s research. His most prized possession is a 1960 Fender Precision.
SRIDHAR KRISHNAMURTI, Ph.D., CCC-A
Dr. Sridhar Krishnamurti is Professor and Program coordinator of Audiology in the Department of Communication Disorders at Auburn University. Sridhar was a recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Engaged Scholar Award at Auburn University (2014-2017). He currently serves on the Research grants panel of the DOD and is funded by Army Research Office ORISE program. Sridhar’s previous awards include the 1999 New Investigator Research Award from the American Academy of Audiology, the 2011 Auburn University Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, and the 2012 Auburn University Faculty Research award. He has served as the past-continuing education administrator for ASHA’s Audiology Special Interest Divisions 6-9 and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology.
COLLEEN LE PRELL, Ph.D.
Dr. Colleen Le Prell is the Emilie and Phil Schepps Professor of Hearing Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, and head of the UTD Doctor of Audiology (AuD) Program. She has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, several foundations, and industry. Translational research in her laboratory is directed at prevention of noise-induced hearing loss. She has published more than 55 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Audiology; she has also contributed chapters to 10 books and edited 3 books. She is currently serving as immediate Past-President for the National Hearing Conservation Association. She is a member of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Hearing Loss Prevention Cross Sector Council and the Safety and Occupational Health (Study Section for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). She participated in the 2017 and 2018 World Health Organization – International Telecommunication Union (WHO-ITU) “Make Listening Safe” consultations as well as the 2014 working meeting of the Land Capability Group Dismounted Soldier Systems Weapons and Sensors working group, which discussed suppressor assessment methods as an addendum to the NATO D/14 small arms testing manual.
BRIAN FLIGOR, Ph.D., PASC
Brian Fligor, PhD, PASC, is Founder and President of Boston Audiology Consultants, Inc., and Musicians Hearing Program (Mansfield, MA), an audiology clinical and technical consulting private practice. Dr. Fligor is also Chief Development Officer at Lantos Technologies (Woburn, MA), leading product development and business applications of direct ear scanning technology to make custom-fitted ear devices (such as in-ear monitors, hearing protection, and hearing instruments). From 2005-2013, Dr. Fligor was Director of Diagnostic Audiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in audiology with a specialty in pediatric audiology, and author of Understanding Childhood Hearing Loss (Rowman and Littlefield; October 2015). He is chair of the World Health Organization working group drafting guidelines for headphone manufacturers to make safer portable listening devices and co-authored a monograph on determination of risk of noise-induced hearing loss due to recreational sound. Dr. Fligor is adjunct faculty at the George S. Osborne College of Audiology, Salus University (Elkins Park, PA), a consultant member of the Children’s Oncology Group, and founder and past-chair of the Music-Induced Hearing Disorders Taskforce for the National Hearing Conservation Association. Dr. Fligor’s publications on hearing loss risk from music received considerable popular media attention, including being spoofed on the David Letterman Show in 2005. His publications on ototoxicity were incorporated into the JCIH Position Statement (2007) and helped shape a new unified international chemotherapy ototoxicity grading scale. He holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Ph.D. in Audiology from Boston University.
JOHANNES MULDER, Ph.D.
Johannes (Jos) Mulder is a passionate sound designer, researcher and educator, currently employed by Murdoch University in Perth. Music is the gist in his broad education and professional experience. Initially trained as a Tonmeister he specialised in Live Sound working internationally with top performers from different traditions. In addition to music and technology skills he developed an interest in the wider organisational, socio-cultural and historical aspects of the use of electronic amplification in the performance arts. As part of his research interest in Sound Level Management in music venues he collaborates with HEARsmart a subsidiary of the Australian HEARing Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
TRON VEDUL TRONSTAD
Tron Vedul Tronnstad works for SINTEF in Norway. He will Tron Vedul Tronstad is a research scientist at SINTEF in Norway, one of Europe’s largest independent research organisations. He got his master's degree in acoustics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2007 and finished his PhD at the same university in 2018. His main research topics revolves around hearing and hearing damage, but also includes other acoustical issues.
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