Deafness Research UK announces Pauline Ashley Prize winner
26 September 2008
The Deafness Research UK Pauline Ashley Prize 2009 has been awarded to Rosemary Lovett, a third year Psychology PhD student at the University of York.
The prize was established in memory of the charity’s founder, Lady Pauline Ashley, and aims to encourage the most promising young scientists to start or continue research into hearing and deafness. Awarded annually to an exceptional young scientist near the beginning of their career in hearing research, the prize enables them to gain valuable research experience in a leading research centre overseas, so that knowledge gained will be brought back to the UK to the benefit of the British deafness research community.
Rosemary will travel to the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center at the University of Washington, Seattle, to collaborate with Professor Jay Rubinstein on a project aiming to predict the ability of infants and toddlers with cochlear implants to understand speech. If successful, the technique could provide feedback to clinicians who tune implants, enabling children to get the best out of them. Such measures could also provide information to teachers and therapists about children’s potential in speech perception.
Rosemary said: “I am extremely grateful to Deafness Research UK for giving me the opportunity to visit one of the foremost hearing research centres in the world. I will learn techniques for measuring the hearing of profoundly deaf babies and toddlers who use cochlear implants. I plan to use the techniques in future research in the UK.”
A member of the judging panel, commenting on Rosemary’s entry, said: “This candidate is outstanding with an excellent academic track record. The project is clearly described and covers the very important area of evaluating the performance of bilateral cochlear implants. The host laboratory is excellent and the collaboration should propagate long-lasting links in an area that should be supported within the UK. The personal strengths of the applicant and the quality of the host laboratories make this application a winner.”
Ade Deane-Pratt, Research Communications Manager for Deafness Research UK, said: “Rosemary has proven her abilities as a researcher. We are absolutely delighted that she has chosen to pursue what is such an important area of deafness research, which will ultimately help the treatment of deaf children and babies in the UK. Rosemary’s work is thoroughly deserving of the Pauline Ashley Prize and we wish her every success with this and future research projects.”
Together with Professor Lynne Werner, Professor Rubenstein has developed a specialised version of a test, known as “spectral-ripple” discrimination, which measures the ability to detect the kind of changes across sound frequency that occur in speech. The test is to be used with a technique known as the observer-based psychoacoustic procedure which is a rigorous means of measuring detection and discrimination in pre-lingual children as young as two weeks old.
Rosemary’s PhD is funded by Deafness Research UK and she has been supervised by Professor Quentin Summerfield (Deafness Research UK’s Chief Research Advisor). Rosemary’s research project has focused on comparing the spatial listening skills of children with normal hearing, and children with unilateral or bilateral cochlear implants. Findings show that having two implants allows children to work out where sounds are coming from and to understand speech in a range of noisy situations. These advantages may help children to avoid hazards outdoors and to understand what is being said in noisy environments at home and school.
Notes to editors
Pauline Ashley background
Lady Ashley of Stoke, Deafness Research UK founder and campaigner, born August 2 1932; died July 28 2003.
Pauline Ashley was a remarkable person and an inspiration to all who knew her. Without her, Deafness Research UK (formerly Defeating Deafness), which has done so much to find better treatments and cures for deafness, simply would not exist. In 1985 Pauline founded, and then for 10 years chaired, Defeating Deafness (then the Hearing Research Trust). Pauline was totally committed to improving the quality of life for hearing impaired people through research and she was convinced that the key to this lay in the talent and promise of our young scientists.
Pauline learned through Jack’s sudden deafness what it is like not just to be deaf, but to have loud and incurable noises in one’s head night and day. Her role in encouraging him to stay in Parliament ensured that both deaf and tinnitus-stricken people have a passionate spokesman. It was typical of Pauline that in the mid 1980s, when she realised how little was being done to find medical answers for deaf people, she set out, with quiet determination, to reverse this neglect. The scale of the task would have deterred most people but Pauline successfully brought together scientists and clinicians to identify the most promising lines of research and then worked tirelessly to raise awareness and much needed funding.
Millions of people who never knew her name owe her a great debt of gratitude and she is much missed. Pauline was well-known in Parliament as Jack’s ‘rock’. Her endless support and tireless work on his behalf, and on her own causes, were formidable. With Pauline’s encouragement and support, Jack mastered lipreading, then later received a cochlear implant, remaining in Parliament to become the leading backbench campaigner of his day.
Pauline is survived by her husband, Defeating Deafness President, Lord (Jack) Ashley and three daughters.
About Deafness Research UK
- Deafness Research UK is the country’s only charity dedicated to finding new cures, treatments and technologies for deaf, hard of hearing and other hearing impaired people.
- The charity supports high quality medical research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all forms of hearing impairment including tinnitus.
- The Deafness Research UK Information Service provides free information and advice based on the latest scientific evidence and informed by leading experts. The Information Service can be contacted on Freephone 0808 808 2222
- For more information on research into deafness, tinnitus and other hearing conditions, log on to the website at www.deafnessresearch.org.uk where you can access a wide range of information. Alternatively you can e-mail Deafness Research UK at
- One in seven people in the UK – almost nine million people - suffer hearing loss.
- Deafness Research UK was founded in 1985 by Lord (Jack) and Lady Ashley of Stoke.
- In January 2008, Action for Tinnitus Research (ATR) was linked with Deafness Research UK under a uniting direction order under Section 96 (6) of the Charities Act 1993.
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Ref: DRUK0094 – Pauline Ashley Prize 2009
