Helping deaf and hard of hearing people communicate in social situations

Dr David McAlpine, an expert in binaural processing, recently undertook Deafness Research UK funded research to examine why deaf and hard of hearing people find it hard to communicate in noisy environments.

Our hearing enables us to pick out other’s distinctive voices from the background of different noises generated at social occasions such as dinner parties. However, we also have to contend with echoes of the person’s voice we are listening to.

A process known as the precedence effect allows us to ignore these confusing echo signals. Yet most deaf and hard of hearing people have a dysfunctional precedence effect, making communication in social situations extremely difficult.

One of our supporters, Michael Simmons, has personal experience of this problem: "I have had to get used to the unexpected intrusion of sounds I was never previously aware of. Hence, where before it was always predictably difficult to hear what individual people were saying in a crowded room, it has now become almost impossible. Like many thousands of others, I have stopped going to parties, reunions and other gatherings which had previously been such an important part of life."

Dr McAlpine will focus on discovering the mechanisms that control the precedence effect. His work will potentially contribute to the future design of both cochlear implants and hearing aids, so that the precedence effect can be made functional, helping deaf and hard of hearing people to communicate successfully in noisy environments.