March 2026
Lab members Kirsten Osborn and Milad Yousefi presented their posters at the 53rd Annual Scientific and Technology Meeting of the American Auditory Society. Kirsten’s poster was entitled Olivocochlear Function in Normal-Hearing Adults with Versus Without Speech-in-Noise
Difficulties. Milad’s poster was entitled Relationships Between Listening Effort and the Medial Olivocochlear Reflex.
The meeting was held on February 26 – 28, 2026 in Scottsdale, AZ. Kirsten and Milad both received Mentored Research Poster Awards. Additionally, Kirsten was selected to present at the Student Travel Award Poster Forum where she gave a 5-minute preview of her poster.
December 2025
Lab members Kirsten Osborn and Milad Yousefi received 2026 Travel Awards from the American Auditory Society. Kirsten will present her poster “Olivocochlear Function in Normal-Hearing Adults with Versus Without Speech-in-Noise Difficulties” and Milad will present his poster “Relationships Between Listening Effort and the Medial Olivocochlear Reflex” at the 53rd Annual Scientific and Technology Conference of the American Auditory Society from February 26-28, 2026 in Scottsdale, AZ. Kirsten was also selected to present at the meeting’s Student Travel Award Poster Forum on February 26.
September 2025
Lab director Ian Mertes and our collaborator Dr. Sadie Braun (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) presented at the Illinois Academy of Audiology 2025 Mini-Conference in Normal, IL. The presentation was entitled “Practice Patterns of Speech-in-Noise Testing: A Survey Study of U.S. Audiologists.”
May 2025
The work conducted by the Hearing Research Lab was featured in the Department of Speech & Hearing Science’s Spring 2025 newsletter. The feature was entitled “The science of sound: Understanding how the brain helps us hear in noise.”
April 2025
Lab member Audrey Arlis presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The presentation was entitled “A Survey Study of US Audiologists’ Assessment of Hearing in Noise.”
March 2025
Our collaborator Dr. Sadie Braun (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) presented at the poster session of the AAA 2025+HearTECH Expo in New Orleans, LA. The presentation was entitled “Survey of US audiologists’ use of speech-in-noise testing for adults vs. pediatrics.” This work was done in collaboration with the Hearing Research Lab and Dr. Curtis Billings (Idaho State University).
February 2025
Lab director Dr. Ian Mertes presented at the poster session of the 52nd Annual Scientific and Technology Conference of the American Auditory Society in Scottsdale, AZ. The presentation was entitled “Survey of speech-in-noise testing practices.” This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Sadie Braun (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Dr. Curtis Billings (Idaho State University).
November 2024
Lab director Dr. Ian Mertes and our collaborator Dr. Sadie Braun (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) presented at the virtual poster session of the 2024 ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) Convention. The presentation was entitled “A survey of U.S. audiologists’ use of speech-in-noise testing.” This work was done in collaboration with Dr. Curtis Billings (Idaho State University).
February 2024
Lab director Dr. Ian Mertes received an Early Career Research Award (R21) from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The project is entitled “Olivocochlear Efferent Function: Associations with Hearing in Noise and Listening Effort.” The objective of this project is to determine how top-down control of the inner ear contributes to speech-in-noise recognition and listening effort. The three-year, $570,000 award will support studies of adults with and without self-reported difficulties hearing in noise.