Mechanisms of Auditory Perception
29 May 2025
We are looking for FEMALE participants AGED 55+ who do NOT experience tinnitus to help us compare the neural mechanisms of auditory perception, which may underlie tinnitus presence.
Forming predictions based on prior experiences is a fundamental part of how we perceive the world. By presenting sequences of sounds and measuring brain responses via fMRI, we aim investigate how auditory perception differs between people with and without tinnitus.
Requirements
- Do NOT have subjective tinnitus (persistent sound heard in one or both ears that is not coming from an external sound source);
- Female;
- Aged 55+;
- No severe/profound hearing loss;
- The ability to lie very still for around 60 minutes at a time;
- No presence of claustrophobia/fear of enclosed or tight spaces;
- No eye or head injuries involving metal (e.g. splinters from working with metal, or shrapnel);
- No implanted medical devices (including pacemakers, cochlear implants, heart valves, aneurysm clips or coronary stents, infusion pumps, or Hickman lines);
- No abnormalities of brain structure (e.g. stroke, tumour), or other neurological disorders (e.g. multiple sclerosis or epilepsy);
- No ongoing use of sedating medications, or certain other nerve-acting medications;
- No current mental health condition of sufficient severity to prevent certain activities of everyday life;
- No experience of seizures.
Keywords
Ethical approval
The study operates according to standard research protocols for the use of MRI in human brain imaging research, which have been reviewed and approved by the University College London Research Ethics Committee.
About the researcher
My name is Kate, I am an auditory researcher whose PhD and subsequent work aims to understand how we perceive sound, and various auditory conditions such as hyperacusis and tinnitus.
