Towards spatial hearing with cochlear implants

The cochlear implant (CI) is the most successful neural prosthesis developed to date and allows for the functional restoration of hearing, in particular the basic understanding of speech. However, spatial hearing with CIs, which is essential for orientation and speech comprehension in complex acoustic environments, remains inadequate. To improve the performance under these conditions, CI research has recently shifted the focus towards top-down approaches to take advantage of the adaptive processing capabilities of the auditory brain.

The primary aim of this symposium is to spur the dialogue between researches in basic and translational researchers in auditory science. To further the design of future hearing aids, it is crucial to engage in a mutual exchange of ideas between auditory and computational neuroscientists, clinical researches and engineers. To this end, this symposium brings together distinguished experts from these fields to discuss current advances and limitations of spatial hearing with CIs and to provide insight into our concepts about the adaptive neuronal mechanisms and representation of binaural hearing under complex listening conditions.

Speakers:

• Prof. David McAlpine PhD (Ear Institute, UCL London)
• Prof. Dr. med. Joachim Müller (LMU, Munich)
• Prof. Jan Schnupp PhD (University of Oxford)
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Seeber (TUM, Munich)
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Werner Hemmert (TUM, Munich)
• PD Dr. med. Thomas Stark (TUM, Munich)
• Dr. rer. nat. Mathias Dietz (University Oldenburg)
• Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lutz Wiegrebe (LMU, Munich)

Chair and Organization:

• Dr. rer. Nat. Michael Pecka

Contact and free registration:

• pecka@bio.lmu.de

Sponsored by:
Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Munich Center for Neurosciences – Brain and Mind (MCN-LMU)