Neuroscience Researcher Receives $1.5 Million Grant to Develop Diagnostic Tool for Hearing Loss
A $1.5 million grant from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) will help UC Davis Professor Lee Miller, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and the Center for Mind and Brain, expand his lab’s research on hearing loss, an issue of relevance to both aging populations and military personnel.
“Nearly every individual serving in our armed forces will be exposed to hazardous noise levels at some point, often leading to hearing loss or other listening problems,” said Miller, whose research focuses on auditory neuroscience and speech recognition. “Any impairment that affects on-the-job performance, for instance tactical communications and maintaining situational awareness, threatens the safety and effectiveness of the individual and the entire unit.”
He added that following deployment “over a million veterans with service-related hearing disability – many of whom are older as well – struggle to understand speech in noisy environments such as work meetings or family gatherings, leading to a cascade of physical and mental/emotional health decline.”
Miller and his research team, including co-investigator Dr. Hilary Brodie in the Department of Otolaryngology / Head and Neck Surgery, will use the DoD grant to continue developing powerful tools to diagnose hidden hearing loss and other listening problems.