An Open Invitation to Celebrate our 35th Anniversary
On this special occasion we were joined by students from the Neuroscience of Speech and Action Laboratory, part of the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University. The Prime Investigator of the Department is Dr. Helen Nuttall, who has ongoing relationship with our u3a. Four Psychology PhD students had prepared short presentations on their current research projects and it was gratifying that many members of our group, plus many others belonging to our u3a, attended in expectation of an interesting and informative morning. We were not disappointed.
The students were led by Jess Pepper, currently coming to the end of her PhD. Her research topic was titled, ‘Understanding the brain during listening- can we improve our speech perception?’ Many of us are familiar with the discomfort caused by being in a noisy restaurant and struggling to hear those with whom we are sitting. Jess explained clearly that as we age it becomes more difficult to block out the distractions around us and give our full attention to what is being said, even if our hearing is still good. This lessening of our multi-tasking abilities can affect our balance and may make falls more likely when we are walking and talking. Whichever sense we need at any given moment is where we should direct our attention and so maximise that ability, be it listening, seeing or staying balanced on our feet.
The next presentation was by Brandon O’Hanlon, who explained to us the currently available hearing technologies and outlined some of the possible future options. Already science and medicine are moving on from the traditional hearing aids with which we are all familiar to the options of cochlear implants, bone conductance and possibly, in the future, to the dynamic aid which will be steered directly by the brain, allowing the aid to sense when it is needed and which sounds will require magnification. Science fiction is one step closer to reality.
Thirdly, Jessica Andrew gave us her presentation, ‘Investigating how sports related head injuries affect our hearing.’ Jessica was delighted that so many in the audience could name the football stars of the 1960s and 1970s, but sadly they are a group of men who have now passed away, mostly having dementia or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. We are all aware of such sad cases, having seen them in the news over the last few years but her research is now concentrating on the impact of many repeated impacts to the head now that softer balls are being used and how these may also impact hearing. If this could be measured earlier it might help to prevent more of the serious diagnoses and so the aim is to work towards testing and therapy that could be delivered at the pitch side, assessing more quickly when players should be removed for their own safety and future health.
The final presentation by Haydn Farrelly was entitled ‘The Science and Significance of Hearing Voices.’ This study is of particular importance for those suffering from Schizophrenia as a greater understanding of the causes of these ‘voices’ can vastly improve both the treatment and outlook for the patients. As a migraine sufferer myself, I was interested to know that the vision disturbances, which can accompany this illness, are caused by the same feature as the ‘voices’. They are both the result of cortical hyper- excitability; the brain is coping with too much stimulation and simply tries to make sense of what is happening. Our senses of hearing and sight are connected and each or both may act as the trigger for aural or visual hallucinations.
Our audience was attentive and engaged and there were many probing questions after each presentation. We all came away having learned a great deal about the workings of our brains, what to expect from healthy ageing and the importance of remaining mentally active but maybe easing up on the multi-tasking!
Janet