Affiliates

Theory of Time-Frequency and Time-Scale Analysis: Almost all physical signals come from systems that are time-varying. Our theory drops all the typical assumptions of stationary increments in time (and space) and is able to directly resolve spectral detail while preserving time dynamics. This theory has been extended to develop optimal time-frequency smoothers for classification and detection applications. Current work is directed toward providing a theoretical foundation for spectral analysis and transformations of the dynamics of time-varying systems. This theory has been applied to sonar, radar, machine and manufacturing monitoring, and speech and music signal analysis. Biomimetic Acoustic Analysis: An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Maryland, Boston University and the University of Washington are providing new principals for acoustic analysis. Prof. Atlas has provided this team with a new framework for understanding how auditory systems represent signals which are time-varying. This new approach, called "autoambiguity analysis," has improved the performance of systems used in manufacturing, machine monitoring, and sonar applications. Speech Recognition and Analysis: Most researchers agree that most of the information in speech is contained within the time-varying portions of speech. The above time-varying analysis algorithms have been used to determine which aspect of the dynamics is most important for accurate speech recognition and these results have been used to improve recognizer performance.

My broad research interests are in the area of sensory system development and regeneration. My research currently involves the mammalian inner ear. The mammalian organ of Corti is made up of hair cells and support cells that are arranged in a stereotyped pattern. My lab is interested in what signals are involved in the full differentiation of these various cell types and their potential for regeneration after hair cell loss. I am interested in what prevents the hair cells from regenerating after damage in mammals, as they do in birds and lower vertebrates. In particular I am exploring the role of FGFs in the development of the specific cell types in the mammalian cochlea.

My research involves the integration between mechanism and function in animal behavior, with an emphasis on acoustic communication in birds and frogs. The principal current focus is on the song control system in the brains of songbirds. I emphasize a comparative, evolutionary approach to this system, and combine behavioral studies in the field with laboratory techniques in neuroendocrinology, neuroanatomy, molecular biology, and signal analysis. I am currently pursuing three major topics of study in the song system. One concerns the physiological and molecular mechanisms, and the behavioral consequences, of seasonal plasticity observed in the morphology of song regions of the brain. A second topic concerns the recruitment of new neurons to a song nucleus in the forebrain of adult birds, studied from the perspective of its physiological regulation and the influence of environmental factors. The third topic relates to the observation that neurons in song control nuclei receive input from auditory regions, and respond selectively to the presentation of conspecific song. I am investigating the role of song nuclei in the behavioral recognition of conspecific song in the contexts of mate choice and territorial defense. .

Dr. Coltrera is a UW Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, and is board-certified in Otolaryngology. He has conducted research on hair cells of the inner ear and on outcomes for head and neck cancer treatments, with particular emphasis on quality of life.

I am interested in chronic sinus disease and how our various treatments impact the lives of our patients.

In the past few decades, the field of speech-language pathology has begun to recognize the validity of comprehensive evaluation and treatment of communication disorders. This is reflected in ASHA's adoption of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as the framework for the Scope of Practice in Speech-Language Pathology (ASHA, 2001). As such, Dr. Eadie's long-term goals are to develop a clinical evaluative protocol by which clinicians can more effectively and accurately report the degree of vocal impairment using physiologic, acoustic, and auditory-perceptual measures. In addition, she hopes to continue to expand upon the current clinical database addressing the degree of impact on daily voice activity and participation as affected by various types of voice disorders, including those affected by head and neck cancer.

Dr. Folsom' research is in the areas of early identification of hearing loss, hearing development, and pediatric assessment. He is currently a principal investigator of the Pediatric Audiology Training Grant at the CHDD and Chair of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences.

His team is a diverse group of researchers committed to the development of a viable human vestibular prosthesis. Their current research initiative is to investigate vestibular reflex function with electrical stimulation of individual vestibular inputs during natural orienting movements. We are using chronic microstimulation of the vestibular end organ and simultaneous multichannel recording of brainstem neural elements.

In our group, we use next generation sequencing approaches to identify genes responsible for complex human conditions. Our primary areas of interest are inherited breast and ovarian cancer, the genetics of schizophrenia, and Mendelian disorders in founder populations. Our goals are to identify and characterize critical genes in informative families and populations. We are particularly interested in disentangling genetic heterogeneity in complex traits, thereby revealing the individually rare severe alleles that cause common disorders. Our lab also applies genomic sequencing to the identification of victims of human rights abuses.

Dr. Maravilla's research focuses on anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of developmental disorders. A major aspect of his research involves developing new techniques and new medical applications for MR-related imaging, including exploration of functional MRI and MRS to better understand normal and pathologic brain physiology. His research interests include the application of new MRI techniques for analyzing central nervous system (CNS) pathology, neuro-imaging of multiple sclerosis, and the use of high-resolution MRI for study of peripheral nervous system disorders. Maravilla is currently involved with developing higher field MR techniques for molecular imaging study of small animal rodent models to explore neuroscience questions involving neuropathology, neurophysiology, and CNS genetic phenotyping. He is also pursuing studies in brain functional MRI to address dysfunctional brain processes in disorders such as demyelinating disease, dyslexia, and other neurological disorders.

"Laryngology is, in many ways, the most human of fields; it deals with breathing and eating and talking, it is often beautiful and humbling at the same time, and it invites innovation in concert with the fundamentals of expert practice. It is a joy and a challenge every day.”

The discovery that non-mammalian vertebrates can regenerate new auditory and vestibular hair cells after damage suggests the possibility of therapies eventually being developed to treat hearing and balance disorders in humans. Our current research is aimed at identifying factors that will trigger supporting cells to divide and generate new hair cells. We use cell culture, immunocytochemical, and molecular techniques to identify growth factors and other molecules that regulate supporting cell proliferation and differentiation and hope to provide information that will aid in the development of therapies to alleviate sensori-neural hearing disorders.

As with many medical diseases, prevention of hearing loss may ultimately prove to be more effective than treatment. I am interested in developing strategies to halt hearing loss in its early stages by preventing the death of hair cells in the inner ear. My research thus revolves around understanding mechanisms of hair cell injury, and developing medical treatments for the prevention of ototoxic injury.

We study the neural mechanisms of vocal learning in songbirds, which learn their songs in a process resembling the learning of speech in humans.

Is there anything you like to know, or to see, about hair cells and their synapses ? Please come to me, e-mail rpujol@uw.edu, or visit my website http://www.cochlea.org, still in development but which may soon become a common website with Bloedel!

Dr. Ransom is an internationally recognized authority on the physiology and function of glial cells and on the pathophysiology of neural injury. Especially relevant to stroke is the research that Dr. Ransom and colleagues conduct on how the long processes of neurons, called axons, are injured. Much of the neurological dysfunction seen after stroke is a consequence of axonal damage.

The overall goal of Dr. Reh’s research is to understand the cell and molecular biology of regeneration in the eye. He has worked at the interface between development and regeneration, focusing on the retina. The lab is currently divided into a team that studies retinal development and a team that studies retinal regeneration, with the goal of applying the principles learned from developmental biology to design rationale strategies for promoting retinal regeneration in the adult mammalian retina. His research has been funded through numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and many private foundations, and he has served on several national and international grant review panels, including NIH study sections, and is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness and of a start-up biotechnology company, Acucela. He has received several awards for his work, including the AHFMR and Sloan Scholar awards. He has published over 100 journal articles, reviews and books, nearly all in the field of retinal regeneration and development.

Our research uses a wide variety of methods and numerous preparations to better understand development, plasticity, pathology and potential repair of the inner ear and auditory pathways of the brian. We investigate both the fundamental neurobiology of hearing and translational opportunities of the present and future that are directed toward preventing and curing hearing loss and balance disorders. One research program endeavors to understand cellular processes underlying the development of information processing in the auditory system. Anatomical, physiological, and acoustical methods are used to examine development of cellular mechanisms underlying acoustic signal processing by the inner ear. Parallel studies using both in vivo and in vitro preparations examine the factors that include growth of connections in the brain stem auditory pathways. A second research program addresses the problem of how experience influences brain development. Using manipulations of the amount and pattern of neuronal activity impinging on neurons in the brain stem auditory system of birds and mammals, we study the cellular nature of signals that influence the growth, remodeling, and maintenance of neuronal and glial elements. A third research program studies the cellular and molecular events involved in inner ear hair cell death due to environmental toxins or aging. In vivo and in vitro preparations of inner ear sensory epithelium are used to study death and cell survival pathways. A unique zebrafish mutagenesis and screening assay is used to discover genes and drugs that modulate inner ear hair cell responses to ototoxic drugs. The final research program stems from the discovery that birds can regenerate inner ear receptor cells (hair cells) following noise- or drug-induced hearing loss. Ongoing studies are aimed at determining the cellular and molecular events responsible for initiating hair cell regeneration and using hair cell regeneration to study plasticity of the avian brain.

Biophysical models of the response of auditory neurons have led to several promising signal processing strategies for cochlear implants to enhance speech and music perception. Our laboratory has developed methods to implement these strategies in cochlear implants and determine outcomes in human subjects. In addition, we have developed a variety of behavioral techniques to rapidly assess the benefits of enhanced signal processing. In a separate project we have developed a vestibular implant suitable for clinical trials and have performed the first such implants in human subjects. We are assessing both clinical efficacy of the device as well as performing basic studies of the response of the human vestibular system to electrical stimulation.

My lab is identifying the rules for transducing synaptic input into frequency-coded trains of action potentials in neocortical neurons and brainstem auditory relay neurons. Because those neurons perform different functions, their transduction mechanisms contrast sharply.

The long-term goal of the Stone lab is to define biological treatments for hearing and balance disorders in humans. Our target for therapy is the hair cell, whose demise underlies most forms of hearing and balance disorders. We are trying to devise strategies to promote regeneration of hair cells, so our studies focus on supporting cells, which are the progenitor cells that form new hair cells. Our efforts are aimed at characterizing properties of hair cell progenitors and identifying signals that control their cell cycle re-entry and transdifferentiation into hair cells following damage.

Dr. Tremblay and her research team are interested in auditory rehabilitation and study experience-related changes in the brain. Their program of research includes the effects of auditory deprivation (age-related hearing loss) and stimulation (hearing aids, cochlear implantation, and auditory training) on the brain. Hearing aids and cochlear implants help compensate for disorders of the ear, but successful rehabilitation also depends on the integrity of the central auditory system. Therefore, to learn more about the representation of sound in the brain, members of the Brain and Behavior lab use EEG methods to explore how sound is processed in the auditory systems of people with and without hearing loss.

The goal of our research is to understand how hearing develops during infancy. We observe infants’ behavior in response to sound. Our research is funded by the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and by the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center.

Dr. Whipple is interested in General otolaryngology; sinus surgery; sleep surgery; otology; maxillofacial trauma; and biomedical informatics (the use of computer technology to improve medical practice, patient care and biomedical research).