Yoojin Chung, Ph.D.

Meet the Researcher

Yoojin Chung, Ph.D. received a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Boston University in Massachusetts. Chung is a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chung is a Royal Arch Masons award recipient. The Royal Arch Masons support Emerging Research Grants in the area of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). See all researchers who have received or are currently receiving funding from the Royal Arch Masons.

The Research

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Restoring binaural hearing with cochlear implants in early-onset deafness

Many profoundly deaf people wearing cochlear implants still face challenges in everyday situations such as understanding conversations in crowds. This is because, even with cochlear implants in both ears, they have difficulty making full use of subtle differences in the sounds reaching two ears to identify where the sound is coming from. This problem is especially acute in children with congenital deafness. We will study how perceptual training can help the brain to develop the circuitry for processing this precise information in animals with early-onset deafness. Results from the study will eventually lead to new sound processors and rehabilitation strategies specifically adapted for bilateral cochlear implants.

Research area: neural coding of cochlear implant stimulation, central auditory plasticity

Long-term goal of research: To improve treatments for children with early-onset deafness by studying how neural mechanisms for binaural processing are altered by auditory deprivation during development and whether these effects can be reversed by CI stimulation.

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