Emma Holmes

You can read the full paper in Trends in Hearing: doi.org/10.1177/2331... [7/7]

Therefore, as well as improving the intelligibility of speech, being familiar with someone’s voice also means we don’t need to exert as much effort to understand what they’re saying. [6/7]

(Although, we found some interesting differences between the measures too - see the paper for more detail.) [5/7]

We found that both measures are sensitive to voice familiarisation training. People self-rated the sentences as easier to understand, and also showed less pupil dilation, when they were listening to a highly trained voice compared to a novel unfamiliar voice. [4/7]

We used two measures: self-reported effort and pupillometry, which is a physiological marker often associated with effort. [3/7]

In this new paper, we show that listening to speech spoken by someone familiar is less effortful than listening to the same speech spoken by someone who's unfamiliar. [2/7]

New paper alert: Voice familiarisation training improves speech intelligibility and reduces listening effort (bit.ly/4s1Ko0l) with @harrietsmith.bsky.social [thread: 1/7]

The first printed copies of my new textbook have arrived! It’s nice to see it in the flesh. Order your copy (print version or interactive e-book) now, and feel free to share with anyone who may be interested

Exciting news: Our new introductory textbook on auditory perception is now available as an ebook! 🎉👂🧠 It offers a gentle introduction with examples & interactive audio demos/activities. If this might be relevant to your teaching, you can order a free inspection copy here: oxford.ly/43ixuA7

Issues | Cerebral Cortex | Oxford Academic Publishes papers on the development, organization, plasticity, and function of the cerebral cortex, including the hippocampus.

A birthday is a good time to reflect! To mark SPM @ 30, this month's issue of Cerebral Cortex features deeply insightful commentaries on neuroimaging analysis from Ed Bullmore, Peter Bandettini, Peter Fox, Pedro Valdes-Sosa, Klaas Enno Stephan, Viktor Jirsa, et al [1/2] academic.oup.com/cercor/issue

This is useful for real-world applications of voice familiarisation, which may be particularly appealing to older adults who find it difficult to understand speech in noisy places. Check out the full paper here: bit.ly/4oeDPFG [5/5]

We found that both groups found trained voices more intelligible than unfamiliar voices. Therefore, these findings show that older adults can learn new voices as effectively as younger participants. [4/5]

In addition, we've previously shown that we can train new voices in the lab to become familiar and produce this intelligibility benefit for newly trained voices. In our new study, we compared groups of older (55–73 years) and younger (18–34 years) participants. [3/5]

Previous research has shown that speech is more intelligible when it is spoken by someone familiar (e.g., a friend or family member), compared with someone unfamiliar. [2/5]

New paper alert: "Computer-based voice familiarization, delivered remotely using an online platform, improves speech intelligibility for older and younger adults" bit.ly/4oeDPFG [see thread: 1/5] @uclpals.bsky.social @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social @apajournals.bsky.social

Congrats Han! 🎉

Closing tomorrow! Apply for my fully-funded PhD studentship, open to UK students

Deadline extended for my fully-funded #PhD position - apply by 7th May! Come and work with me & join the UCL Cognitive Hearing Lab: bit.ly/3RAEYZ8 The studentship is funded by RNID and will help make noisy environments easier for people with hearing loss

Less than 2 weeks left to apply for my open PhD position!

Divisional Vacancies Job Vacancies in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

New *Funded PhD opportunity* for UK students to work with me at UCL (London), researching auditory training interventions to improve speech understanding in noisy environments. Deadline 28th April. Full details and job description: bit.ly/4ccbbzj @uclpals.bsky.social [please share]

Reads: Transforming our understanding of the brain Brain Awareness Week #UCLBrainSciences

Today marks the start of #BrainAwarenessWeek, a global celebration of the incredible advancements and benefits of brain research. Stay tuned all week as we explore the latest cutting-edge work from the brilliant minds across our Faculty. #UCLBrainSciences buff.ly/4i3aA5M

Finally made the move to BlueSky