Dr Alex Barker

Coach trial -1st appointment I couldn’t sleep last night, due to worries about today. I was up bright and early for a drive into Birmingham for my first appointment. I’d never been to the hospital before so the drive in was qu…

Coach trial -1st appointment thetalkingdeaf.wordpress.com/2026/02/24/c...

Thanks - im excited either way. I did wonder if they are considering listening effort, will ask at my first appointment 👍

COACH Trial Following my CI assessment in November, I was referred to the COACH trial and expressed my interest in taking part. I can see why, as I’ve since learned my BKB score was 52 (the cut-off for C…

thetalkingdeaf.wordpress.com/2026/02/10/c...

This month marks my 10th year working in academia.
As if to celebrate the occasion, I've just hit my 1000th citation.

If that's not cause to celebrate, I don't know what is 🥳

Exploring sign language, social connectedness, and life satisfaction of deaf adults Abstract. This study explored how sign language use and social connectedness influenced the life satisfaction of twelve British Deaf community members (n =

New paper! It was a pleasure to supervise this fantastic project from Angela Radford!

Exploring sign language, social connectedness, and life satisfaction of deaf adults url: academic.oup.com/jdsde/articl...

New paper klaxon!

Population exposure to alcohol content and branding in seasons 2 and 4 of ‘The Kardashians’ url: academic.oup.com/alcalc/artic...

☃️

Tried #Auracast for the first time seeing Peter Kay on Friday, fantastic bit of kit! Worked perfectly 👍🦻

Teaching for the semester: completed!

Its CBeebies Panto day!!! I am way more excited than the kids.

Do any other parents secretly love the annual panto?

Looking forward to presenting this next week!

Just been whamageddon’d….I lasted a day 😂

Cochlear Implant Process – Part 2 Ok, so today was the day. Ive been anxious and nervous about this all month! After taking the kids to school, I made my way to Ropewalk House in Nottingham for my appointment and assessment. For my…

thetalkingdeaf.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/c...

Cochlear Implant Process – Part 1 Back at the start of the year, I noticed a significant ‘dip’ in my hearing and booked in to have a test. At the test this was confirmed and they were worried about the rate of decline a…

Cochlear Implant Process - Part 1 thetalkingdeaf.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/c...

Reflections on ‘The Kingdon Review’ The news this week about the Kingdon report (Is the Kingdon Review a wake-up call for NHS audiology services? – RNID) has left me in a reflective mood. Whilst this largely relates to children…

Reflections on 'The Kingdon Review' thetalkingdeaf.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/r...

Just cited ‘Ladbible’ in an ethics application and I feel academically unclean.

Cheer me up by telling me the most unhinged reference you have ever used.

#academia

No link between paracetamol use during pregnancy and autism or ADHD in children In the largest epidemiologic study to date of the risk of giving birth to a child with autism, ADHD or intellectual disability following acetaminophen use during pregnancy, researchers found no association. The study is now published in JAMA.

Despite what Trump says, there is no link between paracetamol (tylenol) and autism.

Great to hear - how was your adjustment to them? I’m assuming it takes a while to get used to them?

Saw some lovely pups from @hearingdogs.org.uk at Asda on the way back from work.
They got all of my change.
Ive also spent the afternoon trying to persuade my wife we should look into this further 🐕‍🦺🤣

Guess who forgot to unpair my bluetooth hearing aids before the alarm…may have just lost a few more decibels with that one, ouch! I’m still ringing 😂

Officially referred for a cochlear implant assessment today 😬 this feels like a big step, could be a good thing

Haha - all door codes and the process are like muscle memory from binging this in my youth 🤣 ‘anxiety - filled walking tour’ is a great description!

A screenshot of final result screen from resident evil HD showing a completion time of 1:50:02

A screenshot of the resident evil hd global normal mode leaderboard with my time being 234th

Sometimes, I think I’m old and past it…but then I remember that I can speed-run the gamecube classic @residentevil.capcomusa.com Resident Evil HD remake in 1:50, glitch less (234th globally, apparently).

Beat that young folks!

New publication! ‘Exposure to #alcohol content in the media is a factor in experimenting with alcohol and continued use. This review extends this view to consider #SocialNorms and #SocialIdentity as a potential pathway through which alcohol marketing exerts its effect’

www.mdpi.com/3391466

Is tobacco promotion through music making a comeback? - Blog - Tobacco Control Alexander Barker We know that there are tobacco references in music and in the image portrayed by musicians, often associated with themes of rebellion. Smoking content in the media is a causal factor ...

#Glastonbury had #The1975, which has drawn mixed reviews for Matty Healys ‘outlandish’ behaviour. Resharing this I wrote about him using and seemingly promoting #cigarette #tobacco brands through the use of branded packs, 6 years after the ban during an indoor gig…
blogs.bmj.com/tc/2023/03/0...

10 years after my hearing loss was first noted, finally had a diagnosis of progressive genetic deafness

Latest appt’s due to panic about the level of loss, and led to consider a cochlear implant.

Has anyone gone from aids to a cochlear implant? What was this like?

#Deaf #Deafness #CochlearImplant

Happy switch 2 day for all who celebrate! SW-2267-4054-0917

Really exciting to present our work on the effects of exposure to #alcohol marketing at @midshealthpsych.bsky.social annual conference

a man wearing a helmet with wings is standing in front of a body of water Alt: Will Ferrell in Eurovision: The Story of Fire saga, wearing a helmet with wings and singing Volcano Man

Finished teaching for the trimester, its #eurovision week, and its time for our annual re-watch ready for the madness on Saturday!🎶

www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18...

New Open Access Publication🚨here we explored barriers and enablers for engaging in #PhysicalActivity in #Deaf adults.