Neurologic bases of hearing impairment

• 
  Principle Investigator
  Associate Professor Gary Rance

  grance@unimelb.edu.au

  View researcher's webpage

  03 9035 5342

Project Details

There are a number of common hearing disorders which specifically affect the auditory nerve and central neural pathways rather than the ear itself.  These abnormalities (which are broadly termed "auditory neuropathies"), can involve a range of different mechanisms and sites-of-lesion. The aims of this research are to explore the processes underlying auditory neuropathy, to determine their functional (listening and communication)consequences and to develop targeted remediation strategies.

Researchers

Collaborators

• Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA)
• Bruce Lefroy Centre for Genetic Health Research
• Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI)
• Friedreich Ataxia Research Alliance – Clinical Network
• Florey Neurosciences Institute
• Alfred Hospital – Dept of Neuroscience
• Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital
• Bionics Institute
• A/Prof Alan Connelly (Melbourne Brain Centre)

Funding

• The HEARing Cooperative Research Centre
• Jack Brockhoff Foundation
• Collier Foundation
• Deafness Foundation

Research Publications

Rance, G., Beer, D.E., Cone-Wesson, B., Shepherd, R.K., King, A., Rickards, F.W., & Clark, G.M. (1999).  Clinical findings for a group of infants and young children with auditory neuropathy.  Ear & Hearing, 20 (3), 238-252.

Rance, G., Fava, R., Baldock, H., Chong, A., Barker, E., Corben, L. & Delatycki, M. (2008).  Speech perception ability in individuals with Friedreich ataxia.  Brain, 131, 2002-2012.

Rance G, Ryan MM, Bayliss K, Gill K, O’Sullivan C, Whitechurch M. (2012).  Auditory Function in Children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.  Brain. 135, 1412-1422.

Rance G, Starr A.  (2015).  Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Functional Hearing Consequences of Auditory Neuropathy.  Brain 138:3141-3158.