ISVR PhD opportunities

["Van Besouw R.M." <rvb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Two PhD opportunities: Development of tests of hearing ability for military personnel

The context of these two linked projects is establishing the extent to which military personnel have sufficiently good hearing for deployment on active service. Practical tests are needed to ensure that personnel have adequate hearing based on operationally relevant listening tasks. It is envisaged that such tasks will include hearing environmental sounds in quiet, discrimination of sounds in a background of noise and location of sound sources. Important characteristics of the tests will be practicality, reliability, validity and realism. They must engender confidence that they are measuring abilities that are meaningful in a military context and can predict the consequences of mild or moderate hearing impairments. It is expected that one PhD will focus primarily on design and implementation of the tests and their internal validity, while the other will focus primarily on ensuring that the tests are representative of real military environments and their external validity. There will be substantial overlap and the researchers are required to work collaboratively as a team.

The projects are based at the Hearing and Balance Centre of the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) in a joint project with the Institute of Naval Medicine, Gosport. These are open to candidates from the UK/EU with a First Class or 2:1 Bachelor's degree (or equivalent), or Master's degree, in a relevant science or engineering discipline. You should demonstrate knowledge of hearing science and preferably have experience of conducting research projects involving human participants. Familiarity with software packages for acoustical synthesis and analysis is necessary and computer programming experience will be an advantage. You will join a vibrant community of 25 PhD students in the Hearing and Balance Centre (www.southampton.ac.uk/audiology). At the end of your studies you will be well prepared for a future career in academic or clinical research or in industry.

These studentships attract an enhanced non-taxable stipend amounting to £17500 per annum and university fees will be paid in addition.

For further details, please visit:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/engineering/postgraduate/research_degrees/degrees/current_funded_projects.page

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact: 
Prof Mark E Lutman, ISVR Hearing and Balance Centre, Email: mel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 2798.

The intended starting date is 31 March 2012 and the duration is 3 years.

Closing date for applications: 27 January 2012.