Dear colleagues,
The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) announces its 2017 Request for Proposals (RFP) for research on the impact of audiovisual integration on acoustic communication in hearing impaired adults.
For many years, research on the effects of hearing-aid use has mainly considered factors related to auditory perception. Real-life communication, however, does not occur solely in the auditory domain, but instead triggers simultaneous activation of different modalities, requiring cross-modal integration. Visual cues are a highly important component in communication. Research is encouraged that will develop tools for modeling, assessing and training audiovisual integration in real-life communication situations, and explore these topics in relation to signal-processing schemes in modern hearing instruments.
The funding pool for this RFP is 300,000 US Dollars, and the period for execution of projects under this RFP is two-three years from 1 January 2018. Proposals for two-year projects are preferred. It is expected that one or two project proposals will be funded.
Detailed descriptions of the application procedure, the guidelines for research under this scheme, and the proposed research area can be downloaded (http://rfp.hearingirc.com) and also found on the IRC website (http://hearingirc.com). Deadline for submission is August 18, 2017.
Questions can be sent to any of the IRC members listed on the website or using the Contact Form on the website.
The Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC) is made up of the heads of research from the top hearing aid manufacturers in the world, which include GN ReSound, Oticon, Phonak, Sivantos, Starkey Hearing Technologies and Widex. The IRC was created to have a non-competitive, mutually agreed upon research agenda benefiting the hearing aid industry, its customers and end users. For more information about the Hearing Industry Research Consortium, visit www.hearingirc.com.
Sridhar Kalluri, 2017-2018 Chair of the IRC