We require a talented and passionate person for this PhD project that stands to make a major impact into tinnitus research in two fundamental respects.
The project continues pioneering work by the supervisory team, in Newcastle University, (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5152595/) that has produced a leading theory of how tinnitus (phantom perception of sound) is generated in the brain. The pilot work to this PhD project strongly supports the theory, that chronic tinnitus is caused by the resetting of auditory predictions to expect a persistent sound. Furthermore, this skewing of predictions so strongly affects EEG evoked brain responses that it shows promise to become an accurate diagnostic test for tinnitus research, which would represent a sea change for tinnitus trials in animals.
The project may thus transform both our ability to understand the mechanisms of tinnitus, and to accurately test new treatments.
The student will develop a wide range of skills, with the potential to progress to advanced computational modelling of EEG data, and be in a strong position for a leading career in auditory, tinnitus and/or wider neuroscience research.
Start: September 2019 or sooner
Contact william.sedley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx