In this project, Dr Emma Holmes and Bindiya Patel at University College London explore whether auditory training can help people with age-related hearing loss to understand speech in noisy places.
Project start date: October 2025
Project end date: September 2028
About the project
Many people with hearing loss struggle to understand speech in noisy places. This can cause them to avoid social situations and increase their risk of social isolation, depression and dementia. Hearing aids can make it easier for people to understand speech in quiet places but users generally have difficulty in noisy places.
In this project, Bindiya will investigate whether auditory training (listening tasks which aim to improve the brain’s ability to process sound) can help people with age-related hearing loss to understand speech in noisy places.
How it works
Bindiya will study two new types of auditory training that have never been tested in people with age-related hearing loss. These new approaches differ from previous auditory training programmes because they target specific auditory processes in the brain.
They will also collaborate with a focus group of people with hearing loss to develop a mobile training app, asking for their opinions on what would make up an achievable training protocol, and then measure the improvements in their speech understanding.
How will this research benefit people with hearing loss?
Auditory training holds great potential to improve communication in noisy places. However, we need to find new approaches that provide robust benefits for people with hearing loss.
About the researchers
Dr Emma Holmes is Associate Professor in Speech, Hearing & Phonetic Sciences at University College London.
During my PhD, I had the chance to meet lots of children who used hearing aids, and I learned that hearing aids were not well equipped to deal with background noise. This motivated me to conduct research that could help to develop future technologies for improving hearing in everyday noisy environments.”
Bindiya Patel started her PhD in Emma Holmes’ lab in 2025.
Our aim is to encourage individuals to build self-confidence and resilience in their personal day-to-day communication. By this, we hope to reduce the wider impacts of age-related hearing loss, including social withdrawal and reduced wellbeing, and thereby help people stay connected, independent, and engaged in the world around them.”