Quentin Summerfield

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Quentin Summerfield
Quentin Summerfield, 2018.jpg
Quentin Summerfield in 2018
Born
London
NationalityBritish
Occupation Psychologist
Known forMBE for services to psychology and people with hearing loss

Quentin Summerfield is a British psychologist, specialising in hearing. He joined the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) Institute of Hearing Research [1] in 1977 and served as its deputy director from 1993 to 2004, before moving on to a chair in psychology at The University of York. He served as head of the Psychology department from 2011 to 2017 and retired in 2018, becoming an emeritus professor. [2] From 2013 to 2018, he was a member of the University of York's Finance & Policy Committee. From 2015 to 2018, he was a member of York University's governing body, the Council.

Contents

Summerfield was awarded an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours, for services to psychology and people with hearing loss.

Early life and education

Quentin Summerfield was born in London to Arthur Summerfield, Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck College and Aline Whalley, an Educational Psychologist. His sister, Penny Summerfield, is an emerita Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester.

Summerfield grew up in Muswell Hill in North London, attended Tetherdown Primary School and University College School in Hampstead, where he was Head Boy in 1966-67. He studied Natural Sciences at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating with an upper second class degree in Psychology in 1971. [2] He obtained his doctorate under the supervision of Professor Mark Haggard at Queen's University Belfast in 1975. From 1975 to 1977 he was a NATO post-doctoral Research Fellow at Haskins Laboratories, Yale University.

Research

Summerfield has conducted research on speech perception, as well as applied research on the effectiveness and economics of cochlear implantation.

His research on speech perception included:-

These and works on speech perception were recognised by his election as a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America in 1998.

In 1995, Summerfield wrote the Medical Research Council report [10] on the National Cochlear Implant Programme, prompting an editorial in the British Medical Journal [11] that concluded "Cochlear implantation is perhaps the most exciting development in otology this century. The benefits are immense. The report by Summerfield and Marshall confirms that, in the words of the late Graham Fraser, the founder of the British Cochlear Implant Group, 'Cochlear implants work.'" An article in ENT and Audiology News reported that "This was a pivotal step for the introduction of NHS (National Health Service) funding." [12] The report resulted in the George Davey Howells Memorial Prize for his research group from the University of London (1995), the Thomas Simm Littler Prize from the British Society of Audiology (1996), and the Edith Whetnall Memorial Medal from Otology Section of the Royal College of Medicine (1996). Subsequent research contributed evidence that was used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in framing guidance on cochlear implantation and in 2002 and resulted in the Ear and Hearing editors' award from the American Auditory Society. [13]

That research was followed by a series of papers exploring the criteria for candidacy in cochlear implantation in Ear and Hearing [14] [15] [16] that attracted a special statement from the editorial board, [17] which reads:

In the often fractious arenas of healthcare in general — and cochlear implants specifically — it is a pleasure to note that the expert reviewers and the editors are all united in our assessment that the papers represent excellent scholarly work that will be studied carefully by clinicians, healthcare organizations, and researchers for many years to come. The importance of this series of papers extends well beyond the domain of unilateral cochlear implantation in postlingually deafened adults. Instead, the framework used by Summerfield and colleagues will serve as a high standard for the evaluation of candidature for other medical interventions. We are proud to be publishing these papers and to reflect on the significant research contributions that many of our readers have made so that this elegant and powerful work was possible.

Societal contributions

Summerfield has been Chair of the Scottish National Services Division's Quinquennial Review of the provision of cochlear-implantation services. He served as a member of the Medical Scientific Advisory Committee of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People from 1999 to 2005, and chaired the Committee from 2003 to 2005. He served as Chief Research Advisor to the charity, Deafness Research UK, from 2007 to 2011.

In 2013 he was elected a trustee of the charity, Action on Hearing Loss [18] (formerly the Royal National Institute for Deaf People), and re-elected in 2016. He currently also serves as a member of the Board and of the Nominations Committee.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cochlea</span> Snail-shaped part of inner ear involved in hearing

The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the organ of Corti, the sensory organ of hearing, which is distributed along the partition separating the fluid chambers in the coiled tapered tube of the cochlea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cochlear implant</span> Prosthesis

A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech understanding in both quiet and noisy environments. A CI bypasses acoustic hearing by direct electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. Through everyday listening and auditory training, cochlear implants allow both children and adults to learn to interpret those signals as speech and sound.

Lip reading, also known as speechreading, is a technique of understanding a limited range of speech by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face and tongue without sound. Estimates of the range of lip reading vary, with some figures as low as 30% because lip reading relies on context, language knowledge, and any residual hearing. Although lip reading is used most extensively by deaf and hard-of-hearing people, most people with normal hearing process some speech information from sight of the moving mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audiology</span> Branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders

Audiology is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing various testing strategies, audiologists aim to determine whether someone has normal sensitivity to sounds. If hearing loss is identified, audiologists determine which portions of hearing are affected, to what degree, and where the lesion causing the hearing loss is found. If an audiologist determines that a hearing loss or vestibular abnormality is present, they will provide recommendations for interventions or rehabilitation.

Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) is a type of hearing impairment where there is normal hearing in one ear and impaired hearing in the other ear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurofibromatosis type II</span> Type of neurofibromatosis disease

Neurofibromatosis type II is a genetic condition that may be inherited or may arise spontaneously, and causes benign tumors of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. The types of tumors frequently associated with NF2 include vestibular schwannomas, meningiomas, and ependymomas. The main manifestation of the condition is the development of bilateral benign brain tumors in the nerve sheath of the cranial nerve VIII, which is the "auditory-vestibular nerve" that transmits sensory information from the inner ear to the brain. Besides, other benign brain and spinal tumors occur. Symptoms depend on the presence, localisation and growth of the tumor(s). Many people with this condition also experience vision problems. Neurofibromatosis type II is caused by mutations of the "Merlin" gene, which seems to influence the form and movement of cells. The principal treatments consist of neurosurgical removal of the tumors and surgical treatment of the eye lesions. Historically the underlying disorder has not had any therapy due to the cell function caused by the genetic mutation.

Graeme Milbourne Clark is an Australian Professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne. Worked in ENT surgery, electronics and speech science contributed towards the development of the multiple-channel cochlear implant. His invention was later marketed by Cochlear Limited.

A head shadow is a region of reduced amplitude of a sound because it is obstructed by the head. It is an example of diffraction.

Binaural fusion or binaural integration is a cognitive process that involves the combination of different auditory information presented binaurally, or to each ear. In humans, this process is essential in understanding speech as one ear may pick up more information about the speech stimuli than the other.

An auditory brainstem implant (ABI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf, due to retrocochlear hearing impairment. In Europe, ABIs have been used in children and adults, and in patients with neurofibromatosis type II.

Diplacusis, also known as diplacusis binauralis, binauralis disharmonica or interaural pitch difference (IPD), is a hearing disorder whereby a single auditory stimulus is perceived as different pitches between ears. It is typically experienced as a secondary symptom of sensorineural hearing loss, although not all patients with sensorineural hearing loss experience diplacusis or tinnitus. The onset is usually spontaneous and can occur following an acoustic trauma, for example an explosive noise, or in the presence of an ear infection. Sufferers may experience the effect permanently, or it may resolve on its own. Diplacusis can be particularly disruptive to individuals working within fields requiring acute audition, such as musicians, sound engineers or performing artists.

Monita Chatterjee is an auditory scientist and the Director of the Auditory Prostheses & Perception Laboratory at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She investigates the basic mechanisms underlying auditory processing by cochlear implant listeners.

Temporal envelope (ENV) and temporal fine structure (TFS) are changes in the amplitude and frequency of sound perceived by humans over time. These temporal changes are responsible for several aspects of auditory perception, including loudness, pitch and timbre perception and spatial hearing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Moore (scientist)</span>

Brian C.J. Moore FMedSci, FRS is an Emeritus Professor of Auditory Perception in the University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. His research focuses on psychoacoustics, audiology, and the development and assessment of hearing aids.

Auditory science or hearing science is a field of research and education concerning the perception of sounds by humans, animals, or machines. It is a heavily interdisciplinary field at the crossroad between acoustics, neuroscience, and psychology. It is often related to one or many of these other fields: psychophysics, psychoacoustics, audiology, physiology, otorhinolaryngology, speech science, automatic speech recognition, music psychology, linguistics, and psycholinguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Lorenzi</span>

Christian Lorenzi is Professor of Experimental Psychology at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, where he has been Director of the Department of Cognitive Studies and Director of Scientific Studies until. Lorenzi works on auditory perception.

Deniz Başkent is a Turkish-born Dutch auditory scientist who works on auditory perception. As of 2018, she is Professor of Audiology at the University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands.

Robert V. Shannon is Research Professor of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and Affiliated Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering at University of Southern California, CA, USA. Shannon investigates the basic mechanisms underlying auditory neural processing by users of cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants, and midbrain implants.

Binaural unmasking is phenomenon of auditory perception discovered by Ira Hirsh. In binaural unmasking, the brain combines information from the two ears in order to improve signal detection and identification in noise. The phenomenon is most commonly observed when there is a difference between the interaural phase of the signal and the interaural phase of the noise. When such a difference is present there is an improvement in masking threshold compared to a reference situation in which the interaural phases are the same, or when the stimulus has been presented monaurally. Those two cases usually give very similar thresholds. The size of the improvement is known as the "binaural masking level difference" (BMLD), or simply as the "masking level difference".

Computational audiology is a branch of audiology that employs techniques from mathematics and computer science to improve clinical treatments and scientific understanding of the auditory system. Computational audiology is closely related to computational medicine, which uses quantitative models to develop improved methods for general disease diagnosis and treatment.

References

  1. ↑ "Medical Research Council Institute of Hearing Research".
  2. 1 2 "University of York Emeritus Faculty".
  3. ↑ Summerfield Q, Haggard MP (1977). "Dissociation of spectral and temporal cues to voicing in initial stop consonants". J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 62 (2): 435–448. doi:10.1121/1.381544. PMID   886081.
  4. ↑ Tyler RS, Summerfield Q, Wood EJ, Fernandes, MA (1982). "Psychoacoustic and phonetic temporal processing in normal and hearing‐impaired listeners". J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 72 (3): 740–752. Bibcode:1982ASAJ...72..740T. doi:10.1121/1.388254. PMID   7130532.
  5. ↑ Assmann PF, Summerfield Q (1990). "Modeling the perception of concurrent vowels: Vowels with different fundamental frequencies". J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 88 (2): 680–697. Bibcode:1990ASAJ...88..680A. doi:10.1121/1.399772. PMID   2212292.
  6. ↑ Culling JF, Summerfield Q (1995). "Perceptual separation of concurrent speech sounds: Absence of across-frequency grouping by common interaural delay". J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 98 (2): 785–797. Bibcode:1995ASAJ...98..785C. doi:10.1121/1.413571. PMID   7642817. S2CID   31893307.
  7. ↑ Summerfield, Q (1979). "Use of visual information for phonetic perception". Phonetica. 36 (4–5): 314–331. doi:10.1159/000259969. PMID   523520. S2CID   3323951.
  8. ↑ Summerfield Q (1992). "Lipreading and audiovisual speech perception". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 335 (1273): 71–78. doi:10.1098/rstb.1992.0009. PMID   1348140.
  9. ↑ Schwartz JL, Robert-Ribes J, Escudier P. "Ten years after Summerfield: A taxonomy of models for audio–visual fusion in speech perception.". In Campbell R, Dodd B, Burnham, D (eds.). Hearing by eye II: Advances in the psychology of speechreading and auditory-visual speech. Psychology Press/Erlbaum Taylor & Francis.
  10. ↑ Summerfield Q, Marshall, DH (1995). "Report by the MRC Institute of Hearing Research on the evaluation of the national cochlear implant programme". HMSO.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ↑ Ramsden, R.; Graham, J. (1995). "Cochlear implantation". BMJ. 311 (7020): 1588. doi:10.1136/bmj.311.7020.1588. PMC   2551494 . PMID   8555795.
  12. ↑ "Access to and uptake of cochlear implants in the UK".
  13. ↑ "AAS Honors of the Society".
  14. ↑ UK Cochlear Implant Group (2004). "Criteria of Candidacy for Unilateral Cochlear Implantation in Postlingually Deafened Adults I: Theory and Measures of Effectiveness". Ear Hear. 25 (4): 310–335. doi:10.1097/01.AUD.0000134549.48718.53. PMID   15292774. S2CID   24702370.
  15. ↑ UK Cochlear Implant Group (2004). "Criteria for Candidacy for Unilateral Cochlear Implantation in Postlingually Deafened Adults II: Cost-effectiveness Analysis". Ear Hear. 25 (4): 336–360. doi:10.1097/01.AUD.0000134550.80305.04. PMID   15292775.
  16. ↑ UK Cochlear Implant Group (2004). "Criteria of Candidacy for Unilateral Cochlear Implantation in Postlingually Deafened Adults III: Prospective Evaluation of an Actuarial Approach to Defining a Criterion". Ear Hear. 25 (4): 361–374. doi:10.1097/01.AUD.0000134551.13162.88. PMID   15292776. S2CID   2956577.
  17. ↑ Mathies ML, Svirsky M (2004). "Editorial". Ear Hear. 25 (4): 309. doi:10.1097/00003446-200408000-00001.
  18. ↑ "Professor Quentin Summerfield".
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