My entire research career has been devoted to studying age-related hearing loss, in general, and factors contributing to speech understanding difficulties among older people, in particular. My qualifications include licensure and accrediation as a clinical audiologist, a role in which I became acutely aware of the communication challenges faced by older adults even while using hearing aids. I have designed numerous labratory-based investigations of speech perception and psychoacoustic abilities among younger and older listeners, designed prospective investigations of longitudinal changes in hearing with teh Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging (BLSA), and collaborated with colleagues on retrospective data analyses of hearing abilities among eldery persons. This research has culminated in over 70 peer-reviewed publications and 150 presentations at scientific conferences. I am also the senior editor of the volume, "The Aging Auditory System," published by Springer in 2010 (part of the SHAR series). I was recently given the Kawana Award for lifetime achievement in publications that have impacted the field of Speech and Hearing, by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), as well as the Honors of ASHA. I ahve been extremely fortunate to have directed my own R01/R37 grant from the National Institute on Aging for 25 years. 

I also currently serve as a co-investigator on a research grant aimed at investigating central and cognitive factors that contribute to speech regognition deficits among older cochlear implant listeners. Thus, my research experience on auditory temporal processing and speech recognition problems of individuals with age-related hearing loss, coupled with my recent work on cochlear implants and aging, amply demonstrate that I have the requisite background to participate in the Maryland Cochlear Implant Center of Excellence