Purdue University Accessible Precision Audiology Research Center

???? Happy World Hearing Day from APARC! ???? Today, we want to remind you of the importance of hearing health—because hearing health is health! Far too often, we meet APARC participants who have struggled with hearing loss for some time, only to be told:? ??"Your ears look fine."? ?? "It must be something else."? ?? "You just need to pay more attention when people are speaking." But untreated hearing loss isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s associated with:? ??♂? Increased fall risk? ?????? Social isolation? ?? Depression? ?? Higher likelihood of hospital stays? People with untreated hearing loss have 46% higher total healthcare costs than people with normal hearing! This World Hearing Day, take a moment to prioritize your hearing. Schedule a check-up, support loved ones in their hearing journey, and help spread awareness. #WorldHearingDay2025 #HearingHealth #HearingMatters #APARC Purdue University Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

APARC continued its busy and exciting month as our students, Samantha Hauser and Andrew Sivaprakasam, along with our director, Michael Heinz, presented their research at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) 2025 Midwinter Meeting in Orlando FL! ?? Sam?shared her work with a podium presentation titled "Detecting and Disambiguating 'Hidden' Cochlear Pathologies: Inner Hair Cell Injury and Cochlear Synaptopathy.” ??Andrew presented "Integrating Physiological and Perceptual Assays to Resolve the Effects of Sensorineural Hearing Loss on Neural Place and Time Cues for Pitch"? ?? Mike presented them team’s collaborative work with partner Creare: "An Open-Science Cross-Species Data Resource for Standardized Hearing Assessments". Coauthors included Sam, Andrew, and Ananth Grama (from Purdue Computer Science) and Odile Clavier from Creare LLC. The conference sparked many insightful discussions, and we are excited to see where this research leads next. Looking forward to continuing these important conversations! #ARO2025 #HearingResearch All of this work was supported by critical funding from NIH, specifically National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Purdue University Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

The APARC team has had an exciting and productive February, traveling and building momentum for our mission to make audiology more accessible and precise in Indiana and beyond! Earlier this month, we proudly represented APARC at the Indiana State House during the Indiana Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ISHA) Legislative Day. This was followed by a poster presentation at the American Auditory Society's Annual Scientific and Technology Conference in Scottsdale AZ, and Michael Heinz sharing our work with Purdue President’s Council members affiliated with Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences in Naples, Florida. Along the way we had fun testing hearing on the plane with?the Tympan/ TabSINT open hearing platform that we are working on with our friends at Creare! We've had the privilege of connecting with legislators, scientists, and the Purdue community to share APARC’s vision and gain valuable insights on how we can further advance outreach, hearing research, and education. Exciting things are ahead—stay tuned! Samantha Hauser, Isabella Huddleston, Alexandra Hustedt-Mai, Elizabeth Jensen, Annika Schenkel

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we want to take a moment to recognize and thank the incredible women who have contributed to APARC’s success—Samantha Hauser, Kassie Hook, Isabella Huddleston,?Alexandra Hustedt-Mai, Elizabeth Jensen, Madie Kim, Annika Schenkel, Maureen Shader, Jennifer Simpson, and Maggie Ziko! We are beyond grateful for the dedication, expertise, and passion these outstanding students, staff, and faculty bring to our work every day. Your contributions make a difference, and we are so lucky to have you on our team! #WomenInScience #STEM #APARC #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience

?? Congratulations to APARC team member and MSTP MD/PhD student Andrew Sivaprakasam for successfully defending his PhD dissertation, “Place and Time Processing of Pitch in the Context of Cochlear Dysfunction”! Was a great day with an entirely in-person thesis committee (Co-Chairs: Michael Heinz and Hari Bharadwaj (University of Pittsburgh), Ed Bartlett, Rick Nelson (Indiana University School of Medicine), and Andrew Oxenham (University of Minnesota). Andrew has played a pivotal role?in setting up the Audiology Research Diagnostic Core (ARDC) in West Lafayette, as well as APARC in Indianapolis. This spring he will return to Indiana University School of Medicine to complete the last two years of his M.D. We are incredibly proud of all his achievements and can’t wait to see the impact he will make on hearing science and medicine! ???? Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Purdue University Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Indiana Medical Scientist Training Program (IU MSTP)

As 2024 comes to a close, we are reflecting on an incredible first few months at APARC filled with initial milestones, community impact, and groundbreaking work in audiology research. Here’s what we’ve achieved together at 16 Tech Innovation District and beyond: ??Launched our new community-oriented space in 16 Tech Innovation District ??Hosted a successful Grand Opening event with over 70 attendees (including Karen Plaut, Aaron Bowman, and Emily Krueger) ??Demonstrated the potential of our NIH-funded collaborative Open-Hearing platform (Tympan and TabSINT) with our colleagues at Creare – thanks Mattheus Percy Ueckermann and Noori Kim for your demos at the Grand Opening ??Conducted community hearing screenings, including Purdue President Mung Chiang ? ??Participated in community events right outside our doors in the AMP, like Boo Bash, Indiana Farmer’s Market, and Indy Gay Market ??Presented our work and vision to ARPA-H Scalable Solutions group at 16 Tech Innovation District ??Partnered with audiologist Dawn Flinn, to have students help with Indy-car driver hearing testing ?(including OAEs) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ??Engaged with and promoted audiology and hearing research to many high-school students at the See Yourself IN Summit ??Had great initial discussions and connections with Purdue at Indianapolis administrators, faculty, and students (e.g., David Umulis, Sharon Miller and Madie Kim) ?? Developed an initial prototype of a cross-species precision audiology/auditory neuroscience data resource with colleagues at Purdue's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC) ??Completed comprehensive hearing testing on over 50 unique individuals (in just our first 2 months!) Thank you to everyone who has helped us on our journey thus far! ???? Special thanks to Michael Heinz, Joshua Alexander, Jennifer Simpson, Ananth Grama, Ed Bartlett, Alexandra Hustedt-Mai, Maureen Shader, Kaethe Beck, Andrew Sivaprakasam, Samantha Hauser, Elizabeth Jensen, Maggie Ziko, Isabella Huddleston, and Annika Schenkel for making this year so impactful! ?Here’s to all that is to come in 2025! What was your favorite APARC moment this year? Let us know in the comments! Purdue University Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Purdue University Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

Excited to see friends and family this holiday season, but worried about hearing challenges? Don’t worry- APARC has you covered with tips for easier communication during this joyful time! ?????? ??Holiday Hearing Tips ??? ?? Turn down background noise, like the TV or holiday music?? ?? Make sure lighting is good to make use of visual cues? ?? Get the attention of the person you are talking to prior to starting a conversation Do you have a holiday hearing tip? Let us know in the comments!?

APARC would like to congratulate team member, Ananth Grama, on being named Distinguished Professor of Computer Science by Purdue’s Board of Trustees. Ananth continues to have a tremendous career, and we are lucky to have him working with us on developing our cross-species precision audiology/auditory neuroscience data resource! Congratulations, Ananth! ????????

Please join us in congratulating? Au.D. graduate students, and APARC team members, Elizabeth Jensen and Maggie Ziko. Both women presented their research at the 20th Annual Robert L. Ringel Student Research Symposium hosted by Purdue University Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences yesterday! ??? ?? Maggie presented preliminary work on her project “???????????????????? ?????????? ???????????????? (????????) ?????? ?????????????? ????????”, examining biomarkers of PCOS and the relationship to hearing difficulties. Notably hers was our first project to include blood draws as part of her data collection (with help from?Purdue’s Nutrition Science Department). We can’t wait to see where her research goes!?? ? ?? Liz presented “?????????????????? ?????????????????????? ???? ???????????????? ????????????-?????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????????????”, sharing her work on the current limitations of clinical middle ear muscle reflex pure-tone testing and advocating for the use of wideband probes and elicitors. Her work has the potential to lead to important changes in current audiological protocols!?? ? We are excited that data collected at APARC are being used in such creative and impactful ways!? Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences #HearingHealth #StudentResearch #Innovation?

APARC team members, Michael Heinz and Alexandra Hustedt-Mai, had a fun-filled day at the center this past Saturday - getting to engage with the community at both the Indy Winter Farmer’s Market ???? and the Indy Gay Market ??????????, at the AMP in 16 Tech Innovation District. So many great conversations about hearing health and 27 shoppers signed up for comprehensive hearing evaluations! We also handed out over 70 pairs of earplugs!? We can’t wait to see what fun events APARC can participate in next!? ? #Innovation #Inclusion #HearingHealth?