Dr Rachel van Besouw
Visiting Research Fellow

Dr Rachel van Besouw is Visiting Research Fellow within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.
Dr Rachel van Besouw is a Senior Research Scientist/Technical Partner in the Human Factors Integration team at Dstl and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research.
Rachel’s research interests include psychoacoustics, situational awareness, auditory training and measurement of functional hearing ability. She is a member of the ISVR Hear For Duty group, working closely with the Institute of Naval Medicine and Royal Centre for Defence Medicine to develop and evaluate measures of auditory fitness for duty.
She was previously a Lecturer and Hearing Scientist in the ISVR Human Sciences Group Hearing and Balance Centre, former Chair of the University of Southampton Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WiSET) steering committee, and co-founder of the Music Focus Group at the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service.
Doctoral Student Projects
- Giorgos Dritsakis (2017) The development and validation of a music-related quality of life measure for adult cochlear implant users.
- Zoe Bevis (2016) Auditory fitness for duty: localising small arms gunfire.
- Hannah Semeraro (2015) Developing a measure of auditory fitness for duty for military personnel.
- Anne Wheatley, Development and evaluation of the pitch contour test for cochlear implant users.