Hannah Holmes BSc Audiology

Hi, I'm Hannah Holmes and I studied BSc Audiology within Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton.

In the final year of my BSc Audiology degree, I focused my research project on echolocation in humans. This built on a 10-week research project I carried out during one summer, supported by a scholarship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

"In the final year of my BSc Audiology degree, I focused my research project on echolocation in humans. This built on a 10-week research project I carried out during one summer, supported by a scholarship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

"Echolocation (also known as biological SONAR), such as used by bats and dolphins, is where an animal produces an ultrasonic ‘click', hears the echoes and uses these to navigate, catch prey and find mates and offspring. Some blind people also use echolocation, and some organisations for blind people are offering training in echolocation to help improve people's independence.

"My project involved listening experiments in normal-sighted people ahead of studies with blind people in order to gain a greater understanding of its potential. I found that even normal-sighted people were able to make use of echoes to detect the presence of objects and that hard, flat objects were easier to detect than soft, contoured objects.

"I'm now doing a PhD at the ISVR focusing this time of improving the benefits from cochlear implants, though applying the general skills I learnt in my echolocation projects."

Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 2011; 6: 280.