Dr Stefan Bleeck PhD
Professor of Hearing Science and Technology, Director of the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research
Dr Stefan Bleeck is Professor of Hearing Science and Technology at the Hearing and Balance Centre within the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University of Southampton and the head of the Auditory Technology group.
I love to work in an inspiring environment at the interdisciplinary boundary between physiology and engineering
The aim of my work is to understand how we hear sound and to use this knowledge to create bio-inspired solutions to enhance speech communication.
The complex challenge requires a highly interdisciplinary approach. My first degree was in Physics and I obtained a PhD in computational neuroscience in 2000 from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Darmstadt, Germany. I worked as a research assistant in the "Centre of the Neural Basis of Hearing" in Cambridge, UK with Roy Patterson and Ian Winter. In 2005 I joined the ISVR and the Hearing and Balance Centre where I was chair in 2016.
I have continuously worked on various aspects of hearing research and technology and have been principal investigator on various research grants (EU, EPSRCS, etc) with a value of more than £2M. I am team leader with an internationally recognised research programme to develop devices that help normal hearing and hearing-impaired people to communicate better in noise within the next 10 years.
I have so far supervised more than 150 students including 10 PhD students in Audiology, Acoustical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and other Programs. In 2009 I was awarded the vice chancellor’s teaching award for recognition of my contribution to the Audiology teaching programme and lead a number of teaching modules across different areas related to my work. In 2012 I was awarded a Google Research Award
