Just Like Me? Can you hear me?

Project overview

In this project we want to capture stories from parents and guardians of young children with cochlear implants. The story from the moment of discovering their child had hearing loss, through watching them grow with their implant, to today.

Humans share stories. These stories can be a powerful way of people finding out about things. Who tells a story can affect how we notice it. It can also affect whether we think it matters to us. What we don’t know is what it is about someone or their story that makes them just like me. If we can understand how to capture stories so that anyone finding the stories finds something that relates to them, we may be able to support people to find out about healthcare, such as cochlear implants, that they may otherwise know nothing about. This could enable more people to get access to cochlear implants.

Staff

Lead researcher

Professor Tracey Newman

Professor

Research interests

The demographic of populations worldwide is changing. People are living longer but with more years with affected by disability in the last two decades of life. The societal and economic consequences of this change are not being well managed. There is a lag in the development of health interventions and a need for rapid learning for future health and infrastructure planning. Typically, people in poorer economic situations are disproportionately affected by disability in later life.
Hearing loss and dementia: I lead multidisciplinary research focussed on hearing loss, the use of cochlear implants to restore hearing in otherwise deaf people and the interaction between hearing loss and dementia.
My focus is understanding cellular mechanisms in these conditions and also how the learning and methodologies used to investigate this can be applied across discipline boundaries. I am driving the implementation of data science methodologies for improved management of people who hear with cochlear implants and for the identification of early indicators of cognitive decline. I am championing the engagement of patients in research and as ambassadors to increase awareness of healthcare interventions amongst hard to reach and marginalised communities.

Connect with Tracey

Email: t.a.newman@soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Dr Brian Pickering MA, PGCert, MSc, DPhil, MBPsS, MBCS

Senior Research Fellow

Research interests

My focus is on how human agents interact with technology, especially the online world, to achieve their goals. Most of the work I do is informed by Actor Network Theory and tussle analysis, but also the social psychology of group interactions. This also involves the development of agency and increased self-efficacy.
Trust: The social science construct of trust as an ongoing negotiation between trustor (who is willing to expose themselves to vulnerability) and the trustee (who must demonstrate their trustworthiness through their actions) is an underlying theme to much of the work I am involved in. I do not conflate trust with a cognitive assessment of cost versus benefit since there is definitely both a social and an emotional component. With regard to technology, trust is an "organising principle" for much technology-mediated interaction. It also relates to constructs like self-efficacy and agency in technology adoption.
Cyberpsychology: I bring together many years of experience with computer technologies (especially speech- and language-enabled applications) with a broader psychological perspective. I'm interested primarily in the Internet as a tool to be adapted for user needs, rather than an independent environment, and therefore uncovering the social and network processes which help individuals engage.

Connect with Brian

Email: j.b.pickering@soton.ac.uk