My research concerns i) understanding causes and impacts of hearing impairment, particularly in the context of multimorbidity in older age, ii) prevention and treatment of hearing impairment, and iii) service development and evaluation. 

I was a 2013-2014 US-UK Fulbright scholar, and was awarded the British Society of Audiology's Thomas Simm Littler Prize in 2014 for my work on the epidemiology of hearing loss and acclimatization to hearing aids.

I am Director of Research for the Department of Linguistics. I am an executive member of the Macquarie University Centre for Ageing and Mental Well-being, the NSW Division of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) and the AAG Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) special interest group.

Research themes: hearing loss, vision loss, dual sensory impairment, tinnitus, hearing aids, cochlear implants, cognition, dementia, aged care, mental well-being, cognitive decline, hearing help-seeking.

Populations: Working age and older age adults.

Research methods: Clinical trials, systematic reviews, epidemiology.

Research engagement

I am on the editorial board of Ear & Hearing, the International Journal of Audiology, the Journal of Audiology & Otology, and the South African Journal of Communication Disorders.

I am a peer reviewer for >45 journals, as well as the NIHR, the ESRC, Action on Hearing Loss, the MRC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Aguir pour L’Audition, the Research Council of Norway, the MRC, the Alzheimer's Society UK, Alzheimer's Research UK and the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation.

Research student supervision

I am currently accepting PhD students. I would welcome inquiries in relation to any topic related to my research interests. 

Current PhD

Co-supervisor of UoM doctoral research student, Hannah Cross (2019-) Topic: “Improving quality of life through addressing communication needs for people in residential care living with dementia”, funded by the Alzheimers Society

Co-supervisor of UoM doctoral research student, Harry Taylor (2016-) Topic: “Ethnicity and hearing health inequality in England”, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council

Co-supervisor of UoM doctoral research student Emma Hooper (2018-) Topic: "Supporting hearing aid use in people with dementia", funded by UKOTRF

Completed PhD

Primary supervisor of UoM doctoral research student, Chelsea Sawyer (2015-2019) Topic: “Health psychology approaches to hearing aid uptake”, funded by Phonak AG

Primary supervisor of UoM doctoral research student, Afzarini Hasnita (2015-2019) Topic: “Patient centered practice in audiology”, funded by the Malaysian Government academic development fund

Co-supervsior of UoM doctoral research student, Sara Al-Hambali (2014-2017) Topic: “Listening effort and fatigue in people with hearing impairment”, funded by Jordanian Government

Co-supervisor of UoM doctoral research student, Ronan McGarrigle (2013-2015) Topic: “Objective assessment of listening effort in children”, funded by the Castang Foundation

Community engagement

I am very active in outreach and public engagement. I regularly disseminate research via a variety of media (including television, radio, newspaper, magazine, blog and twitter) to a variety of audiences (including doctors, audiologists, the general public and high school students).

Via the EU SENSE-Cog project, developed a European network of charities, users, carers and professionals all interested in understanding the interaction between sensory and cognitive health. This project developed and evaluated i) methodology for involvement of people with dementia in research, which informs the 2020 INTERDEM (Early detection and timely INTERvention in DEMentia) network manifesto on involvement of people with dementia in research, and ii) training support materials to support involvement of community members in research.