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School of Psychological Sciences

Professor Colette  McKay PhD DipAud CCAudSA

Photograph of Colette McKay

Chair in Applied Hearing Research

School of Psychological Sciences
Audiology & Deafness Research Group
Ellen Wilkinson Building, Room B1.5
The University of Manchester
Manchester
M13 9PL

 

Role

I lead the Audiology and Deafness Research Group within the School of Psychological Sciences. I am currently the Director of Research for the School of Psychological Sciences.

 

Memberships of Committees and Professional Bodies

  • Elected Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (member since 1995)
  • The Audiological Society of Australia (since 1981)
    with clinical certification from Audiological Society of Australia (since 1986)
  • Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO)
  • British Society of Audiology (BSA)

Research

The two key areas in which my research is focussed are auditory psychophysical research and improved speech perception with cochlear implants. In addition, I have contributed across a broader range of scientific areas related to deafness, audiology, and communication. For example, I have accomplishments in the areas of central auditory processing, language development in children, and mental health.

Current projects include:

  • automated fitting of cochlear implants using objective measures
  • signal processing to improve perception with cochlear implants and to integrate electric with acoustic stimulation
  • investigation of factors relating to individual difference in outcome for hearing devices (including neural survial and central plastic changes)

PhD projects are availabel in all these areas.

 

Biography

I obtained a first class honours degree in maths and physics from the University of Melbourne, followed by a PhD in physics from the same university. After completing my clinical qualifications in Audiology, I took up a part time teaching and clinical position in the School of Audiology while my children were small. I moved into full time research in 1990 in the Department of Otolaryngology at Melbourne University in the area of Cochlear Implants.  I helped in the development and evaluation of the SPEAK processing strategy, which after 14 years still provides the principles upon which the majority of cochlear implants function today. In 2005 I moved to the UK to take up a chair position at Aston University in Birmingham, where I developed and directed the new BSc (Hons) in Audiology course. In 2007 I moved to Manchester University to lead the research team in the Audiology and Deafness Group.  

 

Qualifications

Post-Graduate Diploma in Audiology The University of Melbourne , Department of Otolaryngology, awarded in 1980

Ph.D. The University of Melbourne , Department of Physics, awarded in 1979

B.Sc.(Hons) The University of Melbourne, physics and maths combined major, awarded 1974

CCAudSA  Clinical Cerificate of the Audiological Society of Australia

 

Collaborators and affiliated staff

I have ongoing collaborations with the MRC - Cognition and Brain Unit in Cambridge (we hold a Wellcome Trust grant and an MRC grant together) and with the University of Melbourne Department of Otolaryngology in Australia (where I hold an Honorary Professorial Fellow position). I have a collaboration with the Medical University Hannover to study the perception of users of the auditory midbrain implant with a goal of understanding auditory processing in the central auditroy pathways and to develop appropriate signal processing strategies for this device.

 

Selected publications

2008

2007

  • Carlyon R, Long C, Deeks J, McKay CM. (2007). Concurrent sound segregation in electric and acoustic hearing. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol, 8( 1), 119-33. further details
  • Mok M, Galvin K, Dowell R, McKay CM. (2007). Spatial unmasking and binaural advantage for children with normal hearing, a cochlear implant and a hearing aid, and bilateral implants. Audiol Neurootol, 12( 5), 295-306. further details

2006

  • Prado-Guitierrez P, Fewster L, Heasman J, McKay CM, Shepherd R. (2006). Effect of interphase gap and pulse duration on electrically evoked potentials is correlated with auditory nerve survival. Hear Res, 215( 1-2), 47-55. further details
  • Umat C, McDermott H, McKay CM. (2006). The effect of intensity on pitch in electric hearing and its relationship to the speech perception performance of cochlear implantees. J Am Acad Audiol, 17( 10), 733-46. further details

2005

  • H McDermott, CM Sucher, McKay CM. (2005). Speech perception with a cochlear implant sound processor incorporating loudness models. ARLO, 6, 7-13. further details
  • McKay CM, Fewster L, Dawson P. (2005). A different approach to using neural response telemetry for automated cochlear implant processor programming. Ear Hear, 26( 4 Suppl), 38S-44S. further details
  • McKay CM, Henshall K, Hull A. (2005). The effect of rate of stimulation on perception of spectral shape by cochlear implantees. J Acoust Soc Am, 118( 1), 386-92. further details
  • McKay CM. (2005). Spectral processing in cochlear implants. Int Rev Neurobiol, 70, 473-509. further details

2004

  • McKay CM. (2004). “Psychophysics and electrical stimulation” in Cochlear Implants: Auditory prostheses and electrical hearing. Handbook of Auditory Research (editors Fan-Gang Zeng, Arthur N. Popper, and Richard R. Fay), New York. ( 20, 286-333). further details
  • Leigh J, Henshall K, McKay CM. (2004). Optimizing frequency-to-electrode allocation in cochlear implants. J Am Acad Audiol, 15( 8), 574-84. further details
  • McKay CM, LM Fewster, PW Dawson. (2004). The relationship between neural response telemetry (NRT) thresholds and psychophysical high-rate thresholds in cochlear implantees: a different approach. International Congress Series, Special Issue 1273: Cochlear Implants. Proceedings of the VIII International Cochlear Implant, 1273, 64-67. further details
  • McKay CM, LM Fewster. (2004). Effect of interphase-gap and pulse-duration on evoked-potential amplitudes and loudness. International Congress Series, Special Issue 1273: Cochlear Implants. Proceedings of the VIII International Cochlear Implant Conference, 1273C, 60-63. further details
  • Rance G, McKay CM, Grayden D. (2004). Perceptual characterisation of children with auditory neuropathy. Ear Hear, 25( 1), 34-46. Full text doi:10.1097/01.AUD.0000111259.59690.B8 further details
  • V Looi, H McDermott, McKay CM, L Hickson. (2004). Pitch discrimination and melody recognition by cochlear implant users. International Congress Series, Special Issue: Cochlear Implants. Proceedings of the VIII International Cochlear Implant Conference, 1273C, 197-200. further details

2003

  • H McDermott, C Sucher, McKay CM. (2003). Speech intelligibility with a cochlear implant sound-processing scheme based on loudness models. Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Cancun Mexico, 2006-2009. further details
  • H McDermott, McKay CM, L Richardson, KR Henshall. (2003). Application of loudness models to sound processing for cochlear implants. J Acoust Soc Am, 114, 2190-2197. further details
  • McKay CM, KR Henshall, RJ Farrell, H McDermott. (2003). A practical method of predicting the loudness of complex electrical stimuli. J Acoust Soc Am, 113, 2054-2063. further details
  • McKay CM, KR Henshall. (2003). The perceptual effects of interphase gap duration in cochlear implant stimulation. Hearing Research, 181, 94-99. further details
  • McKay CM, L Fewster. (2003). The relationship between psychophysical and electrophysiological parameters in cochlear Implantees. Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Cancun Mexico, 2010-2012. further details
  • Weatherby A, Henshall K, McKay CM. (2003). The effects of frequency response on speech perception for cochlear implant users. J Am Acad Audiol, 14( 10), 582-91. further details

2002

  • Dawson P, Busby P, McKay CM, Clark G. (2002). Short-term auditory memory in children using cochlear implants and its relevance to receptive language. J Speech Lang Hear Res, 45( 4), 789-801. further details
  • McDermott H, Henshall K, McKay CM. (2002). Benefits of syllabic input compression for users of cochlear implants. J Am Acad Audiol, 13( 1), 14-24. further details
  • McKay CM, Henshall K. (2002). Frequency-to-electrode allocation and speech perception with cochlear implants. J Acoust Soc Am, 111( 2), 1036-44. further details

2001

  • Henshall K, McKay CM. (2001). Optimizing electrode and filter selection in cochlear implant speech processor maps. J Am Acad Audiol, 12( 9), 478-89. further details
  • McKay CM, Remine M, McDermott H. (2001). Loudness summation for pulsatile electrical stimulation of the cochlea: effects of rate, electrode separation, level, and mode of stimulation. J Acoust Soc Am, 110( 3 Pt 1), 1514-24. further details

2000

  • Henry B, McKay CM, McDermott H, Clark G. (2000). The relationship between speech perception and electrode discrimination in cochlear implantees. J Acoust Soc Am, 108( 3 Pt 1), 1269-80. further details
  • McKay CM, H McDermott, RP Carlyon. (2000). Place and temporal cues in pitch perception: are they truly independent? ARLO, 1, 25-30. further details
  • McKay CM, Headlam D, Copolov D. (2000). Central auditory processing in patients with auditory hallucinations. Am J Psychiatry, 157( 5), 759-66. further details

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