Collaboration

Scientific collaboration in Poland and abroad

Interdisciplinary character of the Institute’s activity from the very beginning provided the grounds for development of collaboration with Polish and international academic and research and development units representing different disciplines of science. This collaboration resulted in joint publications and implementations.

Units collaborating with the Institute include:

In Poland:

  • Gdansk University of Technology
  • Warsaw University of Technology
  • Medical University of Warsaw
  • AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow
  • The Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Warsaw
  • Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin
  • Institute of Innovative Technologies EMAG, Katowice
  • Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw
  • Institute of Ceramics and Building Materials (formerly: Institute of Glass, Ceramics, Refractory and Building Materials), Warsaw
  • Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, Warsaw
  • Center of Hearing and Speech ‘Medincus, Warsaw
  • Silesian Center of Hearing and Speech, Katowice
  • Warmian-Masurian Center of Hearing and Speech, Olsztyn
  • Subcarpatian Center of Hearing and Speech, Rzeszów
  • West Pomeranian Center of Hearing and Speech, Szczecin
  • Pomeraniam Center of Hearing and Speech, Gdańsk
  • Opole Center of Hearing and Speech

Abroad:

  • Institut für Audiopädagogik, Solingen, Germany
  • Department of Audiology, University of Ferrara, Italy
  • Department of Methodology of Behavioral Sciences, University of Granada, Spain
  • Academic Unit of Audiological Medicine, Institute of Child Health, University College London, United Kingdom
  • Danyl Halytsky Medical University in Lwiv, Ukraine
  • Prof. A.I. Kolomitschenko Institute of Otolaryngology, Kiev, Ukraine
  • Ukrainian Health Ministry National Medical Academy of Postgraduate education named after P.L. Shupik, Kiev, Ukraine
  • Research Center for Audiology and Hearing Rehabilitation, Moscow, Russia
  • Otolaryngology Clinic of the Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education in Sankt Petersburg, Russia
  • University Medical School of Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
  • Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Department of Communicative Disorders, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
  • Department of Otolaryngology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
  • The Speech and Hearing Science Department, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
  • Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
  • Institute of Biomedical Engineering CNR, Milan, Italy
  • USC Head and Neck Group, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Institute Tomatis, Paris, France
  • Tomatis Développment, Luksembourg
  • Clinical, Technical, Research and Regulatory Department, Cochlear AG, Basil, Switzerland
  • Clinical Research and Rehabilitation, MED-EL-Medical Electronics, Innsbruck, Austria
  • Clinical Research, Medtronic ENT, Tolochenaz, Switzerland
  • National Hospital of Hearing, Voice and Speech Pathologies, Minsk, Belarus
  • Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Grodno Medical State University, Grodno, Belarus
  • Otorhinolaryngology Faculty of Danyl Halytski State Medical University, Lwiv, Ukraine

International collaboration

The vast majority of scientific research is conducted under the framework of the bilateral or multilateral agreements with R&D units and universities abroad. The Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing has for many years led an active cooperation with similar R&D units. Main goals of the international collaboration involve the exchange of scientific information with leading centers abroad, participation in joint international research programs and procuring funds for conducting the research programs.

Efforts undertaken for the achievement of the above goals were:

  • Maintaining of the regular contact and development of the cooperation and scientific exchange with the Institute’s partners in Europe and in the world,
  • Development, together with the foreign partners, of the calendar of scientific and training workshops, international meetings in Poland and abroad,
  • Organization and participation in the scientific meetings, symposia, conferences, as well as in the bilateral meetings with present partners and people looking to cooperate with the Institute,
  • Establishing cooperation with the international organizations uniting specialists in physiology and pathology of hearing and with organizations active in the societies and for the benefit of the deaf and hard of hearing, implanted persons and their families, in particular : the European Academy of Otology and Neuro-Otology (EAONO), the International Evoked Response Audiometry Study Group, the International Society of Audiology and the European Society of Artificial Organs,
  • Undertaking different forms of cooperation with the foreign partners necessary for the implementation of the Institute’s research and development tasks,
  • Establishing contacts with companies abroad specializing in production of the equipment for diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation of people with auditory dysfunctions.

List of centers, with whom the Institute has signed the bilateral collaboration agreements:

  1. Brigham Young University, Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Department, Provo UT, USA – research on hearing disorders in schoolchildren, diagnostics of the central auditory processes, application of the electrophysiological methods in hearing diagnostics, development of tools for teaching audiology through the e-learning methods.
  2. Institute of Applied Physics, Leopold Franzens-University of Innsbruck, Austria – research on the applications of the new types of implants, application of the auditory brainstem implants, research on the residual hearing in the implanted patients, clinical evaluation of the middle ear implants, research on the use of the electric-acoustic stimulation in the treatment of the partial deafness.
  3. Pittsburgh University, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Pittsburgh PA, USA – development of the objective methods for the assessment of the functioning of the organ of hearing and methods of the functional imaging of the auditory cortex; implementation of the training program in the fields of psychoacoustics and electrophysiology of the auditory apparatus.
  4. East Tennessee State University, Department of Communicative Disorders, Johnson City TN, USA – program for the application of the otoacoustic emission in the hearing screening and in the diagnostics of tinnitus and partial deafness.
  5. Research Triangle Institute International, Center for Auditory Prosthesis Research, Research Triangle Park, NC USA – research of the treatment of partial deafness using the electric-acoustic stimulation and on the speech perception in the implanted patients with the partial deafness.
  6. Universitätsklinik für Hals- Nasen- und Ohrenkrankheiten, Zurich, Switzerland – research on the application of the new types of prostheses in the middle ear reconstruction surgery, research and training program in the field of the ear microsurgery.
  7. University of Antwerp, Medical Electronics and Hearing Sciences Dept., Antwerp, Belgium – research on the development of new coding strategies in the auditory implant systems and elaboration of the new methods of electrophysiological diagnostics for implanted patients.
  8. University of Connecticut, Storrs CT, USA – Prof. Frank Musiek – research on the central auditory processing and functional imaging of the cortex.
  9. Audiology Clinic, University of Ferrara, Italy – Prof. Stavros Hatzopoulos – research on the novel automatic hearing screening methods based on the recording of the otoacoustic emissions, evoked auditory brainstem potentials and steady-state potentials.
  10. University Clinic in Toulouse, France and the Cochlear company – multicenter research on possibility of preservation of the residual hearing during the cochlear implantation.
  11. Department of Methodology of Behavioural Sciences, University of Granada, Spain – research of the advanced statistical methods (implementation of the „HearTreat” project).
  12. Institut für Audiopädagogik (IfAP), An-Institut der Universität zu Köln, Solingen, Germany – development of tests for the speech perception (implementation of the „HearTreat” project).
  13. ORL Clinic, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands – research on the auditory effort (implementation of the „HearTreat” project).

List of the research projects realized in the collaboration with the centers abroad under the bilateral and multicenter agreements.

  1. ”Preservation of Residual Hearing with Nucleus Contour with Softip and Electroacoustic Stimulation Study” ID: EUSTUD-00100, V 0.2; Sponsor: Cochlear AG, Switzerland.
  2. ”Application of the BAHA in the single-sided profound conductive hearing loss in children” Sponsor: Cochlear AG, Switzerland. Project subject: research on the application of the bone anchored hearing aids BAHA in the single-sided profound conductive hearing loss in children.
  3. ”Psychoacoustic tests in patients with partial deafness” – research project realized based ont he agreement (no 06-710) signed between the Arizona State University and the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing aimed at the implementation of the research project under the grant of the US National Institute of Health (NIH); federal grant 5r01dc000654-14.
  4. „Application of the middle ear implant in the mixed hearing loss – VIBROPLASTY (RW VSB)” Sponsor: Med-El, Austria. Project’s aim is to research application of the middle ear implants in the mixed hearing loss.
  5. „Research on the remote system of the cochlear implant fitting” – University Clinic Freiburg, Germany.
  6. „Auditory evoked response audiometry in the diagnostics of central auditory disorders” – international research project from the field of electrophysiology under the coordination of Prof. David McPherson from the Hearing and Speech Science Laboratory, Brigham Young University, Provo UT, USA.
  7.  ”Research on the new methods of the objective diagnostics of the organ of hearing in the implanted patients, Neural Response Imaging (NRI) and Electrical Field Imaging (EFI)” – collaboration agreement with the St. Augustinus University Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium, within the Clarion European Research Group.
  8.  ”Ear reconstruction surgery in children and adults, application of the biocompatible materials” – collaboration project witht he IONOS GmbH, Seefeld near Munich, Germany.
  9. „Clarion CII Bionic Ear Software Trial (BEST)” – cooperation agreement with the Advanced Bionics Clinical Research Department, Cambridge, United Kingdom on the participation in the multicenter research project aimed at the evaluation of new generation of the Clarion implants with the coding strategy of high frequency resolution. Other participants of the program include: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, St. Augustinus University Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium, Medizinische Hochschule Hannower, Germany.
  10. „EARS (Evaluation of Auditory Responses to Speech)” – multicenter project for the evaluation of the rehabilitation progress in implanted children coordinated by the Med-El, Austria.
  11. „Epidemiology of hearing and speech disorders in children and school-age children”- research program in cooperation with the Brigham Young University, Provo, USA; program coordinated by Prof. Henryk Skarżyński and Prof. David McPherson.
  12. „Evaluation of Initial Fitting of Young Children Using Intra Operative NRT” – international multicenter clinical research project coordinated by the Cochlear AG, Switzerland.
  13. „Treatment of deafness using new cochlear implant systems” – European Multicenter Study – program under the coordination of Dr. Ingeborg Hochmair z Med-El, Austria, realized in cooperation with the university clinics, cochlear implant centers and institutes in Berlin, Würzburg, Frankfurt, Manchester, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Stockholm.
  14. „Audio-Psycho-Linguistic Stimulation Method (SAPL) in treatment of speech disorders” – research project realized in cooperation with the Tomatis Institute, Paris, France.
  15. „Improvement of the communication skills of the deaf and hard of hearing individuals after the cochlear implantation: novel concepts of stimulation in cochlear implants” – program realized under the intergovernmental agreement on scientific and research and development collaboration between Poland and Flanders.
  16. „Development and verification of speech coding strategies in cochlear implants” – program of collaboration with the Medical Laboratory of the University of Antwerp, under the direction of Prof. Stefaan Peeters.
  17. „Central auditory processing disorders”- research and development program in cooperation with the Brigham Young University, Provo UT, USA and the University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA.
  18. „Application of the Neural Response Telemetry (NRT) in the intraoperative and postoperative diagnostics of implanted patients” – multicenter program coordinated by the Cochlear AG,  Switzerland, realized in cooperation with the university ORL clinics in Prague, Cologne, Geneva and others. .
  19. „Application of the Spread of Excitation (SoE) method in the assessment of functioning of the cochlear implant” – research and development program implemented in cooperation with the Cochlear AG, Switzerland and the Gdansk University of Technology, Poland.
  20. „Application of the Auditory Brainstem Implants Med-El Combi 40+ ABI” – agreement of cooperation with the University Neurosurgery Clinic in Fulda, Germany. In this multicenter study participate also the University Otolaryngology Clinic in Frankfurt, Germany and University Otolaryngology Clinic in Vienna, Austria.
  21. „Application of the ABR evoked with short tone bursts in the early diagnostics of extracochlear hearing disorders” – research and development project in collaboration with the Pittsburgh University, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Pittsburgh PA, USA.
  22. Assessment of residual hearing in Med-El Combi 40+ Cochlear Implant Users” – agreement of collaboration with the Med-El, Austria in the international multicenter research program under the coordination of the Med-El company, with the participation of the Charlotte Eye Ear Nose and Throat Associates P.A., Charlotte NC, USA and the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis IN, USA.