Hearing – NSBRI http://nsbri.org National Space Biomedical Research Institute Sun, 07 Feb 2016 20:07:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.9 Investigating High-Frequency Vestibular Function: A Potential Flight Diagnostic (First Award Fellowship) http://nsbri.org/researches/investigating-high-frequency-vestibular-function-a-potential-flight-diagnostic-postdoctoral-fellowship/ Tue, 15 Dec 2015 16:54:04 +0000 http://nsbri.org/researches/investigating-high-frequency-vestibular-function-a-potential-flight-diagnostic-postdoctoral-fellowship/ When a person suffers from inner ear trouble, they may experience dizziness, balance problems and motion sickness. For astronauts these problems can be especially difficult since their inner ears have to react to the special conditions in space, during re-entry and after landing. These special conditions often lead to space motion sickness, and can make […]

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]]> When a person suffers from inner ear trouble, they may experience dizziness, balance problems and motion sickness. For astronauts these problems can be especially difficult since their inner ears have to react to the special conditions in space, during re-entry and after landing. These special conditions often lead to space motion sickness, and can make it difficult for the astronauts to correctly interpret motion. On Earth, if a patient has inner ear trouble they can go to the doctor and a wide range of tests can be performed to figure out what their inner ear trouble is, but in space, astronauts are largely on their own and have limited resources for medical tests.

NSBRI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Jocelyn Songer’s research project is looking at new ways to evaluate inner ear trouble. The inner ear contains both the organs that sense sound and the organs that sense balance. Songer’s research will focus on some of the ways that sound can be used to test balance. Songer’s long-term goal is to develop fast reliable tests of inner ear function that require minimal training and equipment and can be used by astronauts in space, and by doctors on Earth.

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