A Sound Foundation Through Early Amplification 2001 - Proceedings of the Second International Conference - Section I - Chapter 2 - Development of Binaural Audition and Predictions for Real-World Environments

Ruth Litovsky, PhD

Professor of Communicative Disorders and Otolaryngology

Ruth Litovsky, PhD is Professor of Communicative Disorders and Otolaryngology. She directs the Doctorate in Audiology Program and the Binaural Hearing and Speech Laboratory at the Waisman Center. Professor Litovsky chaired the Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses at Asilomar in 2011, is Associate Editor of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America and the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology. She received her PhD in 1991 in Developmental Psychology, with post-doctoral training in auditory neurophysiology and biomedical engineering. Litovsky’s research focuses on binaural hearing, covering lifespan of humans to include infants and elderly adults, with populations of normal-hearing persons and those who are deaf and use cochlear implants. At the heart of her research questions is the issue of bilateral cochlear implants. In adults the research questions focus on the ability of people with onset of deafness in childhood vs. adulthood to integrate information from the two ears with fidelity and precision, and the extent to which functional outcomes such as sound localization and speech understanding in complex environments is similar in these individuals compared with normal hearing persons. Litovsky’s research program is funded by several grants from the NIH-NIDCD. She has been a regular member of grant review panels, serves on numerous panels at international conferences, is active in the organization of numerous professional meetings and associations.