Season 5
Welcome back to another season of the Hear Here Podcast! We are happy to announce that Season 4, Episode 1: The Invisible Exhaustion: Let’s Talk Hearing Fatigue has won first place in the Podcast category for the 2025 IHDCYH Talks Competition! The IHDCYH is the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, whose goal is to promote better beginnings, vibrant childhoods and empowered youth. The basis of the IHDCYH Talks Competition is to celebrate knowledge mobilization that impacts the health of children, youth, and families. Our episode explores the hidden fatigue that comes with hearing loss, and our hosts share their first-hand experiences.
In season 5, we recognize the contributions that many families have made to our research conducted at Archie’s Cochlear Implant Laboratory here at the Hospital for Sick Children. We discuss the findings of studies that often take many, many years and represent so many hours that children and their caregivers and loved ones spend with us, and we really appreciate them and all of the contributions they’ve made.
In the first episode, we explore the bread and butter of implantable hearing devices: Bilateral cochlear implantation. Host Sofia Olaizola chats with Dr. Karen Gordon and Dr. Carly Anderson. Dr. Karen Gordon is a senior scientist and director of research at the Archie’s Lab Cochlear Implant Lab. She is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology and a graduate faculty member in the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. Dr. Karen Gordon will be featured in all of the episodes this season! Dr. Carly Anderson is a lecturer in neuroscience at Lancaster University who studies multimodal communication and plasticity. This episode looks at the beginnings of cochlear implants and how research shapes our current approaches to surgery, rehabilitation, language development and auditory processing. Sofia, who is completing her MSc in Audiology at Dalhousie University, brings a perspective of a bilaterally implanted user and shares her experiences with cochlear implants.
Transcript of S5E1
Dr. Carly Anderson at Lancaster University
Previous episodes featuring Dr. Carly Anderson: #3: Insights from Early Career Hearing Researchers with Dr. Hannah Stewart and Dr. Carly Anderson
In the second episode, we are looking at bimodal hearing, the combination of a hearing aid and a cochlear implant. Host and co-producer Maryam Othman chats with Dr. Karen Gordon, Dr. Melissa Polonenko and Dr. Robel Alemu! Our first guest is Dr. Melissa Polonenko, Principal Investigator at the PoloLab at the University of Minnesota. Her lab focuses on developing new ways to assess hearing, vestibular, and multi-sensory function and to evaluate outcomes with hearing devices. Our second guest is Dr. Robel Alemu, who recently completed his PhD at Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab. His research focused on binaural hearing in children with hearing prosthetics using behavioural and electrophysiological measures of hearing.
Maryam brings her lived experiences into the discussion as she uses bimodal hearing and is a medical student at Western University. This episode looks at the basis of bimodal hearing, how it impacts spatial hearing, auditory development, and how parents of children with bimodal hearing can support their hearing journeys.
Transcript of S5E2
PoloLab Website
In the third episode, we take a detour from hearing devices to look at the relationship between hearing, learning and memory. Hosts Annika Gasee, Nimrat Chani chat with Dr. Karen Gordon and three amazing guests! Our first guest is Dr. Claire McSweeney, who is a general surgery resident in the US and previously completed a MSc with the Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab. Our second guest is Naureen Sohail, an Auditory-Verbal Therapist with the Cochlear Implant Program at The Hospital for Sick Children. Our third guest is Anna Ishchuk, a medical student at the University of Toronto, who completed a MSc with the Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab. Her research focused on sound localization in children with cochlear implants and how audiovisual training could improve localization.
Nimrat, a third-year Public Health student at the University of Waterloo and bilateral cochlear implant user and Annika, a third-year Health Science student at Wilfrid Laurier University, whose brother has cochlear implants, bring their own experiences of hearing loss to the discussion. This episode looks at the relationship between education, language development, and hearing loss as well as how children can be supported in these environments.
Transcript of S5E3
In the fourth episode, we peek into the world of single-sided deafness or LUHU (limited usable hearing unilaterally). Host May Wang chats with Dr. Karen Gordon, Dr. Sharon Cushing, Harrison Gao, and Hanne Bartel. May is completing a BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health at the University of British Columbia and has lived experience with single-sided deafness.
Dr. Sharon Cushing is an Otolaryngologist at the Hospital for Sick Children, Director of the Cochlear Implant Program and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. Hanne Bartels completed her MD at KU Leuven and is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, whose research is focused on single-sided deafness. Last but not least, Harrison Gao is a medical student at the University of Toronto. This episode explores first-hand experiences of single-sided deafness, rehabilitation, and ongoing research in the field!
Transcript of S5E4
Previous episodes featuring Dr. Sharon Cushing:
S1E1: Binaural Hearing: The Where and Why with Dr. Ruth Litovsky
S1E2: Hearing Lessons from an Engineer with Dr. Deniz Başkent
S1E3: Electro-acoustic Hearing: An Odd Combination that Works with Dr. René Gifford
S1E4: Cochlear Implants: An Expert-insider’s View with Dr. Lina Reiss,
S1E5: Hearing in all Corners of the Globe with Dr. Viji Easwar
Finally, in the fifth episode, we get dizzy with the vestibular system. Host Maria Khan, an audiologist and co-producer of the podcast, chats with Dr. Karen Gordon, Dr. Sharon Cushing and Melissa Hazen. Dr. Sharon Cushing was featured in previous episodes; she is an Otolaryngologist at The Hospital for Sick Children, Director of the Cochlear Implant Program and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. Melissa Hazen is a clinical audiologist at The Hospital for Sick Children and a PhD candidate in the Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab, whose research is focused on children with hearing loss who also have vestibular issues and how that translates into developmental and spatial abilities. In the first part of the episode, we defined balance and reviewed the anatomy and physiology of the vestibular system. Then, we discuss what a vestibular deficit can do to someone’s day-to-day function.
Transcript of S5E5
This is the second part of the vestibular episode! Host Maria Khan, an audiologist and co-producer of the podcast, continues our discussion with Dr. Karen Gordon, Dr. Sharon Cushing and Melissa Hazen. Dr. Sharon Cushing is an Otolaryngologist at The Hospital for Sick Children, Director of the Cochlear Implant Program and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. Melissa Hazen is a clinical audiologist at The Hospital for Sick Children and a PhD candidate in the Archie’s Cochlear Implant Lab. Part two jumps right into Melissa’s research, the three parts of her PhD and how this research translates into real life.
Transcript of S5E5
