PhD student position in bone conduction hearing

At the Department of Signals and Systems, we conduct world-leading research in biomedical engineering, antennas, signal processing, image analysis, control, automation, mechatronics and communication systems. Our research deals to a large extent with the modeling and development of efficient systems for extracting and processing information. Systems our researchers deal with include for instance e-Health, hearing aids, robotics, power chains, and mobile telephony.

The department has about 120 employees, divided into three research divisions and one administrative unit. A majority of our activities are gathered at campus Johanneberg, except for some research in medical engineering which is done at Sahlgrenska and an education unit at campus Lindholmen. The department offers more than 70 courses, of which are most included in the Masters Programs; ”Biomedical Engineering”, ”Systems, Control and Mechatronics”, and ”Communication Engineering”.Information about the research/the project
Functionally deaf patients can gain normal hearing with a new implant that replaces the middle ear. This new hearing implant, the Bone Conduction Implant (BCI), requires a minor surgical procedure to insert a small implant just behind the ear, under the skin and attached to the skull bone itself. The new technique uses the skull bone to transmit sound vibrations to the inner ear, so-called direct bone conduction.

The BCI has been designed to treat patients with mechanical hearing loss as result of chronic ear infection, bone disease, or congenital malformations of the outer ear, ear-canal or middle ear. Such people often have major problems with their hearing. Normal hearing aids, which compensate for neurological problems in the inner ear, rarely work for them. On the contrary, bone conduction devices often provide a dramatic improvement since the vibrations can by-pass the impaired area and be transmitted directly to the inner ear. The main advantage with this new bone conduction device is that the skin is intact and the signal is transmitted with a wireless link from the external sound processor to the implanted unit. The sound processor is attached by retention magnets.

The Medical Products Agency in Sweden and the Regional Ethics Committee approved a clinical study in 2012, and today, six patients are successfully treated. We are now planning for an expansion also including international patients. Comparative studies with other types of hearing devices are also planned and the implant needs to be further optimized for different patient groups.

The research project aims to investigate the improvement that BCI patients experience as compared with other bone conduction hearing devices. It also aims to optimize the implant and apply it to different patient groups’ needs.   

Major responsibilities
Your major responsibilities as PhD student is to pursue your own doctoral studies. You are expected to develop your own scientific concepts and communicate the results of your research verbally and in writing, both in Swedish and in English. The position generally also includes teaching on Chalmers' undergraduate level or performing other duties corresponding to 20 per cent of working hours.

Position summary
The position is a full-time temporary employment, limited to four years, plus teaching and other departmental duties up to maximum 5 years. A monthly salary is paid. There are no tuition fees for PhD studies at Chalmers.The starting date is in spring or summer 2014.

Qualifications
To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a master's level degree of at least 240 higher education credits in a relevant area. Background in electronics, signal processing, audiology, hearing science and acoustics is meriting.

Fluent/excellent ability in written and spoken English is a requirement. The employment also requires good knowledge in Swedish since many of the tests that are used to investigate patients’ hearing ability are in Swedish.

Application deadline: 2014-02-15

For questions, please contact:
Assistant Professor Sabine Reinfeldt
Div of Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering
E-mail: sabine.reinfeldt@chalmers.se
Phone: +46 31 772 8063

Professor Bo Håkansson
Div of Signal Processing and Biomedical Engineering
E-mail: boh@chalmers.se
Phone: +46 31 772 1807




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