Steven Aiken, PhD

Bio

Dr. Steven Aiken's research is focused on assessing auditory function at the level of the brainstem and cortex using evoked responses, particularly in relation to complex (but functionally important) sounds such as speech and music. His core interest is how these objective electrophysiological measures relate to speech sound encoding and speech intelligibility, and how both are affected by hearing aid processing.

Education

• BA, Psychology, University of Western Ontario
• MSc, Communicative Disorders, University of Western Ontario
• PhD, Medical Science, University of Toronto

Research interests

• Human auditory electrophysiology
• Auditory steady-state responses
• Speech-evoked responses
• Cortical event-related potentials
• Noise-induced hearing loss
• Binaural processing

Teaching

• CMSD 5120: Hearing Measurement
  
• CMSD 5130: Introduction to Audiology and Speech Language Pathology
• CMSD 5220: Diagnostic Audiology
• CMSD 6380: Electrophysiological Audiometric Measures
• CMSD 7002: Research Project

Selected publications

• Easwar, V., Purcell, D.W., Aiken, S.J., Parsa, V., & Scollie, S.D. (2015). Effect of stimulus level and bandwidth on speech-evoked envelope following responses in adults with normal hearing. Ear Hear, [Epub ahead of print]
• Easwar, V., Purcell, D.W., Aiken, S.J., Parsa, V., & Scollie, S.D. (2015). Evaluation of speech-evoked envelope following responses as an objective aided outcome measure: Effect of stimulus level, bandwidth, and amplification in adults with hearing loss. Ear Hear, [Epub ahead of print]
• Finbow, J., Aiken, S.J., Bance, M., & Caissie, R. (2015). CROS versus Bone-Anchored Hearing Devices. Otol Neurotol, 36(5), 819-825.
• Easwar, V., Beamish, L., Aiken S.J., Choi, J.M., Scollie, S., & Purcell, D. (2015). Sensitivity of envelope following responses to vowel polarity. Hear Res, 320, 38-50.
• Choi J. M., Purcell, D. W., Aiken, S. J., & Coyne, J. M. (2013). Envelope following responses elicited by english sentences. Ear Hear, epublish ahead of print.
• Aiken, S. J., Andrus, J. N., Bance, M., & Phillips, D. P. (2013). Acoustic stapedius reflex function in man revisited. Ear Hear, epublish ahead of print.
• McNeil, M. L., Aiken, S. J., Bance, M., Leadbetter, J., R., & Hong, P. (2013). Can otoplasty impact hearing?: A prospective randomized controlled trial examining the effects of pinna position on speech reception and intelligibility. J Otol - Head Neck Surg, 42(1), 10.
  
• Liu, L., Wang, H., Shi, L., Almuklass, A., He, T., Aiken, S., Bance, M., Yin, S., & Wang, J. (2012). Silent damage of noise on cochlear afferent innervation in guinea pigs and the impact on temporal processing. PLOS One, 7(11), e49550.
• Coolen, J., Caissie, R., & Aiken, S. J. (2012). Ethical dilemmas: Are audiologists and hearing aid users on the same side? Can J Speech Lang Path Audiol, 36(2), 94-105.
  
• Massoud, S., Aiken, S. J., Newman, A. J., Phillips, D. P., & Bance, M. (2011). Sensitivity of the human binaural cortical steady state response to interaural level differences. Ear Hear, 32(1), 114-120.
  
• Aiken, S. J., & Picton, T. W. (2008a). Envelope and spectral frequency-following responses to vowel sounds. Hear Res, 245(1-2), 35-47.
• Aiken, S. J., & Picton, T. W. (2008b). Human cortical responses to the speech envelope. Ear Hear, 29(2), 139-157.

Awards and honours

• 2014, President’s Award, Canadian Academy of Audiology. This award is given in recognition of outstanding contribution to the development of the Academy.