Acoustics and Vibration

Current Postgraduate Opportunities

Project Title: Future Cochlear Implants

Project summary: Recent research intentions to advance cochlear implant performance include the realisation of a totally implantable cochlear implant (TICI). Such a TICI solution promises to reduce deafness discrimination, increase device performance through a reduction in power consumption, and maximise device utility by removing the external device which restricts activities.  Our research intentions propose a device which operates in the perilymph of the scala vestibuli to leverage three key advantages: i) to make use of the natural sound pressure level gain of the ossicular chain, ii) to utilise the effect of fluid damping to reduce oscillator resonant frequencies, and iii) to minimise the required change in surgical procedure.

Project Title: Point-of-care Insulin Sensor

Project summary: This research project pertains to the development of a biomolecule sensor technology platform. In particular, for the purpose of measuring insulin in real time and at the point-of-care (POC, meaningnear or at the site of patient care, outside the traditional laboratory). We aim to achieve insulin detection from a blood sample, using the complex nonlinear dynamic landscape of a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) biosensing device.

Project Title: MEMS Array Dynamics in Fluids

Project summary: This project is part of ongoing fundamental research in the field of coupled oscillators in fluids. We investigate small to large-size arrays for bound and unbound fluid conditions, with fixed and moving boundary conditions. Associated applications are the study of hair-cell motions inside the human cochlea as well as the vestibular tubes.

Current Postgraduate Opportunities

Project Title: Environmental Noise

Project summary: Effect on the conservation estate – visitors and wildlife

Funding/stipend: To be negotiated

Project Title: Building acoustics

Project summary: Noise propagation through gaps

Funding/stipend:To be negotiated