About us

We are All_EARS@UoS – a researcher/patient/recipient/supporter group and partnership of people drawn from all walks of life, who are involved with, or have lived experience of, hearing loss and/or cochlear implants. We want to invite anyone who is interested in contributing to the research being carried out in Southampton. Our meetings are a mixture of in person and online to be as flexible as possible. You may have lived experiences which you want to share, or you may be fascinated by the world of cochlear implants, what they can and cannot do, and would like to add your perspective and knowledge to the research ideas and projects. We can each be involved to a level that suits us. We are ‘All Ears’, ready to listen and contribute.

Our group is linked with the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service https://ais.southampton.ac.uk and University of Southampton https://www.southampton.ac.uk.

We currently meet in person every 2-3 months, usually on the university campus. Our meetings last 2 hours and we provide refreshments such as tea, coffee, and cakes. In our meetings we discuss different research projects and ideas and the group share their experiences of hearing loss and cochlear implants to inform our research questions. 

Our group is a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group.

Patient and public involvement is research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them.

Public engagement focuses on distributing research findings and knowledge to members of the public through activities and events.

You can read a bit more about what this is here, if you are interested: https://www.rds-sc.nihr.ac.uk/ppi-information-resources/