Meeting 22
Monday 20, July 2026.
Kate started the meeting by welcoming all members.
The meeting objectives were to:
- To hear and discuss ongoing research projects.
- To discuss accessibility and deaf awareness at University Hospital Southampton.
Professor Helen Cullington and Audiology MSc student Heather Nixey were invited to speak. Heather gave a short presentation about the project she is doing. The project aims to determine how a new triple digit test that has been designed in China to measure both hearing and cognition works for English speaking people.
Next up, Professor Nicci Campbell came to give an update about the LUCIA trial and public contributor for LUCIA, Conor, joined us via Teams.
LUCIA is a randomised controlled trial comparing simultaneous bilateral versus unilateral cochlear implantation in adults with post-lingual severe-profound hearing loss. The trial is funded by NIHR. All_Ears PPIE group are the named patient and public involvement group for the trial and will be informing each stage of the research process.
Helen asked to the group about which pronunciation of LUCIA they preferred and did a vote.
Nicci asked the group about what they thought of several aspects of the study planning, including what should be included in an animation for the study and for videos which explain what patients could do at home for rehab – should these include people living with hearing aids and cochlear implants or should these videos include just rehab staff.
After a coffee break, Barty Thomas, a PhD researcher from Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) briefly talked about a research study he is doing as part of his PhD to investigate the links between tinnitus and cognition. This led to an interesting discussion about tinnitus and the different experiences of tinnitus group members have had.
The final part of the meeting was a short discussion about deaf awareness and accessibility at University Hospital Southampton, following a meeting Kate had the previous week with the accessibility team. Deaf awareness is a very important topic that we keep coming back to and will keep coming to as there is so much progress that needs to be made.
Kate closed the meeting by thanking everyone for their valuable contributions and handed out expense forms.