Hearing Conservation Center Research and Education

The research goal of the Hearing Conservation Center is to evaluate the association of medical and audiological testing to identify physiological pathways that play a role in acquired sensorineural hearing loss. We specifically collect genetic and audiometric data on participants. Other medical tests are evaluated through database research.

Research Locations

If you have any questions about research in the Hearing Conservation Center, please contact our director, Charles Pudrith, at cpudrith@niu.edu.

Education Resources

The Hearing Conservation Center is home to the Virtual Reality Anatomy Resource Center. Here, we have an Oculus 2, which is used to support a program called 3D Organon. This program allows students to view an entire digital human body in three dimensions. The body includes the skeletal, muscular, vascular and nervous system, as well as major organs. All body parts can be digitally removed so that students can see where the parts are located. Students can also cast their work onto a computer so that they can work in groups.

Electronic Resources

We run analyses on publicly available databases with reported hearing loss. If you have any suggestions for databases for us to add, please email Charles Pudrith at cpudrith@niu.edu.