Ongoing Projects (Partial List)

The American Institute for Voice and Ear Research shares approximately 15,000 square feet of space and resources with the Philadelphia Ear, Nose,  and Throat Associates; The Voice Foundation; and The Drexel Arts Medicine Center.  Hospital and University facilities are also used in AIVER Research.

Voice research in house resources include a comprehensive, extensively-equipped laboratory for acoustic, aerodynamic, vibratory and other phonatory assessments; seven strobovideolaryngoscopy rooms; facilities for singing and acting voice analysis, research, therapy and training.

Ear research resources include comprehensive Audiology facilities, special audiometric equipment for ultra-high-frequency audiometric testing, brainstem evoked-response audiometry, promontory stimulator testing, electroneuronography, eletrocochleography, otoacoustic testing, cochlear implant program and rehabilitation facilities, electronystagmography, and computerized dynamic posturography (CDP). An extensive occupational hearing loss research and management team is an integral and internationally renowned component of AIVER. University facilities are utilized for histologic, biochemical, genetic, non-human and other special research needs.

· Effects of Glutathione Upon Sensorineural Hearing Loss

· A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Assessment of Lansoprazole in the Treatment of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

· Evaluation of the Hip-Hop Voice

· Incidence of Occult Laryngeal Abnormalities in Healthy Singing Teachers

· Skull Base Surgery of the Temporal Bone

· Reliability of Objective Voice Measures

· Genetic Susceptibility in Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis

· Videostroboscopic Assessment of Female Vocal Folds During the Menstrual Cycle

· Laryngeal Contact Endoscopy to Determine Blood Flow Direction in Vocal Fold Microvascular Lesions

· Laryngological Common Diagnoses and Efficacy of Treatment

· Efficacy of Voice Training for Improving Auditory Perception and Intelligibility in Children with Cochlear Implants

· Cold Plasma Research

· High Speed Evaluation of Vocal Fold Function

Research Programs

Primary Research Interests and Priorities

· Improved technology for voice quantification

· Improved technology for speech recognition

· Vocal fold scarring, wound healing, genetic engineering

· Cochlear implantation

· Geriatric communication disorders (ear, voice)

· Geriatric ORL disorders (hearing, voice, taste and smell, swallowing, other)

· Human performance

· Normative voice quantification (stratified)

· Occult abnormalities in “normal” singers and professional speakers

· Treatment of “incurable” skull base tumors

· Endocrine effects on voice, and their treatment

· Innervation and functions of the false vocal folds

· Occupational hearing loss

· Laryngeal chemoreflex

· Multimedia approaches to public education about the human voice

· Efficacy of yoga on the management of voice disorders

· Alternative and complementary medication use in singers and actors

· Otolaryngologic applications of cold plasma technology

· Development of surgical instrumentation

· Clinical trials

· Synthetic-biological interface for cochlear implantation

· Tinnitus: localization and treatment

· Dizziness and fall prevention