I grew up in Iowa, graduated from  the University of Iowa in 1980 with a degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology. Then, in 1983, after spending a bit of time on the West Coast, I moved back to Iowa City to begin working toward my PhD under the direction of a relatively young, assistant professor named Paul Abbas. I did not know, at the time, that Paul had recently been invited to participate in a large, multifaceted grant funded by NIH that focused on cochlear implants. The overarching goal of that work was to determine if this new prosthetic device actually worked — or not. Paul knew a lot about how the ear worked and how electrical stimulation might impact hearing, but his work mainly focused animal studies. He knew a great deal about hearing science and auditory physiology, however, I don’t think he had any idea how to assess hearing loss, how to fit a hearing aid or how to measure speech perception. He realized that, and when he offered me a job as his research assistant, I jumped at the chance. For the next 40+ years we worked together using electrophysiologic measures to study how the human auditory nerve responded to electrical (as opposed to acoustic) stimulation. We both marveled — over the years — at the impact this technology had (and continues to have) on individuals with significant hearing loss.   

Paul retired in 2016. Sadly, he passed away on August 26 of this year. He was just shy of his 77th birthday. Paul and I had planned to do this talk together. We assumed this would be the last proseminar talk that either of us would give. Sadly, that was not to be. For me, this talk will be a bit of a walk down memory lane. I hope that it will not only be of interest, but also serve as a tribute to a truly, great scholar and human who left us too soon.  

Presenter: Carolyn Brown, PhD