Contact
Biography
Ian Wiggins obtained a first degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Warwick, followed by a master's degree in Audio Acoustics from the University of Salford. Between 2007 and 2009 he worked in London as an acoustic consultant, working with award-winning architects on prestigious national and international projects. Between 2009 and 2012 Ian was based in the Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research (MRC IHR) while he studied for his PhD at the University of Nottingham. He joined the University of Nottingham as a Research Fellow in 2012, and was promoted to his current role as Senior Research Fellow in 2017. Since 2019 Ian has led an independent research team within the Hearing Theme of the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, focused on understanding and alleviating the challenges of listening in complex everyday environments.
Expertise Summary
Ian has expertise in psychoacoustics, neuroimaging, hearing aids, cochlear implants, spatial hearing, signal processing, multisensory integration and tinnitus. He has particular expertise in the use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a flexible, affordable, and silent method for non-invasively measuring brain activity under naturalistic listening conditions. Ian is also a competent programmer with experience of developing software for real-time audio applications.
Ian is chief investigator for the Nottingham Hearing BioResource, an ambitious, large-scale, collaborative project that aims to transform the future of audiological care.
Ian has also acted as a consultant to the World Health Organization, supporting the WHO to develop global safe-listening standards for personal music players and entertainment venues as part of the Make Listening Safe initiative (Safe listening - Wikipedia).
Recent Publications
RACHAEL J. LAWRENCE, IAN M. WIGGINS, JESSICA C. HODGSON and DOUGLAS E.H. HARTLEY, 2021. Evaluating cortical responses to speech in children: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study Hearing Research. 401, 108155 MUSHTAQ, FAIZAH, WIGGINS, IAN M., KITTERICK, PÁDRAIG T., ANDERSON, CARLY A. and HARTLEY, DOUGLAS E. H., 2020. The Benefit of Cross-Modal Reorganization on Speech Perception in Pediatric Cochlear Implant Recipients Revealed Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 14, 308 ANDERSON CA, WIGGINS IM, KITTERICK PT and HARTLEY DEH, 2019. Pre-operative Brain Imaging Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Helps Predict Cochlear Implant Outcome in Deaf Adults. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO. 20(5), 511-528 MUSHTAQ, FAIZAH AND WIGGINS, IAN M. AND KITTERICK, PÁDRAIG T. AND ANDERSON, CARLY A. AND HARTLEY, DOUGLAS E. H., 2019. Evaluating time-reversed speech and signal-correlated noise as auditory baselines for isolating speech-specific processing using fNIRS PLOS ONE. 14(7), 1-22