Type de contrat

CDD

Spécialité

Mécanique

Présentation de l'entreprise

The UMCG is a university hospital associated with the University of Groningen. The research in our group is motivated towards identifying problems that hearing-impaired listeners encounter in daily life, with the ultimate goal of proposing solutions to these problems. Our approach is multidisciplinary, and involves behavioral and cognitive sciences, as well as engineering. We work closely with patients, the medical staff of the Cochleaire Implantaties Noord-Nederland (http://www.ci.umcg.nl), manufacturers of hearing devices, and local and international collaborators. Groningen is a bubbling city in the North of the Netherlands. The University of Groningen is amongst the 100 top universities in the world. The project is jointly funded by the University of Groningen and Advanced Bionics and will be a close collaboration between these two institutions.

Missions

In crowded situations, normal-hearing listeners take advantage of the fact that different speakers can be discriminated by their voice in order to selectively listen to a specific talker. Current cochlear implants do not allow users to appropriately hear voice differences, which partially explains the difficulties in speech comprehension they experience in crowded environments. The purpose of the project is to study and develop methods to optimize, at the individual level, the transmission of voice and speech information through the implant. This optimization will be achieved using a procedure based on a genetic algorithm and a metric relevant for speech-on-speech perception, producing clinical tools that will be validated with patients.

Profil recherché

Candidates must have a Master degree in biomedical engineering, physics, signal processing, audiology, psychology, neuroscience or a related field. Programming experience, especially with Matlab, is highly recommended. Interest in working in an international environment, interacting with patients and proficiency or willingness to learn Dutch are preferable. The UMCG is committed to offer equal opportunities. Applicants with disabilities will be preferentially considered in case of equal qualifications.

Date de début

01/06/2014

Rémunération

48-66 k€/an

Lieu de travail

Groningen, NL (9700 GZ)

Postuler

Send a copy of your CV including the names and contact information of two references (one of them preferably your advisor from Master’s or another research project) and a short motivation letter to Dr Etienne Gaudrain before the 15/04/2014. Interviews will be held on the 25/04/2014.