Five new researchers have joined the Faculty of Science & Engineering. The first to be introduced here is Christopher Bergevin.

 

Chris Bergevin

Chris Bergevin

Christopher comes to the Department of Physics & Astronomy following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery at Columbia University. “York provides fantastic potential for interdisciplinary collaboration given the wide range of excellent research taking place here,” he says. Bergevin’s research focuses on how sound is transduced by the ear into neural impulses going to the brain.

Surprisingly, says Bergevin, the healthy ear not only detects sounds, but also generates and emits it. These sounds, called otoacoustic emissons (OAE) are generated from within the cochlea and are used routinely in various clinical applications such as screening of newborn hearing. At York, Bergevin will be using OAEs to develop and test new theories about basic biophysical processes at work in the ear. ”I am excited to further my research into hearing and understanding how we hear the world around us,” says Bergevin. “Such studies not only yield new insights into basic biophysics, but ultimately provide an opportunity to translate the knowledge we gain in the lab into improving people’s quality of life, for example, those with hearing impairment.”