Andrej Kral, MD, PhD

Chaired Professor of Auditory Neuroscience, Hanover Medical School
Professor of Systems Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney

Andrej Kral studied medicine in Bratislava (Comenius University, MD 1993, PhD 1998). During his PhD he developed models of neuronal networks exploring auditory frequency discrimination ability. He subsequently moved to the Institute of Sensory Physiology, J.W.Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (Prof. R. Klinke), where he was appointed associate professor of physiology (“Priv.-Doz.”) in 2002. From 2004 to 2009 he served as Professor of Neurophysiology at the University of Hamburg School of Medicine. Since 2009 he has been appointed Chair of Auditory Neuroscience at the Clinics of Otolaryngology, Hannover Medical School (MHH). Andrej Kral heads the Dept. of Experimental Otology. Since 2018 he has been also Professor of Systems Neuroscience at Macquarie University, Sydney. In 2017 he has been elected a member of the German National Academy of Science and in 2018 of the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum (CORLAS). A. Kral is specialized to auditory neurophysiology in animals (rodents, cats) and humans (EEG), his research interests include hearing loss, central effects of deafness, brain development and plasticity, neuroscience of cochlear implants and technology of neuroprosthetics (website: www.neuroprostheses.com).

With H.Maier and F.Aplin he published a textbook on neuroprosthetics (“Prostheses for the Brain: Introduction to Neuroprosthetics”, 2021, Academic Press) and with A.N.Popper and R.R.Fay edited the volume on Deafness (vol. 47, 2013) of the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research. His lab received funding, among others, from German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, including Cluster of Excellence Hearing4All), National Science Foundation (USA), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), European Union, Oticon Foundation and cochlear implant industry.

Stephen G. Lomber, PhD

Professor of Physiology, Psychology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Biomedical Engineering at McGill University
Canada Research Chair in Brain Plasticity and Development

Stephen G. Lomber, Ph.D. is a Professor of Physiology, Psychology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Biomedical Engineering at McGill University where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Brain Plasticity and Development.  Dr. Lomber received degrees in Neurobiology from the University of Rochester (B.Sc.) and the Boston University School of Medicine (Ph.D.).  Dr. Lomber’s lab (www.cerebralsystems.ca) uses an integrated approach to examine processing in the auditory cortex.  His lab has pioneered the use of focal cooling to reversibly deactivate regions of the cerebrum.  Throughout his training and career, the focus of Dr. Lomber’s work has been on brain plasticity following either central or peripheral damage to the visual or auditory system during development.  Using a unique combination of techniques (electrophysiological recording, reversible deactivation, psychophysical testing, functional imaging, computational modelling, and connectional neuroanatomy), he has made significant advances in understanding how the brain adapts to the loss of a sense (deafness) and how the brain adapts to the initiation or reinstatement of a lost sense by examining the consequences of cochlear implants on cortical function.  Dr. Lomber’s research program seeks to understand the consequences of sensory loss and restoration to the relationship between altered perception and cognitive function.  Steve is the recipient of numerous research and teaching awards and has previously served as an Associate Editor at Hearing Research and presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Academy of Audiology and is the Scientific Program Chair for the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.