DIRECTOR
Raymond Goldsworthy, Ph.D.
Dr. Ray Goldsworthy received his Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Kentucky in 1997 and his Ph.D. in Health Sciences and Technology from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. After completing his doctoral studies, Ray led development teams at Sensimetrics Corporation to design signal processing strategies for cochlear implants and hearing aids and to provide rehabilitation software to help people with hearing loss make the most of their hearing. Ray joined the University of Southern California as an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology in January 2014. Ray is a cochlear implant user and is passionate about the interplay of auditory experience, auditory perception, and medical bionics for improving the lives of people with hearing loss.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
alessandro presacco, Ph.D.
Alessandro (Alex) Presacco recently joined the Bionic Ear Lab in February 2023 as a Research Associate. He received Laurea in Electronic Engineering from the University of Padua (Italy), a Master in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Maryland. He did three post-docs (UC Irvine, University of Maryland, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and worked at Children’s National Hospital before joining the Bionic Ear Lab. He is currently involved in the project focused on encoding temporal fine structure in cochlear implants. He is utilizing neural responses (eCAPs and EEG) to study improvements in pitch perception and speech comprehension by changing the auditory signal’s modulation depth. In his free time, Alex loves to spend time with his family, travel, watch movies, read books, play soccer and watch soccer games.
Helena Gan
Helena Gan first joined the Bionic Ear Lab in January 2016 during her Bachelor’s studies in Biomedical Engineering at USC. She is studying binaural spatial resolution in bilateral cochlear implant users while also developing web training and testing software for participant studies on Team Hearing. Outside of the lab, she enjoys baking, playing music, and playing board games.
Julianne Papadopoulos, M.M.
Julianne Papadopoulos first joined the Bionic Ear Lab in August of 2020. Her motivation behind her work in research and education comes from her belief that everyone deserves a space to participate in music in a way that is meaningful for them. She has particularly enjoyed co-facilitating the weekly Cochlear Implant Music Hour, alongside Chrysa Kovach, which strives to provide a supportive setting for cochlear implant users to engage with music. Julianne received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Elon university. She then went on to complete her Masters of Music in Community Music at the University of Southern California. Outside of her work, she loves to share homemade food, sew, and make music with friends.
Chrysa Kovach, M.M.
Chrysa Kovach first joined the Bionic Ear Lab in August 2020 as a co-facilitator of the Cochlear Implant Music hour, alongside Julianne Papadopoulos. She is a community music facilitator who loves helping others start or continue their musical journeys. Whether it is through teaching or through grant writing, she is always looking for ways to make music education accessible to everyone. Chrysa currently serves as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Music City Brass Ensemble. She is also the founder and past music director of the W.O. Smith Community Orchestra, a volunteer ensemble dedicated to presenting educational concerts and collaborating with local composers in Nashville, TN. Chrysa has performed as a flutist with the CALLA Quintet, Santa Monica Symphony, and the Vicente Chamber Orchestra and is a former member of the Orchestervere in Vienna, Austria. She holds a master’s degree in Community Music from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in Musical Arts (Flute) and Spanish from Vanderbilt University
POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARS
Susan Bissmeyer, PH.D.
Susan Bissmeyer first joined the Bionic Ear Lab in January 2015 while working on her Master’s degree in Medical Device Engineering. While doing her Master’s, she and Dr. Goldsworthy developed an adaptive binaural noise reduction algorithm. She completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in December 2022 studying the effect of rate training and stimulation configuration on pitch perception in cochlear implant users. When not in the lab, she enjoys playing board games, enjoying a good eaterie, and most of all, spending time with her husband and baby.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Ravi Singh
Ravinder (Ravi) Singh got his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, doing research in explosive hazard detection in FLIR. After working in research and development for five years in the defense industry, he started his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at USC. He joined the Bionic Ear Lab in the summer of 2021 and is interested in looking at different signal processing methods to improve cochlear implant users speech and music perception. In his free time, Ravi spends most of his time rock climbing, playing board games, running, ultimate frisbee, and playing music badly.
Juri Hwang
Born in South Korea,
Juri Hwang is a media artist and researcher. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Media Arts and Practice program in the School of Cinematic Arts and a research associate in the Bionic Ear Lab in the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Her research is interdisciplinary, focusing on sonic culture, human audition, and the neuroscience of sound. Under the mentorship of Dr. Raymond Goldsworthy, she studied spatial hearing for cochlear implant (CI) users and tactile and auditory integration for pitch perception. She organized and led the “CI Music Hour,” a weekly online music appreciation workshop for CI users across the U.S. and beyond. Her current research, “Here, My Voice,” offers personalized voice lessons for hard of hearing persons to support their aural and auditory skills, confidence, and creative self-expression. Juri is also developing her “SoundToy” project, an innovative listening game for hard of hearing children to train spatial hearing. In her award-winning art installations “Somatic Echo” and “Nightfield,” Juri is exploring the perceptual and emotional qualities of sound transmitted through different physical media, such as Mulberry paper and bone conducted sound.
Matthew Ardis
Matthew Ardis is a recent graduate of UCLA with a Bachelor’s in Psychology. He is currently pursuing an Au.D. at Cal State LA. He started at the Bionic Ear Lab as a research assistant in August of 2021 and is particularly interested in the role of critical periods as it pertains to age of implantation and music appreciation in cochlear implant users. As a cochlear implant user himself, Matthew is very passionate about studying CIs and hopes to find ways to better help users and improve upon traditionally unexplored areas of the field. Separate from the lab, Matthew volunteers as a panelist for parents of newly diagnosed children at the John Tracy Clinic. In his spare time, Matthew likes to read, occasionally play guitar and help friends build computers.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
emma adamson
Emma Adamson is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California majoring in biochemistry and minoring in musical theatre. She was so excited about the opportunity to join the Bionic Ear Lab because it has allowed her to blend her passions for both science and music. As a singer herself, she hopes to be able to use her abilities to improve the musical experience of cochlear implant users. She is currently developing a research project relating singing and pitch perception of CI users. After undergrad, she hopes to attend medical school and become an otolaryngologist.leo yao
Leo Yao is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California majoring in human biology. He joined the lab in March of 2022 and is interested in exploring how cochlear implant users perceive musical groove. This area of study was inspired by his hobbies of playing jazz guitar and bass in the rhythm section of his jazz band, where grooving is essential. Besides music, in his free time, he likes to box, cook, and play video games. After graduation, he hopes to attend medical school.
brandon van der donk
Brandon van der Donk is a junior at the University of Southern California, majoring in biomedical engineering with a mechanical emphasis. He joined the Bionic Ear Lab in March 2022, and has worked on MATLAB data analysis for several projects, including studies of musical emotion and pitch/speech benchmarks. He is also interested in studying and quantifying lyrical comprehension with CI users, using the EEG to collect neural entrainment data. In his free time, Brandon’s hobbies include soccer, cars, and playing the piano.
Ella Rawlings
Ella Rawlings, a sophomore at the University of Southern California, is pursing a Bachlors degree in biomedical engineering with an emphasis on mechanical engineering. Coming from New York City and having completed her high school education in Toronto, Canada, Ella is driven by a passion for merging engineering principles with medical advancements. She has been recognized for her academic achievements with the Dr. Kemal Demirciler Memorial Fellowship, reflecting her commitment to the field. Ella’s ambition is to spearhead innovations in neurological medical technologies, aiming to improve the lives of individuals facing neurological challenges.
Claire Emery
Claire Emery is a senior graduating from USC in May 2024. She started volunteering with the Bionic Ear Lab at the beginning of 2024, and after graduation,
Claire will enter a post-baccalaureate program in communication sciences and disorders at Chapman University. She is interested in speech language pathology, cochlear implants, and music perception.
Claire helps to summarize the CI Music Hour every week, and keeps the website updated with these summaries + other resources! In her free time she enjoys snowboarding, listening to music, reading, and spending time with friends and family.
kyle phong
Kyle Phong is a freshman studying Psychobiology at UCLA. Kyle began volunteering at the Bionic Ear Lab in June 2022. During his time in the lab, he explores his passion for biology and neuroscience by learning more about how CI users can improve speech, pitch, and timbre perception through music training. Specifically, he wants to understand more about how hearing loss relates to cognitive decline. In his free time, Kyle enjoys reading, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.
justin jang
Justin Jang is a sophomore at Brown University, majoring in computer science and mathematics. He joined the Bionic Ear Lab in June of 2022, and is interested in creating projects through the lab’s TeamHearing web application. He is particularly interested in working with MuseScore recordings to intertwine his passions in music and engineering to help cochlear implant users improve their overall music perception. In his free time, Justin likes to play the violin, run around with his two cats, and spend time with his family.
HIGH SCHOOL INTERNS
elsa franks
Elsa Franks is a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT. She joined the Bionic Ear Lab in February of 2022 as a virtual intern, and continued onsite at the lab this summer. Her interests lie in music cognition and she will be focusing on major and minor mode discrimination by cochlear implant users with the lab. Back at school, Elsa enjoys singing in the chamber chorus, the spring musicals, and her acapella group.
ALUMNI
- Hubert Tran – High School Intern (2022-2023), now an undergraduate student at Yale University
- Ryan Flores – Medical Student (2022-2023), now a Radiology Resident at UC Irvine
- Samantha O’Connell – Postdoctoral Scholar (2021-2024), now a Scientific Consultant at NIRx Medical Technologies
- Jane Yang – Medical Student (2021-2022)
- Frances Nowlan – Undergraduate (2020-2022)
- Gigi Ortiz – Medical Student (2020-2023)
- Shivani Sundaram – Medical Student (2020-2023)
- Andres Camarena – Graduate Student (2018-2023), now a Senior Research Scientist at Cochlear
- Roger Boles – Medical Student (2018 – 2020), now an Otolaryngologist in South Pasadena
- Shaikat Hossain – Postdoctoral Scholar (2016 – 2019), now an Acoustic Engineer
- Grace Manchala – Medical Student
COLLABORATORS
Susan Bissmeyer first joined the Bionic Ear Lab in January 2015 while working on her Master’s degree in Medical Device Engineering. While doing her Master’s, she and Dr. Goldsworthy developed an adaptive binaural noise reduction algorithm. She completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in December 2022 studying the effect of rate training and stimulation configuration on pitch perception in cochlear implant users. When not in the lab, she enjoys playing board games, enjoying a good eaterie, and most of all, spending time with her husband and baby.
