Optimisation of signal processing and electrical stimulation algorithms for the abatement of epileptic seizures. Epilepsy is the second-most common neurological disorder behind stroke and ischemic attacks, affecting 1-2 per cent of the nation's population. Pharmaceutical therapies are ineffective in approximately one third of cases, the result being a large unmet need for novel treatments. The devices to be produced through this project will improve the quality of life of many patients in the fu ....Optimisation of signal processing and electrical stimulation algorithms for the abatement of epileptic seizures. Epilepsy is the second-most common neurological disorder behind stroke and ischemic attacks, affecting 1-2 per cent of the nation's population. Pharmaceutical therapies are ineffective in approximately one third of cases, the result being a large unmet need for novel treatments. The devices to be produced through this project will improve the quality of life of many patients in the future and alleviate their dependence on traditional medications. The devices will also reduce the patients' requirements for medical practitioners, hospital and ambulance services, and will therefore also reduce the financial burden that neurological and epilepsy patients place on the community.Read moreRead less
Neural Activity Shaping for Retinal and Cochlear Implants. This project aims to develop methods to control and optimise the spatial patterns of neural activity evoked by neural prostheses in order to improve the resolution of neuroprostheses. A major problem for neural prostheses is that the electrical current used to stimulate neurons causes a diffuse spread of activity in the neural tissue, which limits the resolution of the device. For patients this translates into limitations in sound qualit ....Neural Activity Shaping for Retinal and Cochlear Implants. This project aims to develop methods to control and optimise the spatial patterns of neural activity evoked by neural prostheses in order to improve the resolution of neuroprostheses. A major problem for neural prostheses is that the electrical current used to stimulate neurons causes a diffuse spread of activity in the neural tissue, which limits the resolution of the device. For patients this translates into limitations in sound quality, in the case of cochlea implants, or visual acuity, for retinal implants. The outcome of the project will be algorithms that optimally choose the currents on each electrode so as to shape neural activity at the finer resolution of electrode spacing rather than the coarser resolution of current spread.Read moreRead less
Sampling and processing for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. This project aims to develop optimal, efficient and robust signal processing methods for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) with reduced scan times. A child, possibly distressed, can only be motionless long enough to undergo a basic dMRI scan of the brain, but enhanced forms of dMRI need at least 60 minutes. The project’s processing methods will use spherical geometries, which encode information about white matter fibres ....Sampling and processing for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. This project aims to develop optimal, efficient and robust signal processing methods for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) with reduced scan times. A child, possibly distressed, can only be motionless long enough to undergo a basic dMRI scan of the brain, but enhanced forms of dMRI need at least 60 minutes. The project’s processing methods will use spherical geometries, which encode information about white matter fibres in the brain, to collect and reconstruct images. The project is expected to reduce dMRI scan times and ultimately make non-invasive and inexpensive early detection of neurological disorders such as dementia feasible.Read moreRead less
New entropy measures of short term signals for smart wearable devices. This project aims to improve reliability and accuracy of wearable devices by developing a new set of computationally efficient algorithms. Wearable devices can be very effective in remote and continuous monitoring to detect short or bursty anomalous events. Present devices are unable to detect such events effectively due to limited capability in processing short length signal. This project will provide computationally efficie ....New entropy measures of short term signals for smart wearable devices. This project aims to improve reliability and accuracy of wearable devices by developing a new set of computationally efficient algorithms. Wearable devices can be very effective in remote and continuous monitoring to detect short or bursty anomalous events. Present devices are unable to detect such events effectively due to limited capability in processing short length signal. This project will provide computationally efficient algorithms for signal quality analysis and enhanced feature extraction methods in resource constrained wearable devices. This will improve the reliability and performance of wearable devices for adoption in intelligent decision-making systems.Read moreRead less
Modelling of neural plasticity for enhanced performance of brain-machine interfaces. Plasticity of the brain is one of the great scientific challenges of neuroscience. The aim of this project is to model the synaptic changes that occur with reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity and apply the model to developing plasticity targeted brain-machine interfaces. The significance of this approach is that such plasticity targeted techniques provide the prospect of taking advantage of the un ....Modelling of neural plasticity for enhanced performance of brain-machine interfaces. Plasticity of the brain is one of the great scientific challenges of neuroscience. The aim of this project is to model the synaptic changes that occur with reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity and apply the model to developing plasticity targeted brain-machine interfaces. The significance of this approach is that such plasticity targeted techniques provide the prospect of taking advantage of the underlying neural plasticity to optimise the form of the neural recording and electrical stimulation. The outcomes will be to greatly improve the performance of brain-machine interface in terms of measures such as the number and sensitivity of channels, as well as robustness and reliability.Read moreRead less
Improved design of hearing protection devices with binaural voice pick-up and hearing loss compensation. Hearing protection is essential to industries operating under extreme noise conditions. However, conventional hearing protection devices such
as earplugs and earmuffs inhibit face-to-face communications. Sensear
has developed and marketed a world-first product that, apart from overcoming the aforesaid limitation, also gives the wearer a perception of his surrounding sound field. This projec ....Improved design of hearing protection devices with binaural voice pick-up and hearing loss compensation. Hearing protection is essential to industries operating under extreme noise conditions. However, conventional hearing protection devices such
as earplugs and earmuffs inhibit face-to-face communications. Sensear
has developed and marketed a world-first product that, apart from overcoming the aforesaid limitation, also gives the wearer a perception of his surrounding sound field. This project seeks to extend Sensear's products to include compensation for people with hearing loss. This will give Sensear a competitive edge in hearing protection products, and enhance Australia's reputation in assistive hearing technology. The project also presents a number of opportunities to provide
industry-focussed research training to PhD students.Read moreRead less
Signal processing algorithms for interpreting multi-dimensional ambulatory data during normal activities: correlates of current measures of fall risk. This project will develop algorithms to analyse human movement, measured using a small waist-worn sensor, which approximate existing clinical tests to identify likely fallers. This will enable future fall risk monitor development. This is an important problem as one in three senior citizens fall each year, costing around $500 million in healthcare ....Signal processing algorithms for interpreting multi-dimensional ambulatory data during normal activities: correlates of current measures of fall risk. This project will develop algorithms to analyse human movement, measured using a small waist-worn sensor, which approximate existing clinical tests to identify likely fallers. This will enable future fall risk monitor development. This is an important problem as one in three senior citizens fall each year, costing around $500 million in healthcare.Read moreRead less