Researcher Profile: Dr. Aaron Newman
Dr. Aaron Newman
Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
Director of the SURGE Innovation Sandbox
Dr. Aaron Newman appreciates the Brain Repair Centre’s rich, multi-disciplinary environment, which supports his work examining the relationships between brain activity and thought.
“The BRC is instrumental to my work in research and innovation training, which includes studying what happens in the brain as people recover their language abilities after a stroke,” says Dr. Newman. “With this knowledge, we have been developing computer-based therapies that use automated speech recognition to provide feedback so people can hear whether they are speaking properly as they regain their functions. This feedback is so important for their therapy and improvement, so we need to ensure that it is intuitive, easy and motivating for people to use.”
Dr. Newman’s lab has now conducted a few cycles of usability testing and is currently recruiting a larger number of patients with aphasia to determine if the feedback from the therapy is effective and contributing to their recovery. Key in this research are the efforts by PhD student and trainee, Francesco Usai.“Dr. Gail Eskes has been involved on Francesco’s committee and brought her expertise to better design the product for patients and understand its possible limitations,” says Dr. Newman. “Many other students in Dalhousie’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders have also helped us with the various pieces of testing and to understand best practices for treating aphasia.” Two million people in North America alone experience aphasia. Dr. Newman’s hope is that he will be able to develop tools that are robust, cost effective and beneficial to people, and ultimately useful worldwide.” “We are grateful for the BRC’s Knowledge Translation grant to support Francesco’s work and continue the project.
The BRC is a big supporter of science communication and knowledge translation and is instrumental in Brain Awareness Week every year. “My lab always tries to attend and set up a booth,” says Dr. Newman. “It’s so valuable to meet with children and the public to communicate the value of research and inspire kids for the future. And in my programs at SURGE, science students can leverage their knowledge of science to create impact in design thinking and commercialization.”
Over the coming years it will be interesting to see the results of Dr. Newman and his team’s work!
You can also read about some of Dr Newman’s trainees - Daniel Godfrey and Francesco Usai - at Our Trainees page.