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The brain is one of life’s mysteries. We don’t know what every part of it does. Can you imagine if this was the case with other organs in the body, like the heart? The brain is far more complicated than the other organs in our body, with a vast array of electrical networks that link each part of the brain to each other. The brain is made up of four sections, that we can imagine as four different continues. Each country has roads going in and out, connecting one to another. In some places there are bridges, in others there are roundabouts. The roads could be major routes of brain activity (like a motorway) and others could be simple connections to other parts of the brain (crossroads). In each country there are cities and towns and houses, all connected with each other and this is what Neuroscientists (brain scientists) explore. Neuroscientists usually dedicate their academic life to a specific area of the brain to specialize in defining and characterizing this area.

I dedicate my work to explore the “hearing” part of the brain. I look at how a brain pathway from the ear that goes all the way into our brain cortex (the main brain) adapts to changes in hearing,  causing a person to hear “phantom sounds” or “ringing in the ears”. I do this by plugging a persons ear with an earplug. The brain is clever enough to know that I have stopped sound going into that ear and so imaging the cars on the road as brain activity, the brain activity suddenly becomes like rush hour. Lots and lots of activity trying to compensate for the reduction in sound going into the ear. The brain is already a busy body making a lot of sound that we don’t normally hear, becasue we are so used to the sound of our brain working. However, when the activity is increased, we can all of a sudden hear every sound that the brain is creating and this is known as ringing in the ears. This can also happen when we are exposed to too much sound, but this is usually caused by damage to the ear and is not an area (not just yet) that I am exploring.

So in normal people, this ringing in the ears is the brain increasing its activity to compensate for a lack of sound reaching the ear. However, when the brain activity becomes faulty, this increase in activity can become permanent and this is known as “tinnitus”, which comes from the Latin work “tinnire”, meaning “to ring”. This hearing disorder is life debilitating and can really lower a person’s quality of life. Could you imagine trying to do every day things with a high pitched bell ringing inside your head non-stop? If I can understand what part of the brain is increasing its activity and why it is temporary in some and permanent in other people, then I hope to treat and help people with hearing problems such as tinnitus.

First thing first ————- Tea and Biscuits..Now im ready to work 😀

I write a lot in the morning, reading about what I do and don’t know about the brain (check out my office below).

The I go to the labs, where I have a good look in peoples ears and I look at the brain activity. i can hook them up to lots of lots of silly wires and a silly hat, or I can look at a reflex in their ear, which tells me how quickly the brain is working.

After this, I have meetings with my work mates, we have meetings in the pub 😀

Then in the afternoon I get to do fun things like make stuff to take to schools like the tonoscope (see below, in the activities I will use the money for). I get to listen to music all day and eat as much as I want. I share the office with 8 other people, but we are all friends so we get to relax most days (as long as we do our work lol)

Then I go home, do a bit more reading and then chillax for the rest of the day….getting for a next day in work

BUT EACH DAY IS DIFFERENT 😀

I get to travel to other countries and cities to speak to other scientists about the brain. I get to experiment on lots of different people (as long as they agree 😛 ) and I get to make posters and do presentations and win prizes.