Dr Johan H.M. Frijns is an Academic Editor for Hindawi’s International Journal of Otolaryngology. He is chairman of the Centre for Audiology and Hearing Implants at the LUMC (CAHIL) and professor of Otology and Auditory Physics at Leiden University. He also teaches post-academic courses and has organized many conferences internationally. His work is award-winning and renowned worldwide.
What is your current area of research?
My current area of research is in the field of (neuro-)otology and audiology, especially cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants. These prostheses are electrical and can be worn by hearing-impaired and deaf individuals of all ages, allowing them to hear and interact with the world. What I aspire to do in my research is to try to clinically apply my methods and techniques – such as electrode designs or speech processing – from computational models and laboratory tests.
Which issues are urgent and what important developments are happening in your field of work right now?
In my work, trying to improve the quality of speech perception with cochlear implants by reducing insertion trauma and preserving both the structure of the inner ear as well as residual hearing is a most pressing issue. Residual hearing is when a patient has a severe to profound hearing impairment but can still actually hear some types of sounds, especially those with low frequencies. Its preservation leads to a better sound quality, better music perception and better understanding of tonal languages, such as Chinese. We are continuing to research the least traumatic methods for inserting cochlear implant electrodes, such as soft (manual or robotic) surgery, thinner electrodes, and pursue individually optimized frequency alignment and speech coding strategies.
What attracted you to the position of Academic Editor for International Journal of Otolaryngology?
My goal as an Academic Editor is, with the help of Hindawi’s in-house team, to fully leverage my extensive expertise and knowledge of the field so that I can better serve the otolaryngology research community by helping to maintain high publication standards and bringing to the fore all the latest developments and trends.
What advice would you give to a PhD researcher trying to write their first article?
The advice I would give to someone starting their research for a PhD is to first formulate the main message of your article, decide on which figures you want to include to convey this message, then write an outline of your paper in simple statements before starting to write the actual paper. If you are clear on what you want to say from the start, it will be much easier when it comes to writing it up.
Read the latest research published in International Journal of Otolaryngology.
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