Prof David McAlpine

“Vision loss disconnects you from objects, but hearing loss disconnects you from people. We are social animals. When you lose your hearing, you lose your ability to communicate in the broadest possible sense, because you also lose your ability to speak effectively. And it’s about being connected to your environment. We do more than just listen to words and music with our ears; we understand what room we’re in, we understand threats around us… We don’t have eyes in the back of our head – and we don’t need them; we have ears.”

This week, Professor David McAlpine, Director of Hearing Research at the Australian Hearing Hub, talks to Ben Mckelvey about the important role hearing plays in our communication and social interaction, how we can better protect our ears from harm with ‘noise diets’, and how a young Protestant boy from Belfast discovered his love for all things academic.

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