Professor Dr. Dirk De Ridder is a Neurosurgery professor at the Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago in New Zealand, where he has been conducting research on neuromodulation and teaching neuroscience for the past 10 years.

His research focuses on the common characteristics of conditions such as thalamocortical dysrhythmias (pain, tinnitus, Parkinson's disease, depression, slow-wave epilepsy) and dysfunctions of the reward system (addiction, OCD, personality disorders, etc.).

Since September 2022, he has been appointed as 'adjunct faculty' in the physiotherapy department at Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India, where he leads research projects on neuromodulation for rehabilitation. Since March 2023, he has been appointed as a co-opted Professor in Neurosurgery in the "Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery" department at the University of Bonn in Germany. Together with Prof Dr. Maciaczyk, he conducts research on new brain implantation and brain stimulation techniques for neurological and psychiatric disorders. Prof Dr. De Ridder teaches applied neuroscience at the Bonn International Graduate Schools. He has authored over 40 book chapters, co-edited the book "Textbook of Tinnitus," and three other books on tinnitus. He is the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific articles. He serves as a reviewer for over 100 international scientific journals.

Hazel received her Bachelor’s degree in Geology and Master’s degree in Political Science, both from the Free University of Amsterdam. She started her career in the non-profit sector working on human rights and sustainability issues.

For the past twelve years Hazel has worked for Sustainalytics, a company that provides environmental, social and governance (ESG) data to institutional investors. She initially worked as an ESG analyst researching companies in the healthcare and chemicals sector. She then ventured into more operational roles, focusing on project management and team management. She currently leads a team of client service experts and is building a new team to facilitate client communications.

In 2018, Hazel developed tinnitus, and struggled for months to find a way to cope with a condition that can be debilitating for some. She started volunteering for Tinnitus Hub, a non- profit patient organization that aims to improve the lives of people suffering from tinnitus. She currently manages Tinnitus Hub – in a volunteer capacity, next to her day job — together with Markku Vesala, the founder.

Her volunteer work for Tinnitus Hub has made Hazel passionate about representing the voice of the patient, empowering people with tinnitus through education, influencing the medical community to take tinnitus more seriously, and advocating for more cure focused tinnitus research. She strongly believes in the power of online communities to affect change.

Sylvie Hébert Sylvie Hébert is Professor and Program director of Audiology at Université de Montréal, where she teaches evidence-based practice in audiology and specialized courses on tinnitus and hyperacusis. She is a member of the BRAMS (International Laboratory for research on Brain, Music, and Sound) and of the Center of Research on Brain, Language, and Music (CRBLM). Her research expertise includes auditory and non-auditory factors involved in loudness perception, tinnitus and hyperacusis, and objective measures of tinnitus.

Dr. Fatima T. Husain is an auditory cognitive neuroscientist by training and a Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA, where she is affiliated with the Department of Speech and Hearing Science, the Neuroscience Program, and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. She also presently serves as the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Applied Health Sciences. Dr. Husain uses behavioral studies, advanced brain imaging, and computational modeling to better understand brain function as related to all aspects of hearing.

Dr. Margaret M. Jastreboff received her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Polish Academy of Sciences (1982), and postdoctoral training in pharmacology and molecular biology at Yale University School of Medicine. She has been involved in tinnitus research since 1984, and on a full-time basis since 1991 while working at University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her experimental work encompassed the study of the mechanisms of tinnitus using molecular biology, pharmacology, and behavioral techniques, including testing drugs for their effectiveness for tinnitus attenuation. She has been involved in clinical work for over 15 years as well, while working first as an Associate Professor at Emory University and later as a Visiting Research Professor at Towson University and currently in a clinic of non-profit foundation. She has organized and lectured in in 40 courses on Tinnitus Retraining Therapy in the USA and close to 100 courses abroad. She is a co-author of over 65 papers and 100 abstracts. In 1993 she shared with Dr. Pawel J. Jastreboff Robert W. Hocks award for her contribution to the field of tinnitus.

Pawel J. Jastreboff, Ph.D., Sc.D., M.B.A., is currently Professor Emeritus at Department of Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, and Visiting Professor sine die at University College London, London, UK. He is Founder and CEO of Jastreboff Hearing Disorders Foundation, Inc., where he continues his research on tinnitus and decreased sound tolerance (DST) and provides clinical services to patients with a variety of hearing disorders. He continues to be involved in teaching professionals, including providing intensive courses on Management of Tinnitus and Decreased Sound Tolerance with Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) and has thus far offered more than 50 courses in the U.S.A. and over 90 internationally.

Dr. Jastreboff received a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology and Doctor of Sciences Degree (habilitation) in Neuroscience from the Polish Academy of Sciences. He did his Postdoctoral training at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He received an M.B.A. from Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He has been a Visiting Professor at University of Tokyo and at Yale University and Adjunct Professor at Salus University teaching tinnitus and hyperacusis class in the Au.D. program. He is a co-author of over 140 papers, 180 abstracts and three books. In 1993 he received the prestigious Robert W. Hocks award for his contribution to the field of tinnitus and in 2014, at 11th International Tinnitus Seminar the Award for Clinical Excellence, for 25 years work of TRT.

Dr. Jastreboff is recognized for his development of the first accepted animal model of tinnitus, the neurophysiological model of tinnitus and based on its clinical method of tinnitus and DST treatment, known as TRT. Furthermore, collaborating closely with his wife and colleague, Dr. Margaret M. Jastreboff, Ph.D., he proposed a concept, name, and treatment for specific a version of DST - misophonia - when patients exhibit negative reactions to specific for a given patient patterns of sound.

Carol Lau is an audiologist and owner of a private practice clinic, Sound idEARS Hearing & Listening Clinic and the Vancouver Tinnitus & Hyperacusis Clinic in Vancouver since 1998. Specialty areas are tinnitus, decreased sound tolerance, auditory processing disorders and amplification in adults, seniors and children.

As TRI-2024 conference host and organizer, Carol welcomes you to a mixing point for researchers, clinicians, and the public where participants will delve into “The Science of Tinnitus”.

Dr. Emily E. McMahan is an audiologist and the owner of Alaska Hearing & Tinnitus Center in Anchorage. In addition to her physical practices in Alaska she serves high needs tinnitus patients via Telehealth and in-person field clinics across the United States.  She holds multi-state licensure in order to help patients receive access to care closer to home. She is passionate about tinnitus patient care, audiology, and best practices.  She  dedicates a considerable amount of time to educating audiologists on evidence-based tinnitus care and how to establish a tinnitus clinic. Dr. McMahan earned her Doctorate in Audiology and graduated from Salus University.

Sarah Michiels is Assistant Professor in Musculoskeletal Rehabiliation at REVAL Rehabilitation Research Center of Hasselt University. After graduating as a Master in Physiotherapy in 2005 she obtained an additional Master in Manual Therapy at the Free University of Brussels. After working fulltime as a physiotherapist in her private practice for four years, Sarah started teaching physiotherapy students in 2009, at the University of Antwerp.

After successfully completing her PhD, studying neck-related tinnitus complaints, in 2015, she continued studying somatic tinnitus, now focusing on temporomandibular-related tinnitus complaints.

In 2020 she joined the Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy of Hasselt University as Assistant Professor, teaching physiotherapy students and continuing her research on tinnitus complaints and other head and neck-related conditions.

In the meantime, she also continues her clinical work in the multidisciplinary tinnitus team of the Antwerp University Hospital, where she is responsible for diagnostic assessment and treatment of patients with somatic tinnitus and other neck or jaw-related ENT complaints.

I am Professor in Marseille, France, working on both humans and animals. My work focuses on trying to understand the mechanisms of "normal" audiitory perception and the auditory perception disorders such as tinnitus, hyperacusis and misophonia.

Richard Tyler graduated as one of the first clinical audiologists in Canada at The University of Western Ontario. He completed a Ph.D. in Psychoacoustics at The University of Iowa and followed that with three years at the Medical Research Council in England.

Dr. Tyler then returned to the University of Iowa as a faculty member in both the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery and in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. His research contributions in audiology, cochlear implants, tinnitus, and hyperacusis are recognized the world-over.

His scientific work includes the quantification of tinnitus, necessary for its investigation, as well as the investigation of different treatments. Dr. Tyler sees tinnitus patients weekly and hosts an international conference on the management of tinnitus and hyperacusis patients to educate clinicians on cutting-edge evaluation and management strategies. He has edited The Tinnitus Handbook (2000), Tinnitus Treatments: Clinical Protocols Tyler, R.S. (Ed.). (2006), and The Consumer Handbook on Tinnitus (2008, 2016).

It is an honor to welcome him as a keynote speaker to the first Tinnitus Research Initiative conference held in Canada.