Volunteering at the Cognitive Hearing Lab usually involves participating in research studies that investigate how humans perceive and process sound. Depending on the study, volunteers may be asked to complete tasks like detecting quiet tones, identifying speech sounds, or listening to musical sounds. Most studies take around 1-4 hours to complete (including breaks) and are conducted in a comfortable and friendly environment. We’re always keen to hear from people who are interested in taking part in our research.
If you sign up to our mailing list, you’ll receive invites to participate in studies that might be relevant to you. You will always be given information about what the study will involve and how long it will take before deciding whether or not you’d like to take part. You’ll be able to choose a time to take part based on our available time slots.
To sign up for the mailing list, please contact the Cognitive Hearing Lab team by emailing cognitive.hearing@ucl.ac.uk
Current studies
Here is a list of studies we are currently seeking volunteers for:
(1) This experiment uses eye-tracking to explore how people understand speech in noisy settings. Throughout the study, participants will complete several tasks that involve listening through headphones to people speaking and reporting what they hear. For some of these tasks, we will record your eye as you listen, using an eye-tracking camera. The study takes place in two parts: Part 1 is completed remotely (online, using your own computer/laptop and wired headphones/earphones) and takes up to 2.5 hours, and Part 2 is completed in-person at UCL Chandler House (see directions below) and takes up to 3 hours. For this study, we are looking for people aged 18–45 years who are native British-English speakers with normal hearing and no eye conditions. Participants will be compensated for their time, although we are unfortunately unable to cover travel expenses. If you are interested or have any questions about the study, please email cognitive.hearing@ucl.ac.uk for more information.
How to find us
The Cognitive Hearing Lab is based at Chandler House in the Bloomsbury area of London, which is where most of our research studies take place. Chandler House is situated between London Kings Cross and Russell Square stations.
Some of our neuroimaging studies take place at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, because this is where the brain scanners that we use are housed. The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging is located in Queen Square, which is a short walk from Russell Square tube station.
If you’re unsure which building you need to visit for a research study, please contact the research team.
The maps below show the locations for our research studies in more detail.
Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London WC1N 1PF
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR
