Rate My Professor James Dewey

The Dewey Lab investigates the peripheral mechanical processes essential to normal hearing and their disruption in hearing loss, utilizing mouse models to explore sound-induced vibrations in the cochlear spiral, amplification by sensory outer hair cells, and the resulting otoacoustic emissions. Employing optical coherence tomography, the lab non-invasively images cochlear structures and quantifies vibrations in live animals, providing unprecedented insights into inner ear dynamics. In February 2024, Dewey was awarded the first major five-year R01 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) at the National Institutes of Health to advance studies on mammalian hearing mechanisms, particularly the mechanical amplification function of outer hair cells, which are implicated in common forms of hearing loss such as age-related conditions. Collaborating with the Auditory Physics Group, including researchers Alessandro Altoè and Christopher Shera, Dewey contributed to a novel model of outer hair cell mechanical enhancement, challenging prior paradigms and fostering new research directions. This work lays critical groundwork for diagnostic improvements and potential therapies targeting non-regenerating outer hair cells.