Eric Le Page is a research scientist specialising in Cochlear Mechanisms.   He trained in electrical engineering, mathematics and physics and has a Ph.D. in auditory physiology from the University of Western Australia (1981).  That work included the first confirmatory evidence of nonlinear mechanical behaviour of the basilar membrane in guinea pigs.  His post-doctoral projects were carried out in the USA and Germany (1981-1989) investigating baseline anomalies in the position of the basilar membrane in response to loud sounds.   From 1989 to 2005 he was research team leader in hearing loss prevention at the National Acoustic Laboratories in Sydney and introduced otoacoustic emissions into the evaluation of noise exposure within Australia. He has spent much of the last decade alternating between writing in Perth close to family, and conducting experiments reported here, at the INSERM otology research laboratory at the medical school in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

The mission is to 1) Explain auditory psychoacoustics, in particular, music perception, using auditory physiology, cochlear biophysics and computational models. 2)  To show if Tinnitus and Meniere’s disease represent losses of a normally regulated process within the cochlea 3) Promote a better lay appreciation of why normal hearing is so spectacular (when compared with the best digital technology) and therefore why it is worth preserving. and 4) To understand the mood-controlling power of music in physiological terms and use this understanding to make music specifically enhanced by this knowledge.

Note that Eric is mostly published under the name “LePage E.L.” (not “Le Page”).

Eric is particularly grateful to acknowledge the long term support of collaborators, Dr. Narelle Murray and the late Dr. Denis Byrne at NAL in Sydney, the interest in the approach from the late Dr. D.C. Mountain at Boston University Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Otolaryngology and Prof. H-P Zenner, Otolaryngologist at the University of Tübingen, Germany.   Grateful acknowledgement is also extended to Profs. Paul Avan and Thierry Mom otolaryngologists at the Université d’Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France.  Eric also thanks Drs. Don Robertson and Shane Maloney at the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology for visitor library access at the University of Western Australia and technical support from Dr. Michael LePage.

CURRENT WORK:  http://innerearmechanisms.org

Contact details:

ericlepage[at]innerearmechanisms.org
+61-412-014-475
innerearmechanisms.org
Postal address: OAEricle Australia
P.O. Box 2564
Mount Claremont, W.A. 6010
Australia