He is also the director of the Swedish Institute for Disability Research and Linnaeus Centre HEAD (Hearing and Deafness) at Linköping University.
(meta data) TITLE: Jerker Rönnberg - Linköping University About LiU Work at LiU ##### Research projects Research environments # Jerker Rönnberg I have been interested in the human memory for a long time. Working memory is important for ourcommunication skills, especially for people with impaired hearing. My current research focuses primarily on hearing loss and working memory capacity. # Cognitive Hearing Science My research group has developed the research area of cognitive hearing science that describes and models the brain´s work during high cognitive load communication situations. The research has contributed to applications for both the hearing aid industry and hearing care. ## Cognitive abilities for communication To get a comprehensive picture of communicative disability, one needs to relate cognitive abilities to communicative potential and circumstances. Prediction studies and experimental manipulations have proven to be fruitful. In our division, we have studied the communicative potential of persons with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, intellectual disability, using some core cognitive concepts that typically draw on memory functions. More recently, I have shown that working memory capacity plays a key role for deafened speech-readers, sign language users, for users of cochlear implants and for hearing aid users, especially when signal processing in the hearing aid is more advanced and/or when listening conditions are challenging. ## We listen and understand with the brain Imagine yourself at a party, chatting one on one with another guest. You struggle to hear everything the person is saying amid the din of surrounding conversation. And even though you miss a word here and there, you have enough context to understand the gist of what the person is saying. In this type of situation, you're relying on different kinds of knowledge stored in your brain, including contextual cues and relevant memories, to process the information you're receiving. This knowledge use is critical not only for people trying to converse in a noisy ballroom, but especially for people who struggle with hearing impairments. Imagine repeating the above mental processes in just about every conversation you have. We have named the research area Cognitive Hearing Science (CHS). CHS acknowledges the intergral role cognition plays in communication. Specifically, CHS examines the way our minds process the auditory signals being sent to the brain, factoring in the complexity of what we are listening to and the quality of the listening conditions. ## Modelling the signal-cognition interface in communication In a model that I and colleagues have developed, Ease-of-Language Understanding (ELU) under adverse or distracting listening conditions is assumed to depend on the complex interactions between working memory capacity (WMC), attention, and executive functions, and episodic and semantic long-term memory. This kind of approach has already proven to be fruitful for a more comprehensive grasp of the subtle interplay between bottom-up (sensory) and top-down (cognitive) processes, including both online processes and long-term changes (negative or positive) due to hearing impairment/deafness and aging. The model has played an important role in the development of the new area of Cognitive Hearing Science. ## Long-term effects of hearing impairment One prediction of the ELU model is that when the input to the ear is sufficiently poor, or when the person is hearing impaired, there is an increased probability that the phonological-lexical activation in long-term memory will fail, i.e., there is a mismatch between input to the brain and the representations stored in the brain. This will trigger working memory activity, attempting to reconstruct and fill in what has been misheard. Working memory will therefore be constantly exercised, while long-term memory will be relatively more disused: when some items are not encoded, neither will they be stored ore retrieved as frequently as working memory is exercised. The general consequence is that long-term memory will decline, but working memory capacities will remain. We have shown this to be true with different type of memory tasks and for purely visuospatial materials in a large data base, the UK Biobank. ## VideosShow/Hide content ## Optimal hearing aid fitting In this interview Jerker Rönnberg describes the new research field of cognitive hearing science, and that he would like to see more cognitive tests, such as memory tests for optimal hearing aid fitting. ## VideoShow/Hide content ## We hear with our ears, but listen and understand with our brains. The video is about our research on hearing loss and deafness, and the brain's role in our hearing and how everyday life can be made easier for people with hearing loss. ## Research programs, commissions etc.Show/Hide content ## Research projects / programs The Linnaeus HEAD research program The n200 longitudinal project on cognitive aging, hearing loss, and dementia The sensory-cognitive communication factor: preserving social interaction and health in aging ## Commissions / Awards National Committee for psychology, Academy of Sciences The Stuart Gatehouse Memorial Lecture Invited participant in the international project: Towards a comprehensive model of human memory ## Social media ## PublicationsShow/Hide content ### 2019 Mary Rudner, Mark Seeto, Gitte Keidser, Blake Johnson, Jerker Rönnberg (2019) Poorer Speech Reception Threshold in Noise Is Associated With Lower Brain Volume in Auditory and Cognitive Processing Regions Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research , Vol . 62 , s. 1117-1130 Continue to DOI Rina Blomberg, Henrik Danielsson, Mary Rudner, Goran B. W. Soderlund, Jerker Rönnberg (2019) Speech Processing Difficulties in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Frontiers in Psychology , Vol . 10 Continue to DOI Adriana Zekveld, Sophia E. Kramer, Jerker Rönnberg, Mary Rudner (2019) In a Concurrent Memory and Auditory Perception Task, the Pupil Dilation Response Is More Sensitive to Memory Load Than to Auditory Stimulus Characteristics Ear and Hearing , Vol . 40 , s. 272-286 Continue to DOI Josefine Andin, Peter Fransson, Örjan Dahlström, Jerker Rönnberg, Mary Rudner (2019) The neural basis of arithmetic and phonology in deaf signing individuals Language, Cognition and Neuroscience , Vol . 34 , s. 813-825 Continue to DOI Jerker Rönnberg, Emil Holmer, Mary Rudner (2019) Cognitive hearing science and ease of language understanding International Journal of Audiology , Vol . 58 , s. 247-261 Continue to DOI Mary Rudner, Henrik Danielsson, Björn Lyxell, Thomas Lunner, Jerker Rönnberg (2019) Visual Rhyme Judgment in Adults With Mild-to-Severe Hearing Loss Frontiers in Psychology , Vol . 10 Continue to DOI Shahram Moradi, Björn Lidestam, Hoi Ning Ng, Henrik Danielsson, Jerker Rönnberg (2019) Perceptual Doping: An Audiovisual Facilitation Effect on Auditory Speech Processing, From Phonetic Feature Extraction to Sentence Identification in Noise Ear and Hearing , Vol . 40 , s. 312-327 Continue to DOI ### 2018 Adriana A Zekveld, Marieke Pronk, Henrik Danielsson, Jerker Rönnberg (2018) Reading Behind the Lines: The Factors Affecting the Text Reception Threshold in Hearing Aid Users. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research , Vol . 61 , s. 762-775 Continue to DOI Carine Signoret, Rina Blomberg, Örjan Dahlström, Mary Rudner, Jerker Rönnberg (2018) Modulation of the neural expectation violation marker during speech perception in noise. Carine Signoret, Rina Blomberg, Örjan Dahlström, L. Møller Andersen, D. Lundqvist, Mary Rudner, Jerker Rönnberg (2018) Resolving discrepancies between incoming auditory information and linguistic expectations Neuroscience 2018 ## Research projectsShow/Hide content ### Ear, memory and dementia Hearing loss may cause reduced speech comprehension, memory problems and possibly contribute to dementia We study the relationship between hearing, cognition and communication over time and thus any connections to the development of dementia. ### Attention and working memory in persons with ADHD Does noise increase the attention of people with ADHD? The finding is that white noise does not disturb, but actually helps with concentration of people with ADHD. We want to investigate this further and make tests based on several theories. ## NewsShow/Hide content ### The latest in hearing research at Linköping conference Leading researchers in hearing will gather in Linköping 18-21 June to discuss the role the brain plays in hearing. Visiting researchers include guests from the Netherlands, who will describe the correlation between the eye and listening. ### Driving or talking? The brain concentrates on one thing at a time When we are busy with something that requires the use of sight, the brain reduces hearing to make it easy for us. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from Linköping University in collaboration with others. ### The flexibility of the brain in deaf people is mapped out The brains of deaf people, with and without sign language experience, activate differently when they observe sign language communication. For the first time, this phenomenon has been studied in a direct comparison of these two groups. The results are sensational and published in Nature Communications. ## Research environmentsShow/Hide content ### Linnaeus Centre Head Most people take for granted being able to hear and talk with others, but it is not obvious to everyone. Our focus is to create new knowledge that helps people with hearing loss to communicate in everyday life. ### Swedish institute for disability research Lots of people take for granted being active and able to participate in everyday life, but it´s not obvious to everyone. Our focus is to increase the knowledge about disability and contribute to improve the situation of persons with disabilities. ### Disability Research Division Our focus with other groups, such as people with developmental disabilities and autism #### Tags Show/Hide content Swedish Institute for Disability Research Linnaeus Centre HEAD Ear, Memory and Dementia Attention and working memory in persons with ADHD Hearing impairment Hearing aid Disability Research Division (AHV) Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning (IBL) Linköping University (LIU) Jerker Rönnberg (jerro51) We use cookies on this website to provide you with the best possible user experience. By continuing to use this site you accept the use of cookies. For more information about the use of cookies and how LiU is handling your personal data, see About this website
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Jerker Rönnberg
Abstract.
Jerker Rönnberg (born in 1953) is a Swedish professor of psychology with the emphasis on disability science at Linköping University. 
 Rönnberg was born in Backe, Sweden. He was awarded a Ph.D. in psychology at Uppsala University in 1980, became a reader (docent) at Umeå University in 1981 and a senior lecturer at Linköping University in 1983. From 1983 to 1984 he was a visiting researcher at the University of Toronto. Since 1997 he is a professor at Linköping University.