Paolo Mesiano

I hold a postdoc position where I investigate how people listen to speech in complex, multi-talker scenarios and how hearing impairment can affect this ability.

Since I was very young, I have had a great passion for music and for science. I was, and still am, fascinated by the powerful sense of human hearing, how it enables us to perceive and interpret complex sounds of all types, including speech and music. And, in addition to that, how the auditory system in combination with the perceptual part of the brain can arouse feelings when we listen to something that really affects us. My scientific studies in physics and engineering therefore led me naturally to the field of hearing science.

I studied for my PhD at the Technical University of Denmark and in collaboration with Eriksholm. I really appreciated the working environment at Eriksholm with its many opportunities to do translational research, and I experienced how forthcoming the scientists were here. Even prior to the end of my PhD, I was offered the opportunity to continue my work in a postdoc position at Eriksholm. I considered the position tailormade for me, and of course I took this great opportunity.

I really like to immerse myself in finding things out. From identifying exactly what to explore, to collecting and interpreting data. The processes can of course be both exciting and frustrating at the same time, but overall, I find my work extremely satisfying.

I hope that I manage to continue gaining new experience and grow my skills and competencies. I hope to be able to stay an attractive resource for the scientific research field, making a positive difference to people who really need help.

Since I was a child, I have played a lot of music, primarily the saxophone. Today I play less, but I still play the sax. When working at the Technical University of Denmark I sometimes brought my sax and played it in the anechoic chamber. In addition to that, I have always done a lot of different sports. I dedicate less time to sports now, but they are still a great passion of mine. I enjoy socializing with friends, and I also like to cook. I actually combined the two by being part of a group of friends from different parts of the world, so we meet and teach each other to cook dishes from our home countries, and we always have a good time.

I believe that is the internet. It gives us the huge potential of being connected and sharing information. It has directly enabled a lot of things to advance at high speed, not least science, simply because of the availability of knowledge. Before the internet, it could take up to several years to publish a scientific paper, today the results are shared extremely fast and that speeds up the scientific development.

I hope we will begin to see scientific breakthroughs that can provide solutions to the climate situation, solutions which at the same time hold the potential to become commercially attractive to the industry. I believe that is a prerequisite for them to reach realization to an extent where they can make the global impact we need.