Alireza Pourjavid is working to obtain both the Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) and Doctor of Philosophy in Hearing Sciences (Ph.D.) in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S. and M.S. in audiology in Iran from Iran University of Medical Sciences and Tehran University of Medical Sciences, respectively. Prior to moving to the United States, he worked as a clinical audiologist, hearing aid dispenser, researcher, and university lecturer for over 11 years. His main areas of research interest include auditory evoked potentials, auditory processing disorders, and diagnostic/rehabilitative audiology.

Mr. Pourjavid is currently working in Arizona Human Electrophysiology and Auditory Development (AHEAD) lab under the supervision of Professor Barbara Cone. He has been involved in several research endeavors, including brainstem and cortical mechanisms of binaural processing including the phenomena known as binaural masking level differences and spatial release from masking. Investigating the electrophysiology of these phenomena may lead to more sensitive and specific tools for assessing an individual’s listening difficulties and thus provide more targeted treatment. His current research concerns how the auditory cortex responds to rapidly changing stimuli with the goal of developing a way of assessing speech sound discrimination abilities that could be used in infants, or in older children or adults who have difficulty providing accurate responses during perceptual tests.