Are you a person with hearing loss interested in participating in research on conversation and language processing? 

My recent on-going work investigates the mechanisms of conversation in people with hearing loss, particularly focusing on topic maintenance. If you are interested in taking part in my research, please take a moment to fill in some details below. I will be in touch shortly after you've signed up to let you know that we know you're interested in taking part in my research! Depending on the studies that are currently running there may be studies to take part in straight away or one may come up in a few months.

The details I ask for will help me in contacting the right participants at the right time. Your details will be stored safely, will only be used by the University of Sheffield staff, and won't be shared with any third party. Thank you for your help! 

What's involved? 

Studies will either take place in our lab or online. Most studies take around half an hour to an hour, including explaining the study and the opportunity for you to ask any questions. 

All studies adhere to the standards of the British Psychological Society and are approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Psychology. 

The research will not involve assessing your individual performance (and your data will be anonymised so it cannot be linked back to you), but will instead look at performance across groups of about 40+ participants. 

A typical study in our lab

• Studies run in person take place at our lab on Solly Street. Free parking will be provided and we will give you a hot drink and biscuits. 

• When we are running a study, we contact volunteer participants describing what it involves and the dates it will be taking place. 

• Participants who are interested and available will then arrange a convenient time to come in. 

• We take time to explain the study to you before you participate. Sometimes the study may involve participating with another person, and we will give you the opportunity to meet each other. 

A typical study online

• When we are running a study online, we will contact participants describing what it involves. There will typically be no set date for it to take place - you can do it in your own time. 

• Participants who are interested contact the researcher, who will send the participant a link to the online study. 

• You will then complete this study in your home in your own time. You should complete the study in a quiet environment away from distractions. 

In both cases, you will receive compensation for your participation, with the rate of compensation depending on how long the study takes. All of the studies are designed to be engaging and there is no pressure to take part if you do not want to. If you turn up on the day or open the study link and decide you don't want to take part then that is not a problem.

What will happen if I join the volunteer list? 

To carry out research, I rely on the help of participants on the volunteer list. This research is not only important academically, but is also important for supporting the development of interventions that can help people with hearing loss communicate with others. If you join the volunteer list you are not agreeing to take part in a study at this stage. You are simply agreeing to be contacted about future studies. 

We will need some basic information for the volunteer list, such as when you were diagnosed with any form of hearing loss. These details help us contact the right participants at the right time. All of your details will remain confidential and won't be shared with any third party. Only researchers at the University of Sheffield will have access to your information. You can be removed from the volunteer list at any point, even if you have not participated in any studies. Just contact Ruth Corps at conversation.research@sheffield.ac.uk. 

What happens once I'm on the volunteer list? 

You will be included on our volunteer database once you have signed up. When a suitable study comes up, we will contact you, letting you know what is involved and when it will be running. if you would like to participate, you simply arrange a visit time that is convenient for you. If not, you don't need to do anything. Contact will typically be made via email. 

Depending on which studies are running, we may write to you about a study very quickly or in a few months. 

What should I know? 

If you would like to join the volunteer database, you can complete the online registration form. 

Alternatively, you can email Ruth Corps at conversation.research@sheffield.ac.uk with any queries. 

If you have any concerns about this database, or issues relating to safeguarding, you can contact Ruth Corps directly, the Head of the School of Psychology (Dr Chris Martin; psy-hod@sheffield.ac.uk), or the University's Research Ethics and Integrity Manager (Lindsay Unwin; l.v.unwin@sheffield.ac.uk).