Usher syndrome causes extensive degeneration in the cochlear nerve. However, auditory neural encoding of electrical stimulation in patients with Usher syndrome has not been systematically evaluated. Therefore, there is a lack of evidence-based practice guidelines for managing patients with Usher syndrome who have received a cochlear implant. My work in this area has focused on evaluating the neural encoding of temporal and spectral cues at the cochlear nerve in implanted patients with Usher syndrome.

The number of elderly patients who received a cochlear implant (CI) at 65 years of age or older has greatly increased in recent years. Older CI users have poorer speech perception than younger adult CI users, especially in background noise. However, the mechanisms underlying the impaired speech perception in elderly CI users is not clear. My work in this area has focused on comparing temporal response properties of the cochlear nerve between older and younger adult CI users.

A small or absent cochlear nerve observed in high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scan of temporal bones is an indicator of cochlear nerve deficiency (CND). The manner in which poor neural survival affects the responsiveness of the cochlear nerve to electrical stimulation has not been well known. Children with CND represent a patient population that can be studied to address this knowledge gap. My work in this area has focused on comparing electrophysiological measures of the electrically evoked compound action potential, a neural response generated by the electrically stimulated cochlear nerve, between children with CND and children with normal-sized cochlear nerves.

Title: Auditory function in implanted patients with Usher Syndrome
Dates: 4/1/2021 – 3/30/2023
Name of agency: NIDCD 
Role: co-Investigator 
Award number: 1 R21 DC019458

Title: Optimized hearing for cochlear implant patients
Dates: 6/11/2021 – 12/10/2022
Name of agency: Ohio Development Services
Role: Principal Investigator

Skidmore, J., Carter, B. L., Riggs, W. J., & He, S. (2022). The effect of advanced age on the electrode-neuron interface in cochlear implant users. Ear and Hearing, 43(4), 1300-1315.

Skidmore, J., Ramekers, D., Colesa, D. J., Schvartz-Leyzac, K. C., Pfingst, B. E., & He, S. (2022). A broadly applicable method for characterizing the slope of the electrically evoked compound action potential amplitude growth function. Ear and Hearing, 43(1), 150-164.

Yuan, Y., Skidmore, J., & He, S. (2022). Interpreting the interphase gap effect on the electrically evoked compound action potential. JASA Express Letters, 2(2), 027201.

Skidmore, J., Xu, L., Chao, X., Riggs, W. J., Pellittieri, A., Vaughan, C., Ning, X., Wang, R., Luo, J., & He, S. (2021). Prediction of the functional status of the cochlear nerve in individual cochlear implant users using machine learning and electrophysiological measures. Ear & Hearing, 42(1), 180-192.

Skidmore, J., & He, S. (2021). The Effect of Increasing Interphase Gap on N1 Latency of the Electrically Evoked Compound Action Potential and the Stimulation Level Offset in Human Cochlear Implant Users. Ear & Hearing, 42(1), 244-247.

Skidmore, J., Vasil, K., He, S., & Moberly, A. C. (2020). Explaining Speech Recognition and Quality of Life Outcomes in Adult Cochlear Implant Users: Complementary Contributions of Demographic, Sensory, and Cognitive Factors. Otology & Neurotology, 41(7), e795-e803.

He, S., Xu, L., Skidmore, J., Chao, X., Riggs, W. J., Wang, R., Vaughan, C., Luo, J., Shannon, M., & Warner, C. (2020). The effect of increasing pulse phase duration on neural responsiveness of the electrically-stimulated cochlear nerve. Ear & Hearing, 41(6), 1606-1618.

Xu, L., Skidmore, J., Luo, J., Chao, X., Wang, R., Wang, H., & He, S. (2020). The effect of pulse polarity on neural response of the electrically-stimulated auditory nerve in children with cochlear nerve deficiency and children with normal-sized cochlear nerves. Ear & Hearing, 41(5), 1306-1319. 

He, S., Xu, L., Skidmore, J., Chao, X., Jeng, F., Wang, R., Luo, J., & Wang, H. (2020). The effect of interphase gap on neural response of the electrically-stimulated cochlear nerve in children with cochlear nerve deficiency and children with normal-sized cochlear nerves. Ear & Hearing, 41(4), 918-934.

Riggs, W. J., Hiss, M. M., Skidmore, J., Varadarajan, V. V., Mattingly, J. K., Moberly, A. C., & Adunka, O. F. (2020). Utilizing Electrocochleography as a Microphone for Fully Implantable Cochlear Implants. Scientific Reports, 10, 3714.

Research Scientist, February 2022 - Present
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

2020 MidWinter Meeting Travel Award, Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 2019.

Postdoctoral Mentor of the Year - Nominee, The Ohio State University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, 2018.

Postdoc Engagement Award - Inaugural Recipient, The Ohio State University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, 2018.

Outstanding Graduate, Arizona State University Schools of Engineering, 2017.

Outstanding Graduate Research Award - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, 2017.

Scholar, Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation, 2015 - 2017.

Graduate Research Fellowship - Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation, 2015.

Engineering Scholarship, Harold and Lucille Dunn Memorial Fund, 2014.