About N.C. (Nienke) Homans
Introduction
Education and career
Since 2011, the ENT department has been part of the ERGO study. From the beginning, I have been involved in setting up the research. This involvement has resulted in several papers that I have (co-) authored. Additionally, I have trained and guided several PhD students working in the Generation R population study.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became evident that people with hearing impairments struggled to understand speech when surgical masks were used. Together with my colleague Jantien Vroegop, I initiated a study to investigate the issues these individuals faced and how we could improve communication. This research led to three papers, with the third currently under review.
Furthermore, I recently collaborated with a team of colleagues to restructure care for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). We ensured that patients could undergo all necessary tests in one day and, if they were eligible for a CI, were placed on the waiting list by the end of the day. Additionally, we calculated the environmental impact of these changes. The results are published.
Currently, I am working on several aspects of remote CI fitting, which is definitely lots of fun and interesting.
