Sean McNally

I am currently undertaking a collaborative doctoral award in partnership with BT Archives, The Thackray Medical Museum and Action on Hearing Loss. My research topic is the Medresco - a state-sponsored hearing aid freely available from the launch of the NHS in 1948. The Medresco brought auditory assistance to hundreds of thousands previously excluded due to the prohibitive cost of commercial devices. Additionally I have been awarded an applied research grant by the British Society of Audiologists for research into the effect of developing hearing aid technology on NHS provision; particularly since the Modernisation of NHS Hearing Services in 2000. The project will look into whether advances in HA technology have led to a technocratic approach that excludes non-auditory rehabiltation strategies.