Overview
Dr. Zang began her postdoctoral Associate position at Duke University in January of 2024. Before joining Duke Dr. Zang studied hearing science at the University of Mississippi where she majored in communication sciences and disorders. Following graduation, she enrolled in the doctoral Audiology program at the University of Texas at Dallas intending to become a dual Au.D. and Ph.D. student. During her first year as an audiology student, she conducted research with Dr. Edward Lobarinas; this experience facilitated the start of her Ph.D. in 2020. In May of 2022, she completed the Doctorate of Audiology program followed by her PhD graduation in December of 2023. Having both Au.D. and Ph.D. in hearing science provides her unique advantages for translational research in hearing disorders such as tinnitus and hearing loss. Dr. Zang's clinical training and coursework allow her to frame her research in a clinically relevant way and is interested in how she can apply the findings from basic research experiments to clinical studies to advance hearing health care.
Her previous research primarily focused on studying how the loss of sensory cells in the inner ear impacts higher-order processing in the auditory system. Specifically, she evaluated the effect of selective inner hair cell loss on auditory function and tinnitus, as well as the effects of noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy on auditory function using both electrophysiologic and psychoacoustic measures. Dr. Zang has also worked on clinical research projects. One of these projects evaluated a human-in-the-loop deep reinforcement learning algorithm that incorporates the listening preferences of individuals with hearing loss to develop personalized amplification strategies.
Dr. Zang's research interests include tinnitus, noise-induced hearing loss, age-related hearing loss, and cochlear synaptopathy. During her postdoctoral training, she plans to expand her knowledge in translational research of hearing disorders.