Aaron K. Remenschneider

Associate Professor of Otolaryngology (HMS Otolaryn Head Neck Surgery)
Aaron Remenschneider
aaron_remenschneider@meei.harvard.edu
Publications

Practicing surgeon and scientist with a clinical appointment as staff Neurotologist at Boston Children's Hospital and a research appointment as Principal Investigator within the Eaton Peabody Laboratories at the Mass Eye and Ear. I treat pediatric and adult patients with chronic ear disease, hearing loss and disorders of the lateral skull base. Being directly informed by my care of patients in the clinic, my passion is to improve clinical and surgical outcomes for patients with ear disorders and hearing loss.
My research focuses on the clinical evaluation and treatment of conductive hearing loss and middle ear disease through the study of middle ear pathology, mechanics and acoustics. My lab seeks to develop innovative methods for diagnosing middle ear disease and improving hearing reconstruction. This career path was heavily influenced by the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings, when I cared for and clinically studied otologic injuries, including tympanic membrane (TM) perforations, in a large cohort of subjects across greater Boston. We learned how 3D printing may overcome the mechanical and acoustic limitations of currently used eardrum graft materials and surgical techniques. In conjunction with Jennifer Lewis' lab at Harvard School of Engineering, our group developed a novel biodegradable, printable polymer and with tunable acoustic and mechanical properties for optimized biomimetic eardrum reconstruction.
My lab also focuses on improving equipment and methods for the diagnosis of high frequency hearing loss. Our current NIH/NIDCD funded work seeks to develop calibration standards and clinical methods for measurement of high frequency bone conduction hearing thresholds in normal and hearing-impaired subjects. To date, we have defined methods for the calibration of non-standard bone conduction transducers at high frequencies and have reported bone conduction thresholds at extended high frequencies (8 to 16kHz) in normal hearing subjects. Future work will expand upon normative hearing thresholds in pediatric and adult patients.