Laura Rachman

Laura Rachman is a Researcher at the University of Groningen's Faculty of Medical Sciences within the Perceptual and Cognitive Neuroscience (PCN) department. Her work bridges clinical audiology, neuroscience, and robotics to investigate auditory perception in individuals with hearing impairments.

Her research focuses on auditory neuroscience with particular emphasis on speech and emotion recognition in children using hearing aids and cochlear implants. Key areas include voice cue perception, speech-in-speech understanding, and the application of humanoid robots for auditory rehabilitation. Her work explores how acoustic transformations affect emotional recognition in school-age children with hearing devices.

Analysis of her publication trends reveals a consistent focus on pediatric auditory development, with increasing integration of robotics technology in recent years. Her 2024-2025 work prominently features humanoid robots as assessment tools for speech perception.

• ZonMw Programme Expertise Function for Sensory Impairments (2025)
• Horizon Europe Marie Sklodowska Curie Doctoral Networks (2024)
• RUG Interdisciplinary Projects Fund (2022)
• ZonMw eFAVO project (2022)
• UMCG Kolff Institute PhD Funding (2020)

As a promotor, Rachman supervises PhD research including L. Meyer's project on humanoid robots for deaf rehabilitation. Her collaborative grants involve multiple institutions including NSDSK and Pento. She leads interdisciplinary teams combining expertise in audiology, robotics, and cognitive neuroscience to develop innovative rehabilitation approaches for hearing-impaired individuals.

Rachman's work centers on the Perceptual and Cognitive Neuroscience group at UMCG, collaborating closely with Deniz Başkent's research team. Her current projects include the Horizon Europe-funded VoCS initiative and the eFAVO project examining multimodal emotion recognition in children with hearing aids.