The 2026 ARO Midwinter meeting, the largest meeting on hearing science wordwide, took place in sunny Puerto Rico this year. The Neurotech Lab contributed four exciting posters on speech processing in people with hearing impairment, audiovisual speech, as well as the contribution of the inner ear to segregate speech from background noise. Tobias added to that with an invited talk on the frequency-following reponse (FFR).
The meeting was an amazing opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues, to make new connections, as well as to hear about the latest research findings across all all aspect of hearing, from the mechanics of the inner ear to molecular neuroscience and the functioning of brain circuits responsible for sound processing. Particularly memorable was a special memorial session to Tobias’ postdoc mentor Jim Hudspeth.
A non-scientific highlight was the Super Bowl’s half-time show by the Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, who delivered a stunning show celebrating Puerto Rican culture and pride.