Dr. Alejandro Lopez Valdes

• Alejandro Lopez Valdes ; Myles Mc Laughlin ; Laura Viani ; Peter Walshe ; Jaclyn Smith ; Fan-Gang Zeng ; Richard B. Reilly, Electrophysiological correlates of spectral discrimination for cochlear implant users, Neural Engineering (NER), 2015 7th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, Neural Engineering (NER), 2015 7th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, 22-24 April 2015, 2015, pp671 - 674Conference Paper, 2015, DOI
• Leijsen A.M, Lopez Valdes A, McLaughlin M, Smith J, Viani L, Walshe P, Reilly R.B, An approach to develop an objective measure of temporal processing in cochlear implant users based on Schroeder-phase harmonic complexes, International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, NER, 2015, 2015-July, 2015, pp699 - 702Conference Paper, 2015, DOI , URL
• Saskia M. Waechter, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Cristina Simoes-Franklin, Laura Viani, Richard B. Reilly, Depth matters - Towards finding an objective neurophysiological measure of behavioral amplitude modulation detection based on neural threshold determination, Hearing Research, 2018, p13-22Journal Article, 2018, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Sechler, S.D., Lopez Valdes, A., Waechter, S.M., Simoes-Franklin, C., Viani, L., Reilly, R.B., Virtual reality sound localization testing in cochlear implant users, Proceedings of Neural Engineering (NER), 2017 8th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, Neural Engineering (NER), 2017 8th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on, 2017, pp379-382Conference Paper, 2017, DOI
• Thomas Lunner, Martin Skoglund, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Bhuiyan Tanveer, 'SYSTEM FOR CAPTURING ELECTROOCULOGRAPHY SIGNALS', European Patent Office, EP3417775B1, 2018, 30 January 2024, Oticon A/SPatent, 2018, URL
• Pontoppidan Niels Henrik, Memic Anida, Johansen Benjamin, Wang Yang, Thorén Elisabet Sundewall Petersen, Michael Kai Petersen, Eline Borch, Griful Sergi Rotger, Tietz Lukas, Lopez Valdes Alejandro, Hietkamp Renskje K, Westergård Bo, Laplante-Lévesque Ariane, Cleveland Nielsen Annette, Bramsløw Lars, Meedom Niels Henrik, Bhuiyan Tanveer, 'HEARING AID SYSTEM', European Patent Office, EP3432606, 2018, 30 January 2024, Oticon A/SPatent, 2018, URL
• Myles McLaughlin, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Richard Reilly, Fan-Gang Zeng, 'Single channel cochlear implant artifact attenuation in late auditory evoked potentials', United States Patent and Trademark Office, US20160008598, 2014, 30 January 2024, THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA THE PROVOST, FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLINPatent, 2014, URL
• Jorge Armando Cortes Ramirez, Edgar Francisco Rios Soltero, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, 'CONTROLLABLE BRAKING AND DAMPENING DEVICE FOR ROTATING HINGES', Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, MX/a/2008/015025, 2008, 30 January 2024, INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREYPatent, 2008, URL
• Simões-Franklin, C., Flood, I., Sechler, S., Lopez-Valdes, A., Waechter, S.M., Thapa, J., Glynn, F., Walshe, P., Reilly, R.B., Viani, L., Sequential bilateral implantation in older children: Inter-implant map differences and their effects on functional outcomes, Clinical Otolaryngology, 2020Journal Article, 2020
• Thomas Lunner, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Henrik Bendsen, Claus Christensen, Peter Schmidt, Ole Andersen, Mikkel Nielsen, Tanveer Bhuiyan, 'A portable system for gathering and processing data from EEG, EOG, and/or imaging sensors', United States of America, 2021, 30 January 2024, Oticon S/APatent, 2021, URL
• Carta S, Mangiacotti AMA, Valdes AL, Reilly RB, Franco F, Di Liberto GM., The impact of temporal synchronisation imprecision on TRF analyses., Journal of neuroscience methods, 385, 2023, p109765Journal Article, 2023, DOI
• Sara Solis-López, Aníbal Gutiérrez-Torres, Alejandro López-Valdés, José Alberto Ávila-Funes, Carmen García-Peña, Brian Lawlor, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Age-friendly initiatives: Mexico, The Journal of nutrition, health and aging, 2023Journal Article, 2023, DOI , URL
• Boenitz Hanna, Lunner Thomas, Finke Mareike, Fiedler Lorenz, Lyxell Bjoern, Riis Soeren Kamaric, Ng Elaine, Valdes Alejandro Lopez, Buechner Andreas, Wendt Dorothea, How Do We Allocate Our Resources When Listening and Memorizing Speech in Noise? A Pupillometry Study, Ear and hearing, 42, (4), 2021, p846 - 859Journal Article, 2021, DOI , URL
• Farrell Sean, Valdes Alejandro Lopez, 'The Mind' promotes brain synchronization: an ecological evaluation of brain synchronization in co-operative tasks, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, 2023, 2023, pp1 - 4Conference Paper, 2023, DOI , URL
• Manjarrez Elias, Curia Giulia, Stecina Katinka, Lopez Valdes Alejandro, Editorial: Bridging the gap between integrative neuroscience and translational neuroscience, Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 17, 2023, p1296701-Journal Article, 2023, DOI , URL
• Correia Guilherme, Crosse Michael, Lopez Valdes Alejandro, Brain Wearables: Validation Toolkit for Ear-Level EEG Sensors, 2024Journal Article, 2024, DOI , URL
• Connelly JP, Boland Erin, Buckley Brenda, Curley Niall, Refaie Amr El, Galvin Miriam, Gibb Matthew, Graham Liz, Lennon Brendan, Valdes Alejandro Lopez, Mullally Anne-Michelle, Muller Nicole, Nolan-Palmer Janice, O'Nolan Gerald, O'Reilly Ciara, Rezk Valeria Raaft, Rochford-Brennan Helen, Tobin Katy, Tormey Helen, Trepel Dominic, Leroi Iracema, 'SENSE-Cog Residential Care: Hearing and vision support for residents with dementia in long-term care in Ireland: Protocol for a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial', Research Square, 2023, -Protocol or guideline, 2023, DOI , URL
• Origin and Dynamics of Biomedical Signals in, editor(s)Ahad, Md Atiqur Rahman; Ahmed, Mosabber Uddin , Signal Processing Techniques for Computational Health Informatics, Springer International Publishing, 2021, [Nahiyan, K. M. Talha; Arefin, A. S. M. Shamsul; Rabbani, Mamun; Lopez Valdes, Alejandro]Book Chapter, 2021, URL
• Ignacio Calderon De Palma, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Effects of spectral and temporal modulation degradation on intelligibility and cortical tracking of speech signals, INTERSPEECH, Dublin, Ireland, 20-24 August 2023, edited by International Speech Communication Association , 2023Conference Paper, 2023, URL
• Guilherme Correia; Michael J. Crosse; Alejandro Lopez Valdes, 'Validation toolkit for Ear-Level EEG sensors', 2024, -Software, 2024, DOI , URL
• Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Low-cost Trigger Box for EEG recordings, 2024, -Miscellaneous, 2024, DOI , URL
• Sara Carta, Emina Alickovic, Johannes Zaar, Alejandro López Valdés, Giovanni M Di Liberto, Cortical encoding of phonetic onsets of both attended and ignored speech in hearing impaired individuals, PLoS One, 19, (11), 2024, pe0308554Journal Article, 2024
• Sara Carta, Emina Alickovic, Johannes Zaar, Alejandro López Valdés, Giovanni M Di Liberto, Cortical encoding of phonetic onsets of both attended and ignored speech in hearing impaired individuals, PLoS One, 19, (11), 2024, pe0308554Journal Article, 2024
• Alex Kennedy, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Analysis of synchronization component dynamics during a cooperative group task as assessed by electroencephalography, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, 2024, pp1-4Conference Paper, 2024
• Voss P, Martinez-Moreno ZE, Prevost F, Zeitouni A, Lopez Valdes A and de Villers-Sidani E., Prediction of hearing aid cognitive outcomes in age-related hearing loss, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2025Journal Article, 2025, DOI
• Bönitz H, Fiedler L, Finke M, Lyxell B, Lunner T, Lopez Valdes A, Büchner A, Wendt D., Listening Effort and Memory Effort in Cochlear Implant Users: A Pupillometry Study., Ear and hearing, 46, (6), 2025, p1613-1626Journal Article, 2025
• Anneliese Walsh, Shreejith Shanker, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Multiclass Differentiation of Dementia Subtypes Based on Low-Density EEG Biomarkers: Towards Wearable Brain Health Monitoring, Journal of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease, 2, (4), 2025, p48Journal Article, 2025
• Valdes AL, French C, Hannah J, Di Liberto GM, Attenuation in the neural tracking of auditory streams within the first 20 seconds of sound presentation., 2025Conference Paper, 2025, DOI
• Valdes AL, French C, Hannah J, Di Liberto GM, Attenuation in the neural tracking of auditory streams within the first 20 seconds of sound presentation., 2025Conference Paper, 2025, DOI
• Walsh A, Shanker S, Valdes AL, Classifying Neurodegenerative Diseases from Selected Temporal EEG Electrodes: Towards Ear-EEG Applications., 2025Conference Paper, 2025, DOI
• Bradshaw Bernacchi JK, Lopez Valdes A, Electrophysiological Characterisation of Commercial Ear-EEG Devices., 2025Conference Paper, 2025, DOI
• J. P. Connelly, Erin Boland, Brenda Buckley, Niall Curley, Amr El Refaie, Miriam Galvin, Matthew Gibb, Liz Graham, Brendan Lennon, Alejandro Lopez Valdes, Ann-Michelle Mullally, Nicole Müller, Janice Nolan-Palmer, Gerald O" Nolan, Cíara O"Reilly, Valeria Raaft Rezk, Helen Rochford-Brennan, Katy Tobin, Helen Tormey, Dominic Trépel & Iracema Leroi, SENSE-Cog Residential Care: hearing and vision support for residents with dementia in long-term care in Ireland"protocol for a pilot cluster-randomised controlled trial, Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 11, 2025Journal Article, 2025, URL
• Mc Laughlin M, Lopez Valdes A, Reilly RB, Zeng FG, Cochlear implant artifact attenuation in late auditory evoked potentials: A single channel approach., Hearing research, 302, 2013, p84-95Journal Article, 2013, DOI
• Lopez-Valdes, A., McLaughlin, M., Viani, L., Walshe, P., Smith, J., Zeng, F.-G., Reilly, R.B., Auditory mismatch negativity in cochlear implant users: A window to spectral discrimination, Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Osaka; Japan, 3-7 July, IEEE, 2013, pp3555-3558Conference Paper, 2013, DOI
• Lopez Valdes A, Mc Laughlin M, Viani L, Walshe P, Smith J, Zeng FG, Reilly RB, Objective assessment of spectral ripple discrimination in cochlear implant listeners using cortical evoked responses to an oddball paradigm., PloS one, 9, (3), 2014, pe90044Journal Article, 2014, DOI , TARA - Full Text

My research interests focus on applied neural engineering supporting, aging, sensory dysfunction and cognition. Aiming to help better understand changes in brain health as individuals move through their life. By including contextual information to capture the nuances of individual lifestyles and allow for individualized approaches to brain health. This would facilitate early detection of cognition difficulties before they become acute and support a healthy brain ageing.

• Title

  Brain Health Evaluation using Machine Learning on Ear-EEG Data
  Summary

  Ear-EEG is a potential alternative to scalp-EEG, with studies showing it can predict a significant portion of scalp-EEG data. As it is possible to reconstruct scalp-EEG data from ear-EEG using various ML models and scalp-EEG readings can be used to identify brain degeneration such as AD, it follows that ear-EEG could be an alternative tool for assessing brain health. The following research questions are addressed: 1. To what degree can we accurately reconstruct scalp-EEG on a blind basis by applying machine learning models on ear-EEG data? 2. How accurately can neural biomarkers associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as AD, be predicted from ear-EEG data? 3. Can ear-EEG be leveraged to estimate a brain-age gap metric when compared to full scalp-EEG and MRI?
  Funding Agency

  Trinity College Dublin
  Date From

  1/9/2024
  Date To

  31/8/2028
• Title

  Investigating the impact of hearing aid signal processing strategies on hierarchical cortical processing of speech
  Summary

  Speech communication is impaired in individuals with hearing deficits. While hearing-aids can restore the ability to comprehend speech, their positive impact is greatly reduced in noisy multi-talker environments. To tackle this challenge, modern hearing-aids adopt amplification and noise reduction strategies that can increase comprehension in such real-life listening scenarios. However, the precise impact of those strategies on speech comprehension remains unclear, making the choice of the hearing-aid strategies and their parameter tuning challenging. One solution may be provided by the recent finding that neural signals recorded non-invasively with electroencephalography (EEG) during natural speech listening can be used to derive robust objective indices reflecting neural linguistic encoding. In this project, we aim to use such objective neural indices to determine the effect of hearing-aid strategies on the hierarchical processing of speech. In addition to providing us with novel important insights into the effect of hearing-aid strategies on the neural processing of speech, the natural speech listening task is suitable for the simplified identification of the optimal hearing-aid strategy in individual users. As such, this project will test the possibility of using EEG for the accurate and rapid tuning of hearing-aid devices.
  Funding Agency

  William Demant Foundation
  Date From

  1/9/2021
  Date To

  31/8/2022
• Title

  Social disengagement in vulnerable populations
  Summary

  This project aims to bridge this knowledge gap by evaluating the real-time brain activity patterns of participants engaged in non-pharmacological interventions and deriving metrics of intervention benefit based on the synchronization (or lack thereof) of brain activity within a social context. This project is proposed on the basis that social facilitation and inhibition are modulatory effects that the presence of others may have on a particular task performance. The ability to measure and monitor these modulatory effects may be a key element to identifying individuals struggling to navigate their social context. Therefore, developing objective means to quantify the degree of facilitation or inhibition in a social scenario may help us understand how to prevent individuals to disengage in social situations. The proposed metric is based on brain synchronization activity, derived from simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) recordings in social contexts through a technique known as hyperscanning.
  Funding Agency

  Trinity College Dublin / William Demant Foundation
  Date From

  1/9/2024
  Date To

  31/8/2028
• Title

  Investigating the neurophysiology of auditory attenion in multi-talker scenarios: from sustained attention to attention switching
  Summary

  This project aimed at investigating the neural basis of attention to speech across different populations ant attention scenarios. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of listeners' brain signals were related to different speech features through methods based on lagged linear regression, yielding metrics of neural tracking of competing talkers in multi-talker scenes characterised by different attentional demands.
  Funding Agency

  William Demant Foundation/CRT-AI
  Date From

  1/09/2021
  Date To

  31/08/2025
• Title

  Interdisciplinarity for Brain Health in a Complex World: Creating a Framework for Research and Practice
  Summary

  Addressing the complex challenges of brain health"particularly neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease and Lewy Body Dementias (LBDs)"requires non-traditional scholarly approaches, rooted in interdisciplinarity. Thus, through a residential think-tank workshop, hosted by the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), and using expert consensus methods, we will develop an interdisciplinary epistemological and pedagogical framework for brain health research. Rooted in in constructivist theory, the main output will be a co-authored Palgrave monograph (research white paper), as a resource for the brain health community. We will model best practices for interdisciplinary training, and knowledge translation for brain health equity, focusing on under-researched dementias.
  Funding Agency

  Research Ireland
  Date From

  1/1/2026
  Date To

  31/12/2026
• Title

  ClicBrain
  Summary

  The CliCBrain project, through a research and training program, brings together a consortium of 23 partners from 14 countries " representing academia, business, and NGOs, with internationally renowned experts from climate science, arts, social sciences, psychology, epidemiology, neurosciences, architecture, and environmental design. CliCBrain will advance understanding solutions to the brain health threats that arise from the intersection of climate change, migration, and urbanisation, all of which have the greatest impact on the socioeconomic disadvantaged and marginalised. Climate change is a major global challenge " and the direct and indirect impacts on health and wellbeing are increasingly being highlighted. These effects are particularly alarming for brain health and disease , and in common with other global issues, the greatest impact will fall upon communities that are already subject to inequities and disadvantages. Brain health is defined by the WHO as the `state of brain function across cognitive, sensory, social-emotional, behavioural, and motor domains irrespective of the presence or absence of disorders and is a key factor in mental and physical health, allowing people to realise their full potential over the lifespan
  Funding Agency

  Horizon Europe
  Date From

  1/1/2026
  Date To

  31/12/2029

Electrical engineering, Health services and systems, Medical and biomedical engineering, Clinical and health psychology, Public health, Other engineering and technologies, Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics, Neurosciences,

• Higher Education Research Equipment Grant. EEG signatures of Brain health in older patients within routine clinical environments. (99,373.92 EUR) 14 January 2025
• TCD Alumni Trust Fund: Neural Engineering Outreach and Teaching funding (11,325.00 EUR) 27 November 2023
• HEA Graduate Research in Education Programme Scholarship (Full PhD Scholarship) 01/09/2012
• William Demant Foundation and SFI Co-Funded, Co-Investigator Grant. Investigating attention switching in realistic listening scenarios. (170,686.08 EUR) April 2022
• Collin Cherry Award January 2016
• CEMACUBE Erasmus Mundus Scholarship (Full MSc Scholarship) 01/09/2010
• 3rd Prize Thesis-in-3 presentation at the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering Winter Symposium October 2015
• Trinity Research Doctorate Award (College Award) (PhD Student Fees and Stipend) 01 September 2024
• Travel Grant Award for the 36th Association for Research in Otorhinolaryngology (ARO) Midwinter Meeting October 2015
• Trinity Research Doctorate Award (School Award) (PhD Student Fees and Stipend) 01 September 2024
• William Demant Foundation Co-Investigator Grant. Implementation of hearing aid signal processing strategies on hierarchical cortical processing of speech. (13,388.35 EUR) 01/09/2022
• Demant Annual Innovation Challenge Winner January 2018
• Demant Annual Innovation Challenge Winner January 2019
• Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal Finalist January 2016
• William Demant Foundation Grant. "Neural markers of social facilitation as a tool for monitoring engagement in vulnerable situational contexts". (13,189.32 EUR) 20 January 2025

• IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
• IEEE Young Professionals
• Member of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS)
• IEEE Brain
• IEEE Senior Member
• Member of Neuroscience Ireland

• Alzheimer's Association: Capacity Building in International Dementia Research Program and Global Brain Health Institute Atlantic Philanthropies Pilot Projects Program Grant Reviewer 2024
• Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine 2020
• Guest Editor of Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience Research Topic: Bridging the gap between integrative neuroscience and translational neuroscience 2023
• Associate Editor of IET Healthcare Technology Letters 2020
• Neuroscience Ireland Society Council 2025
• Enterprise Ireland: Innovation Partnership Programme Grant Reviewer 2022
• Editorial advisory board of the Journal of Brain Health 2025
• Advisor for the Trinity College IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMBS) Student Branch Chapter 2022
• Journal Manuscript Reviewer: Age and Ageing; BioMedical Engineering OnLine; European Journal of Neuroscience; IET Healthcare Technology Letters; Hearing Research; IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine; IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering; International Journal of Audiology; Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry; Trends in Hearing; 2013