Ewen MacDonald (He/Him)

Ewen MacDonald's research expertise is in hearing, speech perception and production, and hearing-assistive devices.

In his Ph.D., he investigated the consequences of the loss of temporal synchrony on speech intelligibility in noise. The loss of synchrony in the auditory system reduces temporal information that is available to a listener's brain and can occur as a result of aging and/or synaptopathy (often referred to as "hidden" hearing loss). After graduating from the University of Toronto, he moved to Queen's University and investigated the role of auditory feedback on control of speech production. This work examined how talkers changed their speech when the acoustic feedback they received was altered in real-time.

In 2011, Ewen moved to Copenhagen to take a faculty position at the Technical University of Denmark. There he continued his research into the perceptual consequences of hearing loss and how they can be addressed by hearing assistive devices.

In 2020, Ewen moved to Waterloo and joined the Department of Systems Design Engineering. A recent focus of his research as been investigating methods for inferring effort during interactive conversation, such as changes in speech production, conversational behaviour, and eye-related metrics, and how they can be used to evaluate the benefit of hearing assistive technology.

• Speech Perception

• Speech Production

• Speech Communication

• Perceptual Consequences of Hearing loss and Aging

• Hearing Aid Processing

• Auditory Perception

• Acoustics

• 2007, Doctorate Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

• 2002, Master of Applied Science Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada

• 1999, Bachelor of Applied Science Engineering Science, University of Toronto, Canada

• 2021 Distinguished Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

• BME 101L - Communications in Biomedical Engineering-Visualization
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• BME 284 - Physiological and Biological Systems
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• BME 544 - Biomedical Measurement and Signal Processing
  • Taught in 2025
• BME 601 - Physiological Systems and Biomedical Design
  • Taught in 2025
• SYDE 101L - Communications in Systems Design Engineering-Visualization
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
• SYDE 740 - Selected Topics in Human Systems
  • Taught in 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Ellag M, Qian, J, Ishida I, Edgett LD, Pichora-Fuller MK, MacDonald EN. (2025). Acoustical analyses of conversations reveal different effects of remote microphones and face masks on group conversations by aided older adults. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

• Masters B, Aliakbaryhosseinabadi S, Wendt D, MacDonald EN. (2025). Pupil responses during interactive conversation. Trends in Hearing.

• Sørensen AJM, Lunner T, MacDonald EN. (2024). Conversational dynamics in task dialogue between interlocutors with and without hearing impairment. Trends in Hearing.

• Barot P, Mombaur K, MacDonald EN. (2024). Estimating speaker direction on a humanoid. robot with binaural acoustic signals. PLoS ONE.

• Petersen EB, MacDonald EN, *Sørensen AJS. (2022). The Effects of Hearing Aid Amplification and Noise on Conversational Dynamics between Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Talkers. Trends in Hearing. Published

• Sørensen AJM, Fereczkowski M, MacDonald EN, The effects of noise and second language on conversational dynamics in task dialogue, Trends in Hearing, 2021

• Kowalewski B, Zaar J, Fereczkowski M, MacDonald EN, Strelcyk O, May T, Dau T, Effects of Slow-and Fast-Acting Compression on Hearing-Impaired Listeners’ Consonant--Vowel Identification in Interrupted Noise, Trends in hearing, 233121651, 2018

• Ohlenforst B, Souza PE, MacDonald EN, Exploring the Relationship Between Working Memory, Compressor Speed, and Background Noise Characteristics., Ear and hearing, 137, 2016

• Chabot-Leclerc A, MacDonald EN, Dau T, Predicting binaural speech intelligibility using the signal-to-noise ratio in the envelope power spectrum domain, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 192, 2016

• MacDonald EN, Johnson EK, Forsythe J, Plante P, Munhall KG, Children's development of self-regulation in speech production, Current Biology, 113, 2012

• MacDonald EN, Goldberg R, Munhall KG, Compensations in response to real-time formant perturbations of different magnitudes, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1059, 2010

• Pichora-Fuller MK, Schneider BA, MacDonald E, Pass HE, Brown S, Temporal jitter disrupts speech intelligibility: A simulation of auditory aging, Hearing research, 114, 2007

• Behar A, MacDonald EN, Lee J, Cui J, Kunov H, Wong W. (2004) Noise exposure of music teachers. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 1 (4), 243-247