Hearing the Voice. (360G-Wellcome-098455_Z_12_A)

Hearing the voice of another person in the absence of any speaker is an important feature of human experience, and one which is associated with considerable social, human and economic costs. Comprising the first major interdisciplinary study of the phenomenon, this five-year medical humanities project consists of five interdependent programmes of research in the fields of phenomenology, cognitive neuroscience, hermeneutics, therapeutic practice and medical humanities methodology. Our starting point is a holistic view of voice-hearing which attempts to integrate scientific and humanities approachesto the phenomenon. Building on our demonstrated strengths across these fields,the first aim of the project is to attain a fuller understanding than has previously been possible of the phenomenon of voice-hearing, including how it relates to typical inner experience, how it is underpinned by specific cognitive and neural mechanisms, how it is interpreted personally, culturally and historically, and how it should be managed. Our second aim is to develop atransferrable methodology for interdisciplinary research into human experiencethat can be applied to other topics of inquiry. We will achieve these aims by assembling a world-class research team, capable of addressing research questions from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives.