Rehabilitation and Educational Training

Dr. Yael Zaltz

Auditory training to improve speech perception

Can we improve speechin -noise perception via behavioral auditory training? What is the best way to do so? Will the improvement last? Dr. Zaltz examines the possibility to enhance the underlying psychoacoustic, linguistic, and cognitive mechanisms for speech perception in degraded listening conditions in normal and pathological populations via auditory training . She explores the behavioral effects of auditory training, including the time course of learning, magnitude of improvements, generalization, susceptibility to interferences, and longterm retention of the learning -gains . She is also in the process of establishing a neuroimaging lab that will be the first in Israel to use functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS ) data to gain insight on the neural mechanisms that undergo modifications following auditory training in cochlear implant users and in individuals with normal hearing .

Dr. Zaltz is at the Department of Communication Disorders, School of Health Professions. Her PhD was conducted at the Department of Communications Disorders at Tel Aviv University. Her postdoctoral training on the psychoacoustic cues for voice discrimination in hearing impaired individuals with cochlear implants, as compared to individuals with normal hearing, was conducted at the University of Southern California (USC). Her research work in the areas of auditory skill learning, voice discrimination and speech perception in normal and pathological populations has been presented at leading international and national professional conferences. Dr. Zaltz is also an audiologist and a speech therapist.