IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCES AND DISORDERS
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Message from the Director History of the School Research Faculty
HEARING RESEARCH 8 Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory 10 Hearing Aid Research Laboratory 12 Speech Perception Assessment Laboratory
14 Auditory Processing Laboratory 16 Cochlear Implant Research Laboratory
SPEECH RESEARCH 18 Adult Neurogenic Communication Disorders Laboratory 20 Infant Vocalization and Origins of Language Laboratory
22 Social Interaction Laboratory 24 Voice, Emotion and
Cognition Laboratory
LANGUAGE RESEARCH 26 Language Acquisition/ Bilingualism Laboratories
28 Cognition, Language and Speech Laboratory
Message from the Director
As director of the Center for Research Initiatives and Strategies for the Communicatively Impaired (CRISCI), I am pleased to welcome you to the latest edition of our research catalog.
MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Center for Research Initiatives and Strategies for the Communicatively Impaired (CRISCI) is to advance the state of science for addressing the needs of the communicatively impaired. The center’s research focus is the amelioration of disorders of receptive and expressive human communication. Three research focus groups encompass the areas of interest of the principal investigators of the center: Speech Science and Disorders; Language Science and Disorders; and Hearing Science and Disorders.
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY CRISCI was established by the state of Tennessee in 1984, when the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders was still a School of Audiology and SpeechLanguage Pathology. CRISCI was designated by the state as an Accomplished Center of Excellence in 1989, at about the same time a national interest in communication disorders was on the rise and the NIDCD was established. Because of this early start, careful planning, prominent faculty, and consistent accomplishments, CRISCI was positioned to play a prominent role in research and development for the communicatively impaired.
Speech Science
Hearing Science
Language Science
CRISCI provides critical resources to maintain and support ongoing research activity at the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. This activity is a very important piece of our national reputation and visibility of our programs. Affiliated members include the tenure-track research faculty whose research is featured in this catalog. Over the past three decades, CRISCI researchers have succeeded in obtaining several million dollars in grant funding, supporting research in hearing aids, infant vocalization, hearing loss, Parkinson’s disease, language development, fluency, autism, speech perception and conversational biometrics, among others. The figure below illustrates the history of grant-funded research by CRISCI faculty.
Chair of Excellence funded
IVOC1 NIH
Gyrus E CRISCI Established Establish research areas
1989
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Dept of ED/OSEP training grant
Oticon
H.A. benefits (NIH)
ASHFoundation
Psych to H.L. (NIH)
ASH Inve
HARL (DVA)
1992
1995
1998
HARL (
2001
2004
unded
undation
Among the many recent examples of CRISCI accomplishments are the following: Dr. Gavin M. Bidelman received the University’s Early Career Research Award (ECRA) in 2016 and in 2018, he was awarded a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his cutting-edge brain imaging studies characterizing the neural basis of auditory categorization and speech-sound learning.
ambyaudia, an auditory processing disorder, as highlighted in the Daily Memphian feature on research innovations at the UofM related to brain development in children. Dr. D. Kimbrough Oller was awarded the University’s Arthur C. Graesser Presidential Award for Lifetime Achievement in Research in 2018. He continues his pioneering work in the area of origins of language, infant vocal development and multilingualism. Late 2019, he published a groundbreaking study in Scientific Reports that found evidence of flexible vocalization even by infants born prematurely.
Dr. Eugene H. Buder initiated a project in 2017 within the larger mPERF grant from IARPA (PI: Dr. Santosh Kumar) and analyses of the resulting data continue with multiple teams of collaborators. His expertise can be found in a range of projects from infant vocalization to fluency, across motor speech and language areas. This topic diversity is reflected in a wide variety of coauthors, particularly student coauthors.
Dr. Miriam van Mersbergen is a 2019 recipient of the Community of Research Scholars (CoRS) grant from the Division of Research and Innovation at the UofM connecting researchers, healthcare providers and artists to facilitate multidisciplinary research. In October 2019, she presented her research on voice and emotion at the Pan American Vocology Association in Santiago Chile.
Dr. Naomi Eichorn was awarded the 2017 New Investigator Grant by the American Speech and Hearing Foundation for her study on attention and stuttering in school-aged children. She received a 2018 Community of Research Scholars (CoRS) grant to develop initiatives related to interprofessional education and practice.
Dr. Sarah Warren has established an interprofessional clinical presence by developing the Mid South Cochlear Implant Program. She is one of the newest members of CRISCI. In 2019, she served as a core member of the American Academy of Audiology’s Task Force to write the first national cochlear implant practice guidelines.
Dr. Lynda Feenaughty has been actively engaged in research investigating the impact of cognitive impairment and dysarthria in people with Multiple Sclerosis. She has been sharing her work across the country, including at the Boston Motor Control Symposium and the Acoustical Society of America.
Our state-of-the-art research laboratories and outstanding team of research personnel have positioned CRISCI as a leader in the field of communication disorders. As new faculty have joined us, new research is underway in exciting new directions. I invite you to read on about the exciting research and professional activities of our faculty.
Dr. Jani Johnson has been invited to speak to audiences around the country about her research on the provision of over-the-counter hearing aids and currently serves on an expert panel to establish competencies for pharmacists to best assist patients interested in these devices.
Dr. Linda Jarmulowicz Dean and Director
Dr. Lisa Lucks Mendel had two speech perception tests for Spanish-speaking children licensed to Auditec Inc. via the Office of Technology Transfer at the UofM. The two tests were developed for use with Spanish-speaking children for the purpose of assessing their speech understanding: the Spanish Pediatric Speech Recognition Threshold Test (SPSRT) and the Spanish Pediatric Picture Identification Test (SPPIT). Dr. Deborah Moncrieff has established a novel clinical approach for diagnosing and treating children with
IVOC1 NIH
NSF
F31 NIH
Gyrus ENT Oticon H.A. research Bilingual./Phon. (NIH) HARL (NIH)
TBR Diversity Grant Dept ED/OSEP TBR Diversity Grant
ASHA New Investigator Autism Speaks
2004
2007
2010
MJFox Foundation
CSD Faculty Res. Grant IVOC3 (NIH) CSD Faculty
AHRF GRAMMY foundation ASHFoundation H u AAAF IVOC2 (NIH) NeuroDynamics (NIH) Turtle Beach HARL (NIH) Corp. CoRS (UoM) DARPA NIH subgrant mPERF CoRS (UoM)
2013
2016
2019
Today
2020 3
The original building located in downtown Memphis, home to the School of Communication Sciences & Disorders for 50+ years (top). The Community Health Building located on the Park Avenue campus (large). In 2015, the 177,000-sq.-ft. facility became the new site of the University of Memphis School of Communication Sciences & Disorders and Loewenberg College of Nursing. 4
History of the School 1947 Memphis Speech and Hearing Center created in the Memphis Medical Center - first of its kind in the Mid-South
1997 Memphis Speech and Hearing Center celebrated 50 years of excellence
1963 Construction of new building completed at original
1998 School first ranked by U.S. News & World Report as
site (807 Jefferson Ave., downtown Memphis) 1967 Center became associated with Memphis State University, and an undergraduate degree is established 1969 Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology was created as an independent program. The undergraduate program was closed, and a master’s degree offered in Audiology and Speech Pathology
one of the top 10 graduate programs in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. CSD has remained a nationally ranked program for 20+ years. 2001 Clinical doctorate in Audiology (AuD) began; Chair of Excellence funded by the Plough Foundation established 2007 Grand opening of Memphis Speech and Hearing Center East (4075 Park Ave.)
1970 First annual student-led Mid-South Conference on Communicative Disorders held
2010 40th anniversary of the student-led Mid-South Conference on Communicative Disorders
1972 PhD program in Audiology and Speech Pathology began
2011 School renamed “School of Communication Sciences and Disorders”
1984 Designated a Tennessee Center of Excellence in Higher Education - Creation of Center for Research Initiative and Strategies for the Communicatively Impaired (CRISCI) 1989 CRISCI was designated as an Accomplished Center of Excellence 1994 The School of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology was established in the renamed University of Memphis
2015 CSD moved to its present home, the Community Health Building located on the University of Memphis Park Avenue Campus (4055 Park Ave.) 2020 CSD hosts the 50th Annual Mid-South Conference on Communicative Disorders, the oldest and largest student-sponsored CSD conference in the country.
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The School’s state-of-the-art rotary chair is used for vestibular assessment and balance testing.
RESEARCH
Research in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders includes remediation of communication difficulties experienced by persons with hearing impairment, the development and improvement of hearing assistive technologies (e.g., hearing aids, cochlear implants), psychoacoustics, cochlear and Speech brain physiology in typical and hearing-impaired listeners, cognitive neuroscience, speech perception, Science stuttering, infant vocal development, origins of language, multilingualism and communication in acquired neural disorders and in children with autism spectrum disorder. Our faculty members are recognized nationally and internationally for their contributions to their respective fields. Research in the School falls into three overlapping areas: Hearing Language • Hearing Sciences Science Science • Speech Sciences • Language Sciences
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Research Faculty Gavin M. Bidelman, PhD Associate Professor Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory PhD Purdue University
Jani A. Johnson, AuD, PhD, CCC-A Assistant Professor Hearing Aid Research Laboratory PhD University of Memphis
Eugene H. Buder, PhD Associate Professor
Lisa Lucks Mendel, PhD, CCC-A Professor & Associate Dean
Social Interaction Laboratory PhD University of Wisconsin, Madison
of Graduate Studies Speech Perception Assessment Laboratory PhD UC Santa Barbara
Naomi Eichorn, PhD, CCC-SLP Assistant Professor Cognition, Language and Speech Laboratory PhD City University of New York Lynda Feenaughty, PhD, CCC-SLP Assistant Professor Adult Neurogenic Communication Disorders Laboratory PhD University at Buffalo
Deborah Moncrieff, PhD, CCC-A Assistant Professor PhD University of Texas at Dallas D. Kimbrough Oller, PhD Professor, Plough Chair of Excellence Infant Vocalization Laboratory PhD University of Texas at Austin Miriam van Mersbergen, PhD, CCC-SLP Assistant Professor Voice, Emotion and Cognition Laboratory PhD University of Minnesota
Linda Jarmulowicz, PhD, CCC-SLP Interim Dean & Associate Professor Language Acquisition Laboratory PhD City University of New York
Sarah Warren, AuD, PhD, CCC-A Assistant Professor Cochlear Implant Research Laboratory PhD University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Research Personnel Ed Brainerd Computer Systems Support
Edina Bene, PhD Project Coordinator
Kathy Fulmer Research Associate I
Monique Pousson Research Associate I
Neeraja Rangisetty Research Associate II
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HEARING
RESEARCH
Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory memphis.edu/acnl
Gavin M. Bidelman, PhD is associate professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Dr. Bidelman received his B.M. in Music Theory and his BS in Sound Engineering from the University
musicianship, learning, bilingualism) and hearing deficits associated with hearing loss and aging. A particular interest of the lab is to identify biomarkers that predict successful hearing in
of Michigan and a PhD in Hearing Science from Purdue University. He completed postdoctoral work at the Rotman Research Institute-Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto. He joined the University of Memphis faculty in 2012, where he directs the Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (ACNL). Dr. Bidelman holds a joint appointment with the Institute for Intelligent Systems and is an affiliate of the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. Dr. Bidelman has published more than 100 journal articles on the relation between brain function and human hearing and is associate editor for the journals Frontiers in Neuroscience and Psychomusicology. His research has been funded by the National Institues of Health, American Hearing Research, American Academy of Audiology and GRAMMY® Foundations and has been featured in the New York Times and CBS News.
“cocktail party” environments (e.g., analyzing speech in noise). The lab uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand audition through a coordinated blend of techniques including neuroimaging (EEG/ERPs), psychoacoustics and computational modeling. Electrical responses are recorded from the human nervous system and “decoded” to decipher how brain activity relates to hearing skills. Studies also investigate the neurobiological relationships between music and language.
Research Interests Our research aims to understand the neurobiological underpinnings of speech and music perception and how the auditory system encodes and renders hearing behaviors. We study both normal auditory processing, the neural plasticity associated with different listening experiences (e.g.,
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Current Research and Applications Translational applications of Dr. Bidelman’s research include novel signal processing and detection algorithms to accelerate clinical evoked potential testing, early identification of auditory impairments via objective brain indices and neurorehabilitation. Recent ACNL studies have demonstrated that early changes in the brain’s response to speech can be used as a biomarker for identifying mild cognitive impairment before the emergence of behavioral deficits. Bidelman’s research also suggests that musical training has a profound impact on brain function and can partially counteract the cognitive and auditory declines that occur later in life.
Future Endeavors Using novel electrophysiological methods developed in the lab, Dr. Bidelman and his colleagues are recording neural activity generated simultaneously from the cochlea, brainstem and cerebral cortex to identify emergent properties of auditory perception and map changes in neural coding that occur across the lifespan, with listening experiences and with novel learning. Simultaneous recordings of brainstem and cortical neural responses are detailing how the brain’s representations for speech change in impoverished auditory systems affected by sensorineural hearing loss and cognitive impairments. Collectively, Dr. Bidelman’s work demonstrates that auditory perceptual skills in normal and impaired hearing depend critically on how successful (or unsuccessful) information is transferred between different levels of the auditory system (i.e., functional
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Publication Spotlight
connectivity). In future directions of this work, Dr. Bidelman is interested in further examining brain connectivity and how it might predict individual differences in auditory learning in normal developing individuals and those with language-learning disorders. The lab is also beginning studies on multisensory processing to examine how hearing and vision are combined to assist speech perception in cocktail party scenarios. Student Involvement Dr. Bidelman seeks highly motivated, intellectual students who are not afraid to ask questions. Students should be eager, motivated and passionate about investigating new lines of inquiry. Dr. Bidelman regularly collaborates with speech/hearing scientists, clinicians, engineers and musicians to understand
relations between brain and behavior as they relate to speech and hearing issues. Research topics are equally as diverse and address empirical questions on normal auditory function, speech-language processing, aging and hearing loss, and brain plasticity. Dr. Bidelman regularly advises research projects for doctoral students in the clinical AuD program and PhD students from other departments (e.g., psychology, engineering) and has actively published with his graduate students (more than 20 student articles in past five years). Students with multidisciplinary backgrounds (e.g., cognitive psychology, neuroscience, engineering) and those interested in acquiring neuroimaging skills to tackle novel research questions are encouraged to pursue training in the ACNL.
1. Mankel, K. & Bidelman, G. M. (2018). Inherent auditory skills rather than formal music training shape the neural encoding of speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(51), 13129-13134. 2. Bidelman, G. M., Lowther, J., Tak, S., & Alain, C. (2017). Mild cognitive impairment is characterized by deficient hierarchical speech coding between auditory brainstem and cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(13), 3610-3620. 3. Bidelman, G. M. & Howell, M. (2016). Functional changes in inter- and intra-hemispheric auditory cortical processing underlying degraded speech perception. NeuroImage, 124, 581-590. 4. Bidelman, G. M., & Alain, C. (2015). Musical training orchestrates coordinated neuroplasticity in auditory brainstem and cortex to counteract age-related declines in categorical vowel perception. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(2), 1240 –1249. 5. Bidelman, G. M. et al. (2011). Crossdomain effects of music and language experience on the representation of pitch in the human auditory brainstem. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(2), 425-434.
EEG (left) and eyetracking (right) are used in conjunction with behavioral measures to assess the neural underpinnings of listening skills, auditory learning and hearing disorders.
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Hearing Aid Research Laboratory harlmemphis.org
Jani Johnson AuD, PhD is assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and has served on the faculty since 2016. She received her BS in Communicative Disorders at
Current Research and Applications The HARL has a state-of-the-art laboratory that facilitates the conduct of cutting edge research
Auburn University in 2003. She then pursued her AuD (2007) and PhD (2011) from the University of Memphis, where she now teaches Introduction to Hearing Aids, Adult Audiologic Rehabilitation and Aging, Psychosocial Adjustment to Hearing Loss and Evidence Based Practices in the Provision of Amplification. Dr. Johnson is currently the director of the Hearing Aid Research Laboratory (HARL). The HARL has a long history of producing highquality evidence designed to improve diagnostic and rehabilitative procedures for individuals with hearing impairment.
on the effectiveness of hearing health care practices for older adults. Dr. Johnson and her colleagues often collaborate with hearing health care practitioners both locally and across the United States. Recent papers have investigated the real-world value of high-cost hearing aid technologies for older adults in several domains of daily listening. Through her research, Dr. Johnson strives to provide practical evidence that clinicians can use when making recommendations for individual patients in their practices and to help influence policy that will increase access to affordable, high-quality hearing health care for adults with hearing impairment.
Research Interests Dr. Johnson’s research interests include multicultural issues in audiology and adult audiologic rehabilitation with a focus on hearing aids. Her research aims to provide evidence to inform hearing aid fitting and hearing healthcare delivery practices that are optimized for older adults of varying cultural background and social circumstance. She has taken steps toward this purpose by examining the effectiveness and real-world value of current hearing aid fitting practices for older adults and attempting to explain sociocultural causes of local racial/ethnic disparities in the receipt of hearing health care.
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In the past year, several research papers have been published on data from the HARL. A recent lab article was nominated for the Editors Award for Best Article in Ear and Hearing in 2016. The results of research from the HARL have been presented to representatives of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and to the Federal Trade Commission. These results have been important for influencing policy surrounding issues of accessibility and affordability of hearing health care.
Future Endeavors Dr. Johnson’s future research will provide independent effectiveness evidence for emerging hearing assistive technologies and hearing rehabilitation practices. She is also interested in the impact that hearing health care disparities might have on hearing health-related quality of life across the lifespan and how access to alternative hearing technologies and alternate models of hearing healthcare delivery might affect hearing outcomes for culturally and socio-economically diverse individuals. Student Involvement Research in the HARL concerns a variety of issues related to adult audiologic rehabilitation and hearing aids. Graduate students wishing to work in the HARL should be self-motivated and enthusiastic about translational research in this area.
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Dr. Johnson has high expectations of AuD students completing research projects. At the conclusion of this hands-on research process, students are expected to understand
and manage data, participate in the interpretation of results, and gain confidence in presenting research findings. Students take a central role at each stage of the research
fundamentals of research design, know how to implement specific research methods
process. Those interested in completing a PhD with Dr. Johnson as their primary
mentor should have a record of academic excellence and an interest in pursuing a research career in the areas of adult audiologic rehabilitation and hearing aids.
Publication Spotlight 1. Johnson, J., Xu, J. & Cox, R. (2017). Impact of hearing aid technology on outcomes in daily life, III: Localization in quiet and in noise. Ear & Hearing, 38(6), 746-759
3. Cox, R., Johnson, J. & Xu, J. (2016). Impact of hearing aid technology on outcomes in daily life, I: The patient’s perspective. Ear & Hearing, 37 (4), 224-237.
2. Johnson, J. Xu, J., Cox, R. (2016). Impact of hearing aid technology on outcomes in daily life, II: Speech understanding and listening effort. Ear & Hearing, 37 (5), 529-540.
4. Johnson, J., Xu, J. Cox, R., & Pendergraft, P. (2015). A comparison of two methods for measuring listening effort as part of an audiologic test battery. American Journal of Audiology, 24, 419-431.
5. Cox, R., Johnson, J., & Alexander, G. (2012). Implications of high-frequency cochlear dead regions for hearing aid fittings: A laboratory and field trial for patients with mild to moderately-severe hearing loss. Ear & Hearing, 33 (5), 573-587.
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Speech Perception Assessment Laboratory memphis.edu/spal
Lisa Lucks Mendel, PhD is professor and associate dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She joined the faculty in 2001 and is a licensed audiologist and hearing aid
traditional speech recognition test materials as legitimate and useful methods of outcome assessment. This area of interest is also extended to National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research involved
tuned for listeners with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. She is working collaboratively with the Institute for Intelligent Systems
dispenser in Tennessee. Dr. Lucks Mendel received her BSEd and MEd in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Georgia and her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She taught and conducted research at Pennsylvania State University as a visiting assistant professor and served on the faculty at the University of Mississippi from 1989-2001, where she was a tenured associate professor, associate director of the Center for Speech and Hearing Research in the National Center for Physical Acoustics and coordinator of Audiology. She was elected Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in 1998, and has served on the National Advisory Committee for the Audiology Praxis exam since 2009. Dr. Lucks Mendel is co-author of the textbook Audiologic Assessment and Management and Speech Perception Assessment. She currently directs the Speech Perception Assessment Laboratory (SPAL) in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
in developing machine-learning algorithms to tune hearing instruments (e.g., cochlear implants) based on individuals’ hearing characteristics and speech production errors. The SPAL is also focused on the evaluation of various tools and procedures used to assess speech understanding for their validity and reliability in different listening situations. Lucks Mendel is particularly interested in studying listeners’ speech understanding in noise in native and nonnative speakers of English. Her previous research conducted at the Navy Experimental Diving Unit focused on ways to improve speech intelligibility for military divers.
and engineers to develop more objective ways to make meaningful adjustments in cochlear implant maps based on individuals’ speech production errors and their neurophysiologic correlates. In another interesting study recently conducted in the SPAL, speech perception was assessed using surgical masks to evaluate how visual cues (or the lack thereof) assist in speech understanding in medical environments. The products of Dr. Lucks Mendel’s research are highly practical and can be used by clinicians in many different clinical settings.
Research Interests Dr. Lucks Mendel’s principal research concentration is on speech perception assessment issues for individuals who have normal hearing and hearing impairments. Her research focuses on ways to validate
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Current Research and Applications The focus of the SPAL is the accurate assessment of speech perception by individuals with normal hearing and those with hearing impairment with specific emphasis on the evaluation of the validity and reliability of the various tools and procedures used in clinical practice. Dr. Lucks Mendel is currently creating new speech and word recognition tests for Spanish-speaking children. This is a very unique assessment technique because it can be administered by English-speaking or Spanish-speaking clinicians. In addition, her research focuses on ways to improve how cochlear implants are
Future Endeavors In the future, Dr. Lucks Mendel plans to continue the development of Spanish speech perception tests and her research assessing speech perception in Spanish-speaking listeners. She also plans to continue her work with cochlear implant recipients, evaluating their speech production errors to assist in tuning their devices. The exploration of ways to improve cochlear implant tuning is of particular interest to her. Research in the SPAL will continue to focus on speech perception assessments in a variety of
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conditions and situations, particularly those that focus on speech in noise. Student Involvement Many research opportunities are available to students in the SPAL. Depending on their desired amount of involvement, students can
participate in research in many different ways. Dr. Lucks Mendel welcomes students from all different levels of research experience to participate in her lab. All of the projects She oversees allow students to learn more about the research topics being studied, while also developing skills they can apply
to their clinical practice. Dr. Lucks Mendel is open to new ideas that are developed from students’ specific areas of interest.
Publication Spotlight 1. Mendel, L.L., Lee, S., Pousson, M., Patro, C., MSrley, S., Banerjee, B., Najnin, S. & Kapourchali, M.H. (2017). Corpus of deaf speech for acoustic and speech production research. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 142 (1), EL102-107. 2. Patro, C. & Mendel, L.L. (2016). Role of contextual cues on the perception of spectrally reduced interrupted speech. Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America, 140(2), 1336-1345. 3. Mendel, L.L. & Widner, H. (2016). Speech perception in noise for bilingual listeners with normal hearing. International Journal of Audiology, 55 (2),126-134.
5. Mendel, L.L. (2007). Objective and subjective hearing aid assessment outcomes. American Journal of Audiology, 16, 118-129.
4. Mendel, L.L. (2008). Current considerations in pediatric speech audiometry. International Journal of Audiology, 47, 546-553.
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Auditory Processing Laboratory Deborah Moncrieff, PhD joined the faculty as assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2018. Dr. Moncrieff received her BA in English Literature from the University of
the term “amblyaudia� to characterize a common binaural integration type of APD that is diagnosed with results from dichotic listening tests and developed Auditory Rehabilitation for Interaural Asymmetry
to binaural and dichotic processing to delineate primary non-linguistic deficits in children whose struggles are often attributed to deficits in working memory, attention and cognition. Together with University, clinical
Rochester, and after raising three children returned to graduate school and received her MS in Audiology and PhD in Cognition and Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Dallas. She has served in tenure-track and clinical faculty positions at the Universities of Florida, Connecticut and Pittsburgh, changing locations to expand her understanding of auditory processing disorders in children across diverse populations. In addition to behavioral techniques, she has utilized multi-channel electrophysiologic techniques and functional brain imaging to explore the neurophysiologic underpinnings of auditory processing disorders. Her research has been funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Lions Hearing Research Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.
(ARIA), a therapeutic approach for treating amblyaudia. She aims to increase understanding of the critical role played by bottom-up sensory processing in the brainstem on the development of language, learning and reading skills so that children at risk can be identified by the start of elementary school. She uses perceptual learning principles to facilitate neuroplasticity in binaural integration skills that are vital to localization and listening in both quiet and noisy circumstances.
and community colleagues, Dr. Moncrieff is examining the benefits of diagnosis and treatment of amblyaudia on educational outcomes in a Memphis charter school and among children with significant hearing loss who utilize hearing aids and/or cochlear implants. She hopes that her recent publications on the prevalence of amblyaudia among adjudicated adolescents will bring attention to the potentially significant consequences of leaving this processing deficit untreated as children continue to underperform in school.
Research Interests Dr. Moncrieff strives to have an impact on public policies to mandate universal screening, assessment and treatment for specific deficits of auditory processing that negatively impact educational outcomes in children. She has created new tests for clinical assessment of auditory processing disorders (APD) and has called for an alternative approach in diagnosis to differentiate clinical entities that respond to remediation. Toward that end, she coined
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Current Research and Applications Amblyaudia is prevalent in 15-20% of school-age children with variable effects that depend upon its severity. Her focus is to better understand the underlying neurophysiology from the brainstem to the cortex in children with amblyaudia through behavioral and electrophysiologic techniques that explore dynamic operations when the two ears are stimulated together or in competition. She seeks to identify biomarkers of amblyaudia in auditory-evoked responses from the cochlea, to brainstem, to cortex (OAE, ABR, MLR, FFR, ERP) and examine changes following successful treatment with ARIA in those responses and in functional neuroimaging activity. She is developing psychoacoustic methods related
Future Endeavors Despite the federal mandate under IDEA, schools in low-income areas lack resources to provide special education services, and disparities in health care limit a family’s access to the benefits available to children of greater means. Widely underserved phonological weaknesses that are known to stem from bottom-up deficits in auditory processing are contributing to the U.S. crisis in literacy, especially in urban schools in poor neighborhoods. Dr. Moncrieff plans to develop a low-cost, accessible web-based technology for assessment and treatment of amblyaudia that can be readily utilized at any school whenever a parent or teacher suspects that a child is at risk of an auditory
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processing deficit. To better understand the underlying physiology of amblyaudia, her future research will focus on children with neurologic deficits affecting the corpus callosum and genetic links to the presence of severe amblyaudia. She also plans to evaluate localization capacity in children and adults with amblyaudia in the anechoic chamber before and after ARIA treatment and to use psychoacoustic methods to measure monaural and binaural loudness tolerance in children diagnosed with autism. Student Involvement Dr. Moncrieff has mentored more than 50 AuD research projects and served in a variety of capacities on the committees of
over 10 PhD students. Her lab is open for any student with strong intellectual curiosity who is interested in exploring the complex brain-based interactions involved in human auditory behavior. Students who are highly motivated to investigate how deficits in central auditory processes across the lifespan contribute to reduced benefits from amplification, communication dilemmas in daily environments and failures to develop normal skills in language and reading are encouraged to visit the APL. Researchers in the APL will be trained on techniques involved in developing behavioral and electrophysiologic assessments, recording neural activity in response to auditory stimuli,
analyzing and interpreting experimental research data and writing reports of research results for presentation at conferences or in publications. Students in the APL, together with colleagues in Memphis and around the country, are vital players on a team that will advance understanding of human hearing beyond the audiogram and improve outcomes for people of all ages with auditory processing deficits.
Publication Spotlight 1. Moncrieff, D., Miller, E., Hill, E. (2018). Screening tests reveal high risk among adjudicated adolescents of auditory processing and language disorders. J Sp Lang Hear Res, 61:924-935. 2. Moncrieff, D., Keith, W., Abramson, M., Swann, A. (2017). Evidence of Binaural Integration Benefits Following ARIA Training in Children and Adolescents Diagnosed with Amblyaudia. Int J Audiol, 56(8):580-588.
3. Moncrieff, D., Keith, W., Abramson, M., Swann, A. (2016). Clinical Evidence on the Diagnosis of Amblyaudia, a Binaural Integration Type of Auditory Processing Disorder. Int J Audiol, 55(6), 333-345.
5. Moncrieff D, Jerger J Wambacq I, Greenwald R, Black J. (2004). ERP evidence of a dichotic leftear deficit in some dyslexic children. J Am Acad Audiol, 15(7), 518-34.
4. Moncrieff, D. (2011). Dichotic listening in children: age-related changes in direction and magnitude of ear advantage. Brain Cogn, 76(2), 316-322.
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Cochlear Implant Research Laboratory memphis.edu/CI
Sarah E. Warren, PhD, AuD, is assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and has served on the faculty since 2017. She received her BA in Music at the University of Central Arkansas in 2008, her AuD in 2014 and her PhD in 2017, both from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She is scheduled to complete her master’s in Public Health at the University of Memphis in 2021. Her clinical history includes working in pediatric diagnostics, hearing aids, cochlear implants and bone-anchored implants. Dr. Warren teaches Implant Device Technology, Pediatric Audiology, Audiological Concepts and Anatomy and Physiology of Hearing Systems. She is director of the Cochlear Implant Research Lab (CIRL) and founding member of the Mid-South Cochlear Implant Program at the Memphis Speech and Hearing Center. Research Interests The vision of the Cochlear Implant Research Lab is to advance patient outcomes in adults and children with severe to profound hearing loss through the use of cochlear implants and other implantable hearing devices. This vision is unique in that it has a population health focus of investigating how social, economic and ecological factors impact intervention outcomes in people with significant hearing loss. Dr. Warren’s
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work has also contributed to developing clinical practice techniques to standardize and optimize cochlear implant care. Current Research and Applications In 2019, Dr. Warren established the Mid-South Cochlear Implant Program at the Memphis Speech and Hearing Center with the twofold purpose of applying the most current cochlear implant research and evaluating the outcomes of cochlear implant care in the Memphis community. The clinical program works seamlessly with the Cochlear Implant Research Lab to achieve its mission of advancing cochlear implant care. Dr. Warren works collaboratively with pediatric health care facilities in Memphis. This includes her work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to study effects of hearing loss on populations of people suffering from hearing disorders secondary to treatment of childhood cancers, and work with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital to understand factors that influence communication and educational success in children with hearing loss.
Future Endeavors Planned research in the Cochlear Implant Research Lab will focus on understanding hearing health care disparities and how they affect communication and education outcomes, particularly in pediatric populations. Additionally, Dr. Warren’s future research plans include implementing and evaluating programs to improve communication, education and quality of life outcomes in people who have poor access or compliance with cochlear implants, and those with cochlear implants who are underperforming in a variety of measures. Student Involvement Dr. Warren enjoys working with highly motivated students who are interested in cochlear implants, children with hearing loss, clinical best practices and/or public health in communication sciences disorders. Students who are interested in challenging established health care norms to apply novel population-focused solutions in interventions with adults and children who have hearing loss are encouraged to contact Dr. Warren to discuss these interests.
H EA R I N G R E S EA R C H
Publication Spotlight
1. Warren., S.E., Dunbar, M.N., Bosworth, C. & Agrawal, S. (under review). Evaluation of a Novel Bimodal Fitting Formula in Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant Recipients.
3. Entwisle, L.K., Warren, S.E., Messersmith, J.J. (2018). Cochlear Implantation for Children and Adults with Severe-to-Profound hearing Loss. Seminars in Hearing, 39:4, 390-404.
2. Warren, S.E. & Dunbar, M.N. (2018). Bimodal Hearing in Cochlear Implant Users. Seminars in Hearing, 39:4, 405-413.
4. American Academy of Audiology. (2019). Clinical Practice Guidelines: Cochlear Implants. [core author]
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SPEECH
RESEARCH
Adult Neurogenic Communication Disorders Laboratory memphis.edu/ancd
Lynda Feenaughty, PhD is assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Dr. Feenaughty joined the faculty in 2017. She received her BS and MA in Communicative Disorders
Current Research and Applications Dr. Feenaughty’s current research focuses on investigating the relationship between neuropsychological function, speech motor control, and language characteristics, as
produced by the ANCD laboratory will enhance traditional clinical management of speech and language disorders and research practices. Additionally, she aims to advance a comprehensive theory of spoken
from SUNY Geneseo and received her PhD in Communicative Disorders at the University at Buffalo in 2016. She currently directs the Adult Neurogenic Communication Disorders Laboratory (ANCD) which is dedicated to research investigating the relationship between neuropsychological function and spoken language behaviors including speech motor control and language characteristics and their perceived speech adequacy secondary to neurodegenerative disease such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
well as the perceived speech adequacy in patients affected by multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is a main focus of the ANCD’s research, but other adult neurogenic disorders (Parkinson’s disease, stroke, etc.) affecting typically aging adults are also of interest. Results and data
language production that incorporates cognitive, linguistic and motor functions. Dr. Feenaughty regularly collaborates with the Aphasia Lab at the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina to study fluency, inducing effects of speech entrainment and social circles in chronic aphasia.
Research Interests Dr. Feenaughty’s research interests include investigating acoustic and linguistic characteristics of connected speech to determine how cognitive function influences speech motor behavior and perceived speech adequacy in individuals with neurodegenerative disease. This involves taking a deeper look at cognitive-speech motor interaction, respiratory kinematics, motor speech disorders, and the impact of neuropsychological function on spoken language, as well as other associated aspects of this relationship.
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S P E E C H R E S EA R C H
Future Endeavors Future directions of Dr. Feenaughty’s research include studying laboratory methods to quantify normal and disordered aspects of respiratory and laryngeal
Student Involvement Future graduate students should know that research opportunities are plentiful in Dr. Feenaughty’s lab. Completing a PhD or special project in her lab consists
physiology and incorporating techniques such as neuroimaging (e.g., MRI). These neuroimaging techniques will be used to visualize brain integrity and structural connectivity supporting language and speech motor performance in people with acquired neurogenic disorders to better understand the various aspects of spoken language impairment.
of concentrated readings and discussion of the current theories and models of speech production and perception. Students will also have the opportunity to learn a variety of laboratory methods to quantify neuropsychological status and acoustic and perceptual characteristics of normal and disordered aspects of speech resulting from acquired neurodegenerative disease or other acquired neurologic disorders. Informal learning opportunities (conferences, project meetings) during their experience in the ANCD lab will also be instrumental to expand student’s foundational knowledge of speech acoustics, perception, linguistics and neuropsychology.
Publication Spotlight 1. Feenaughty, L. et al. (2017). Nonfluent speech following stroke is caused by impaired efference copy. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 1-15. 2. Basilakos, A., Yourganov, G., den Ouden, D., Fogerty, D., Rorden, C., Feenaughty, L. & Fridriksson, J. (2017). A multivariate analytic approach to the differential diagnosis of apraxia of speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1-15. 3. Feenaughty, L., Tjaden, K. & Sussman, J. (2014). Relationship between acoustic measures and judgments of intelligibility in Parkinson’s disease: A withinspeaker approach. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 28(11), 857-78. 4. Feenaughty, L. et al. (2013). Speech and pause characteristics in Multiple Sclerosis: A preliminary study of speakers with high and low neuropsychological test performance. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 27, 134 – 151. 5. Rodgers, J.D., Tjaden, K., Feenaughty, L., Weinstock-Guttman, B. & Benedict, R.H. (2012). Influence of cognitive function on speech and articulation rate in Multiple Sclerosis. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 19(2), 173-80.
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Infant Vocalization and Origins of Language Laboratory memphis.edu/ivoc
D. Kimbrough Oller, PhD is professor and Plough Chair of Excellence in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. He studied at the University of California Berkeley and the University of
Board of the LENA Research Foundation of Boulder, Colorado. At the University of Memphis, he directs the Infant Vocalization Project and the Origins of Language Project and with Dr. Linda Jarmulowicz co-directs
Texas at Austin, where he completed the PhD in Psycholinguistics (1971). His previous appointments have included faculty positions at the University of Washington, the University of Miami and the University of Maine, director of the Infant and Child Speech Laboratories and the Bilingualism Study Group at the University of Miami (1976-97) and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Maine (1997-2001). Since 2008, he is a permanent external faculty member of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Klosterneuburg, Austria).
the Bilingualism Research Project.
Oller has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health and many other sources since 1971, and published over 220 articles, four books and has edited two journal volumes. He has served as vice president for Research and Academic Development for the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Oller was elected as a Fellow of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) in 2004, and was awarded Honors from the association in 2013. In 2010, one of Oller’s scientific research articles was recognized by Autism Speaks as one of the top 10 achievements in autism. Oller is a permanent member of the Scientific Advisory
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Research Interests With a special focus on infancy, bilingualism, deafness and origins of language, Oller and his colleagues’ research covers a broad spectrum of topics on child speech and language. His most important contribution is a general theoretical and methodological model for the study of human communicative development, which laid the groundwork for recognizing normal stages of vocal development and assessing developmental communication disabilities. Oller has supervised and funded research by students and faculty in a wide variety of fields, including child phonology, infant vocalization, semantics, pragmatics of communication, multilingualism, and in disorders of communication including phonological impairments, deafness, Down syndrome, and autism. Current Research and Applications Oller’s research is directed toward illuminating the origin of language. This effort encompasses both development in human and non-human infants as well as the formulation of a general theory of the origin of communication systems. This work establishes a foundation for both scientific understanding and a variety of clinical
applications. Oller and his team collaborate with other scholars on three continents at not fewer than 15 universities and research institutes. In collaboration with the Marcus Autism Center and Emory University, Oller’s most recent grant funding from the National Institutes of Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) is for the study Early Vocal Development and Prediction of Autism. The research focuses on infant vocal development with a specific emphasis on development in the first year of life in infants who have siblings with autism. The goal is to predict the emergence of autism or other developmental disorders by indicating early signs of vocal development aberrations. In addition, the grant project includes efforts towards creating more effective automated procedures for vocal analysis. Future Endeavors Oller’s collaborations make possible research on communicative development: in prematurely born infants, still in the neonatal intensive care, in infants with a wide variety of risk factors for development including autism, Down syndrome and low socioeconomic status and in non-humans such as bonobos, chimpanzees, wolves and marine animals. The empirical work is always embedded in theoretical frames that have been emerging in the laboratories for decades. The work is widely published and affords the opportunity for students involved in the research to interact broadly with scholars around the
S P E E C H R E S EA R C H
world. Recently the Oller laboratories have launched theoretical and empirical work on issues related to neurodiversity, which encompasses the study of traits (especially related to vocal communication) associated with conditions such as autism and attention deficit disorder. The research is showing that infant vocal communication plays a primary role in the emergence of the capacity for language and in human cognition, and that human infants have far more elaborate vocal
Publication Spotlight
1. Jhang, Y. & Oller, D. K. (2017). Emergence of functional flexibility in infant vocalizations of the first three months. Frontiers in Psychology. 8:300. 2. Warlaumont, A. S., Richards, J. A., Gilkerson, J. & Oller, D. K. (2014). A Social Feedback Loop for Speech Development and Its Reduction in Autism. Psychological Science, 25: 1314-1324.
communication capabilities than infants of other ape species from the first days of life. Student Involvement Oller’s work has always involved training PhD students, who collaborate and publish actively about infant vocal development, the evolution of language and bilingualism. Additionally, students in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology training are regularly involved in laboratory research.
3. Patten, E., Belardi, K., Baranek, G. T., Watson, L. R., Labban, J. D. & Oller, D. K. (2014). Vocal patterns in infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Canonical babbling status and vocalization frequency. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 44 (10), 2413-2428
The laboratory is highly integrated; all the students participating have opportunities to collaborate with each other in addition to receiving consistent direction. Currently there are four PhD students, and 14 MA and AuD students working in the laboratory. Over his career, Oller has supervised students working toward the PhD at nine universities.
5. Oller, D. K. et al. (2010). Automated Vocal Analysis of Naturalistic Recordings from Children with Autism, Language Delay and Typical Development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 30, 13354-13359.
4. Oller, D. K., Buder, E. H., Ramsdell, H. L., Warlaumont, A. S., Chorna, L. & Bakeman, R. (2013). Functional flexibility of infant vocalization and the emergence of language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110 (16) 6318-6323.
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Social Interaction Laboratory Eugene H. Buder, PhD is associate professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and has been a member of the faculty since 1996. His undergraduate degree from Harvard College
conversational communication, earning an MA degree in Education and Anthropology. He earned his doctoral degree with combined majors in Communication Arts and Communicative Disorders at the University
studying toddlers’ language acquisition under Carol Stoel-Gammon. He currently directs the Social Interaction Laboratory and the Adult Conversation Recording Laboratory, and supports the Infant Vocalization
combined the fields of Psychology and Linguistics to compare speech and music as modes of communication. He pursued these interests at the University of Alberta by studying rhythmic and melodic aspects of
of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991. He served for four years as a post-doctoral research associate and as acting assistant professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at the University of Washington
Laboratory. His primary collaborators at the University of Memphis include CSD professor D. Kimbrough Oller on infant vocal development and Computer Science professor Santosh Kumar on mobile sensing projects related to respiratory and vocal behaviors during conversation. Research Interests Dr. Buder is primarily a speech scientist and phonetician, a skillset which serves multiple interests related to communication. Beginning with visual, auditory and quantitative approaches to acoustic and physiological signals, he addresses many problems and objectives in both speech production and perception. In pursuit of his original interest in conversational interaction, Dr. Buder has studied normal conversational processes in adult and adult-infant vocal interactions, and adult-adult interactions involving speech and language disorders such as aphasia and stuttering. His approach is heavily influenced by dynamic systems analysis, with an emphasis on coupled oscillator models. His signal-based approach has also led to innovations
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S P E E C H R E S EA R C H
in vocal quality analysis, especially in application to Parkinson’s disease, and both clinical and sub-clinical modulations of pitch and amplitude (e.g., ‘tremor,’ ‘wows’ and ‘flutters’ in patients with Multiple Sclerosis). Current Research and Applications Dr. Buder is currently focusing on three specific objectives. The first is determining the acoustic bases for classifying infant vocalizations in the first year of life, and observing how those vocalizations are used in mother-infant interactions. One application is helping researchers discriminate crying from non-distress vocalizations. Another is identifying potential voice quality markers for the early detection of autism spectrum disorders. The second is characterizing the rhythmic hierarchies by which typical and disordered conversational partners align and coordinate their vocal interaction. Elements of such hierarchies range from syllable to respiratory breath groups and larger units. This effort will support applications that automatically detect speech rhythms in field data with a long term objective of characterizing speaker adaptiveness. Building on his long-term studies of communication in many circumstances and referencing dynamic systems, a third objective is to develop theoretical perspectives on communication that reframe traditional information transmission conceptions.
Future Endeavors Dr. Buder is particularly interested in working with students who wish to take an objective approach to interpersonal dynamics via the study of acoustic and physiological signals. Research on mother-infant interaction is particularly well suited to this approach, but this perspective is applicable to virtually any population. In disordered populations, the approach focuses on the communication system between affected and non-disordered partners. Student Involvement Students wishing to investigate specific speech-language disorders may also study productively with Dr. Buder if acoustic and respiratory perspectives are of interest, especially if the focus is on the empirical assessment of voice quality. More broadly, students wishing to learn details of speech and voice production, from the traditional perspectives of engineering and signal processing would be welcome to study under Dr. Buder, and he welcomes collaborative endeavors in the area of speech perception.
Publication Spotlight 1. Buder, E.H., McDaniel, V., Oller, D. K., Bene, E. R. & Ladmirault, J. (in press). Registers in infant phonation. Journal of Voice. 2. Vincini, S., Jhang, Y., Buder, E. & Gallagher, S. (2017). Neonatal imitation: Theory, experimental design, and significant for the field of social cognition. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. 3. Buder, E.H., Warlaumont, A.S., Oller, D.K. & Chorna, L.B. (2010). Dynamic indicators of motherinfant prosodic and illocutionary coordination. In Proceedings of the Speech Prosody 2010 Conference. 4. Buder, E. H., Chorna, L. B., Oller, D. K. & Robinson, R. B. (2008). Vibratory regime classification of infant phonation. Journal of Voice, 22, 553-564 5. Buder, E. H. (1986). Coherence of speech rhythms in conversations: Autocorrelation analysis of fundamental voice frequency. Toronto Semiotic Circle Monograph, 1986(2). Toronto: Toronto Semiotic Circle.
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Voice, Emotion and Cognition Laboratory memphis.edu/vecl
Miriam van Mersbergen, PhD is assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She joined the faculty in 2016. Dr. van Mersbergen directs the Voice Emotion and Cognition Laboratory, which uses a multidimensional approach to investigate how emotional experience and cognitive factors influence vocalization and communication. She began her academic career studying music and communication arts at Calvin College. After a brief career in music, she returned to academia and studied speech language pathology and vocology at the University of Iowa and continued with doctoral studies in speech language hearing sciences and psychology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. van Mersbergen is also an affiliate of the Institute for Intelligent Systems. Additionally, she has maintained an active clinical career specializing in the assessment of vocal performers. Research Interests Dr. van Mersbergen’s research areas include psychological influences in voice production with an emphasis in emotional and cognitive processes. She uses psychometric, behavioral and psychophysiological methods to investigate influences of affect and cognition on voice production. Some of the goals of her research are to gain a better understanding of typical emotional reaction to vocal errors (for example, feedback errors) and to assess if those with certain types of voice 24
disorders respond differently to those errors. In addition, she continues to develop clinical measures and ways to measure vocal effort for application in voice clinics.
parameters are depending on their voice type so they can better use their natural abilities.
Current Research and Applications Current projects include establishing reliable vocal measures of affect modulation, investigating individual differences in response to vocal mistakes and the establishment of measures of vocal effort. Applications of this research have the potential to inform clinicians on how to adapt vocal treatments to accommodate an individual’s cognitive load and temperamental style. Knowing how individuals respond to errors during vocalization will help inform us how clinicians can subsequently train and assist them in learning. With funding from DARPA, van Mersbergen began working on ways to identify when individuals experience high stress levels through vocal measures. This work will eventually help pilots communicate more effectively with automated co-pilots. Another current research project involves developing a fine-tuned measure of vocal effort that will allow speech-language pathologists and other voice professionals to measure speech production effort to ensure individual therapy approaches are effective. Dr. van Mersbergen is also developing an improved voice range profile method that is more efficient and applicable than the traditional measurement techniques. The goal of this project is to educate singers on what their individual vocal
establishing a better understanding of how people emotionally and cognitively respond to their own vocalizations. She also plans to actively collaborate with colleagues in psychology, music and theater as she has done in the past, which could lead to the creation of many new research studies in the future. Dr. van Mersbergen sees research as a great way to balance clinic work while furthering her understanding of how individuals communicate.
Future Endeavors Dr. van Mersbergen would like to continue
Student Involvement Students involved in Dr. van Mersbergen’s lab gain real-world experience in research and clinical skills due to the assortment of tasks she has available. Students have the opportunity to be involved in many aspects of the research processes from recruiting and running participants through designing experimental paradigms, data analysis and the scientific writing process.
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Publication Spotlight 1. van Mersbergen, M., Lyons, P. & Riegler, D. (2017). Vocal responses in heighted states of arousal. Journal of Voice, 31(1), 127.e13-127.e19 2. Vinney, L., van Mersbergen, M., Connor, N. & Turkstra, L. (2016). Vocal Control: Is it Susceptible to the Negative Effects of Self-regulatory Depletion? Journal of Voice, 30(5), e21-e31 3. van Mersbergen, M. & Delany, M. (2013). Vocal Responses to Emotional Picture Viewing. Logopedicas Phoniatrics Vocology, 39 (3), 99-107. 4. van Mersbergen, M. R., (2011). Voice disorders and personality: Understanding their interactions. Perspectives on Voice and Voice Disorders, 21 (1), 31-38. 5. van Mersbergen, M. R., Patrick, C. J. & Glaze, L. E. (2008). Functional Dysphonia During Mental Imagery: Testing the Trait Theory of Voice Disorders. Journal of Speech Language Hearing Research, 51(6), 1405- 1450.
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LANGUAGE
RESEARCH
Language Acquisition Laboratory/ Bilingualism Laboratory Linda D. Jarmulowicz, PhD is associate professor and interim dean of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She joined the faculty in 2001, after receiving her PhD in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the
linguistic rhythm, literacy and bilingualism. She is interested in language processing in all its forms, and is particularly interested in the intersections of different areas of language development, such as phonology
City University of New York in 2000. Prior to that, she earned an MA in Speech-Language Pathology from Lehman College in 1997 and has an undergraduate degree in Linguistics and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She is a member of ASHA special interest groups 1, 10 and 14 (Language Learning and Education, Issues in Higher Education and Cultural and Linguistic Diversity), the Linguistics Society of America (LSA), the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). She has been on the editorial board of reviewers for Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, and has reviewed for numerous journals. Dr. Jarmulowicz currently directs the Language Acquisition Laboratory and co-directs the Bilingualism Laboratory with Dr. Kim Oller.
and morphology, and the influence of language on literacy development. From 2005 to 2011, Dr. Jarmulowicz co-directed an NIH-funded project Bilingual Phonology and Literacy (co-PIs: D.K. Oller, and E.H. Buder) which collected longitudinal data on over 300 children. From 2010-15, she directed a personnel preparation grant supported by the U.S. Department of Education to train and support speechlanguage pathology and audiology
Research Interests Dr. Jarmulowicz directs the Language Acquisition & Analysis Laboratory, where she conducts research in the areas of lexical organization, derivational morphology, 26
students to work with interpreters to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services to non-English speaking children and their families. Current Research and Applications Dr. Jarmulowicz focuses on two primary branches of research — prosody and literacy and the language/development of young English learners. In the area of prosody and literacy, she is particularly interested in the morphophonology of derived words and how production of
L AN G UAG E R E S EA R C H
polysyllabic and multimorphemic words can reflect lexical representation and organization. Dr. Jarmulowicz has fostered strong collaborations with D. Kimbrough Oller on projects tracking both monolingual and bilingual children in the Memphis area to study their phonological development in a second language as they also learn how to read in English. Current projects examine hesitation phenomena in spoken word productions as a reflection of lexical representation, spelling errors made by English-learning children as a measure of their phonological development, eye tracking studies that examine reading behavior in adults with Down Syndrome, and exploring relationships between vocabulary, phonological and prosodic development.
Future Endeavors Dr. Jarmulowicz intends to keep her toe in research as much as time permits. Her work trying to understand language and literacy continues. There is likely another personnel training grant in her future. Student Involvement Dr. Jarmulowicz has mentored five students through their PhD degree, co-mentored three others and served on numerous PhD committees. Her lab provides a variety of opportunities for student involvement at many levels of the research process. Dr. Jarmulowicz encourages students to be part of the products of research, as demonstrated by the many master’s level students who have presented or co-presented posters at regional and national conferences.
Publication Spotlight 1. Chung, W.-L., Jarmulowicz, L. & Bidelman, G. M. (2017). Auditory processing, linguistic prosody awareness, and word reading in Mandarin-speaking children learning English. Reading and Writing, 30, 1407–1429. 2. Jarmulowicz, L. (2016). Stress production in derived English words as a developmental window. In J. Thomson & L. Jarmulowicz (Eds.) Linguistic Rhythm and Literacy. John Benjamins/TiLAR. 3. Jarmulowicz, L. & Taran, V. L. (2013). Lexical morphology: Structure, process, and development. Topics in Language Disorders. 4. Jarmulowicz, L., Taran, V. L. & Seek, J. (2012). Metalinguistics, stress accuracy, and word reading: Does dialect matter? Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 43, 410-423. 5. Jarmulowicz, L., Hay, S. E., Taran, V. L. & Ethington, C. A. (2008). Fitting English derived word production into a developmental model of reading. Reading and Writing, 21(3), 275-297.
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Cognition, Language and Speech Laboratory memphis.edu/clas
Naomi Eichorn, PhD is assistant professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. She joined the faculty in 2016 and directs the Cognition, Language and Speech Laboratory (CLAS), which focuses on how cognitive processes, such as attention and memory, interact with speech and language functions. Current research in the lab examines contributions of attention to the occurrence of speech disfluencies and the implications of this relationship for the development and persistence of stuttering. Dr. Eichorn began her academic career at Touro College, where she received a BS in Speech Pathology and Audiology. She then received her
MS in Speech Language Pathology at Brooklyn College, City University of New York in 2000. In 2014, she earned her PhD in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences from The Graduate School and University Center. Research Interests Dr. Eichorn is interested in how aspects of cognition, such as attention, working memory and other executive functions interact with speech and language processes. A major goal of her current research is to determine how attentional factors influence the course of developmental stuttering in young children. The phenomenon of natural recovery during the preschool years makes this age group particularly fascinating and highlights the need for research identifying factors related to stuttering outcomes. Dr. Eichorn is also examining how manipulating attentional resources while speech is being produced affects fluency in adult speakers with and without stuttering disorders. Current Research and Applications Current projects of the CLAS laboratory examine whether dual task conditions enhance fluency in school-age children who stutter. Additional research is examining how children who stutter control and switch
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attention in behavioral tasks. Currently, a longitudinal, clinic-based study is being planned to look at development of attention, temperament and speech/language skills in preschool children with and without fluency disorders. The goal of this project will be to see how emerging abilities in each area relate to stuttering recovery versus persistence. Dr. Eichorn’s research may ultimately guide the development of novel assessment procedures that help predict children’s risk of stuttering persistence based on their attentional profiles. These findings may be used by clinicians to inform their decisions related to treatment. Researchers in the CLAS lab are working on developing a freely available, transcription-based disfluency coding system that automatically generates detailed output related to the frequency, types and complexity of disfluencies. Reliability, validity and general utility of this novel coding method is being examined so that the procedure can be made accessible to users in other research labs, training programs and clinics.
LANGUAGE RESEARCH
Future Endeavors Research in the CLAS lab over the next several years will focus on developing a better understanding of attentional patterns in individuals who stutter and clarifying how aspects of attention and speech fluency interact. In future directions of her work, Dr. Eichorn will implement and test research ideas in clinical intervention for individuals who stutter, use neurophysiological measures (e.g., ERPs) to better understand underlying processes contributing to behavioral findings, and directly modulate neural regions associated with cognitive control and attention. Although current research in the CLAS lab focuses on stuttering, the general theme of the lab is broader and relevant to many other clinical disorders.
Publication Spotlight
1. Eichorn, N., Marton, K. & Pirutinsky, S. (2017). Cognitive flexibility in preschool children with and without stuttering disorders. Journal of Fluency Disorders, in press. 2. Eichorn, N., Marton, K., Schwartz, R. G., Melara, R. D. & Pirutinsky, S. (2016). Does working memory enhance or interfere with speech fluency in adults who do and do not stutter? Evidence from a dual-task paradigm. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 59, 415–429.
Student Involvement Dr. Eichorn welcomes different applications of the ideas she is interested in and sees them as wonderful opportunities for collaboration. The lab is in its early stages and several projects are still in development, which makes it a great time for students to get involved and learn about research from the first steps onward. Opportunities in the lab enable students to learn more about research activities while developing proficiency in measurement tools they can apply to their clinical practice.
3. Marton, K., Eichorn, N., Campanelli, L. & Zakarias, L. (2016). Working Memory and Interference Control in Children with Specific Language Impairment. Language and Linguistics Compass, 10(5), 211–224.
5. Marton, K. & Eichorn, N. (2014). Interaction Between Working Memory and Long-Term Memory: A Study in Children With and Without Language Impairment. Zeitschrift Für Psychologie, 222(2), 90–99.
4. Eichorn, N., Marton, K., Campanelli, L. & Scheuer, J. (2014). Verbal strategies and nonverbal cues in school-age children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 49(5), 618–630.
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@UofMemphisCSD
memphis.edu/csd
4055 North Park Loop Memphis, TN 38152 | 901.678.5800 The University of Memphis is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University. It is committed to education of a non-racially identifiable student body. UOM560-FY1920
