Research Programs

Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) Laboratory
Drs. Anna Nabelek and Sam Burchfield

• Acceptance of background noise in all types of hearing aid users
• Effects of directional microphones and binaural hearing aid use on acceptance of background in hearing aid users
• Using technology pharmacology to influence acceptance of background noise in individuals with ADHD/ADD

Audiology Laboratory
Dr. James W. Thelin

• Hearing and Communication in CHARGE Syndrome
• Measurement of Averaged Acoustic Reflex Thresholds
• Behavioral Assessment of Hearing for Medical-Legal Purposes

Cognitive Wellness & Neurologic Communication & Swallowing Disorders
Dr. Colleen Karow

• Cognitive Fitness in the Elderly with Normal Cognitive Aging and those with Mild Cognitive Impairment
• Problem Solving Skills in Patients with Neurologic Communication Disorders
• Web Interfaced Computerized Treatments for Patients with Communication & Cognitive Disorders
• Instrumental Assessment and Treatment Programming for Patients with Dysphagia

See Also: Rapid Assessment of Problem Solving

Hearing Instrument Laboratory
Dr. Patrick Plyler

• Impact of high Hz amplification on subjective and objective benefit in hearing instrument users
• Effects of expansion on subjective and objective benefit in hearing instrument users
• Effects of expansion time constants on subjective and objective benefit in hearing instrument users.

Human Auditory Physiology Laboratory
Dr. Ashley W. Harkrider

• Neurophysiological correlates for perceptual behavior of normal and impaired populations
• Underlying physiological mechanisms in the cochlea and/or central auditory nervous system responsible for overt behavioral responses to, and perception of, various acoustic stimuli in quiet and in noise

Neurocognitive Linguistics Laboratory
Dr. Kristin King

• Communication and swallowing disorders arising secondary to traumatic brain injury, stroke, neurologic disease, and dementias in both children and adults
• Investigation of hemispheric processing and neurocognitive skills for linguistic processes in individuals following traumatic brain injury

Psychoacoustics Laboratory
Dr. Mark Hedrick

• Perceptual abilities of listeners with hearing loss
• Speech perception by listeners with normal hearing and listeners with hearing loss
• Elucidation of frequency and temporal coding mechanisms

Spatial and Binaural Hearing Laboratory
Dr. Patti Johnstone

• Sound localization ability
• Spatial release from masking
• Aided and prosthetic binaural, bilateral, and spatial hearing
• Hearing loss prevention

Speech Perception and Production Laboratory
Dr. Deborah Von Hapsburg

• The effect of signal audibility on the emergence of early vocalization patterns in hearing impaired infants.
• The effects of increasing word familiarity on bilingual speaker’s speech perception in noise
• Speech perception in noise in [Korean/English] bilingual listeners

Stuttering and Speech Science Laboratory
Dr. Tim Saltuklaroglu

• Investigations into the neural mechanisms responsible for inducing fluent speech in people who stutter.
• Examining the role of mirror neuron systems in speech perception and simulated production tasks via electroencephalograpy (EEG).
• Investigations into clinical efficacy of altered auditory feedback and other treatments for stuttering.
• Listener reactions to stuttering:
  • Changes in eye-gaze behaviors and physiological responses. How these reactions may in turn affect people who stutter and their communicative interactions.
• Anticipatory reactions to stuttering in people who stutter. Changes in physiological responses of anxiety in anticipation of stuttered versus fluent speech.
• The effects of stuttering on manual functions.

See Also: The Stuttering Treatment and Research Center at University of Tennessee

Verbotonal Research Laboratory
Dr. Carl Asp

Voice and Speech Science Laboratory
Dr. Molly Erickson

• Spasmodic dysphoniaAcoustic and physiology of singing
• Acoustics of cultural diversity
• Normative data - vocal physiology
• Experimental phonetics - duration modeling

Contact Us

Department Audiology & Speech Pathology
578 South Stadium Hall, UT
Knoxville, TN 37996-0740
Directions
Phone: (865) 974-5019
Fax: (865) 974-1539
Email: clark@utk.edu